Region and roles-the success of regional fried chicken outlet – Al Baik

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, other than pumping 19MT of crude every second, is a vast expanse of land which lacks the hurried growth of Dubai or Doha. But it is a huge swath of a marketplace for any marketer. Port city of Jeddha has stretch of road which is lined up by numerous malls ( I counted atleast 18-20) selling Armani to Aston Martin and Riyadh packs the punch to match any top draw city. Amidst all this foreign brands a local fried chicken chain is teaching the lots of KFC’s and McDonald a lesson or two in running a food chain successfully. You would find MNC food chains aisle empty or near deserted (same is the fate of Carrefour). At Al Baik chain the story is different …people were queuing up.

The differentiation were the following

1. Product – offering was uniquely different- the inner crust of the fried chicken has a special coating of condiments which was very tasty.
2. Execution of the product: Speed at which they served order was amazing , even though there was a long queue ( 25- 30 people before me ) I was served in under 10 minutes.
3. Viral : word of mouth – ‘You are in Jeddah and not tried Al Baik ??’
4. Exclusivity: Al Baik is limited to western part of the Kingdom.

Insipid food and some pictures

After much deliberation we decided to visit a restaurant that we had zeroed in few months back- chef Lanka in Burdubai area . We wanted to try some spicy food from Sri lanka - but it turned out to be a disaster. Like any good product hotel should also provide at least few basic things

1. Warm Food
2. Waiter / server suggesting and helping us in making the right choice

both didnt happen at chef lanka ..and we ended up eating some cold spicy food ....
the interior had some demon mask ......reminding us of the food we ate

Long Shadow of meat eating ....

Mark Bittman's article on NYT on ' Meat -Guzzlers' is interesting

he writes -

a study last year by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

more on this :
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?ei=5087&em=&en=7490d3223d2f16cb&ex=1201842000&pagewanted=all

The Monkey Wrench Gang

Absolute must read if you border the thoughts of being a solider in the 'eco defense'...Edward Abbey's proactive defense of nature in an era of hyperindustrialism.

how 'House Poor' are you ?

It was intriguing to note that SEC classification across the world differs. So this term - 'House Poor' is significant classification- especially since in certain countries/cities this affects almost all !

House Poor :
A situation that describes a person who spends a large
proportion of his or her total income on home ownership,
including mortgage payments, property taxes, maintenance and
utilities. House poor individuals are short of cash for
discretionary items and tend to have trouble meeting other
financial obligations like vehicle payments.

If your are a expat living in a city like Dubai then you have to replace 'ownership' with 'Rent'..

New year resolutions - and how to solve problems

Most of us would be facing some sought tough decision at work and life and would be grappling with them- at times wondering how to solve it . Read seth's tips


There are three ways to deal with a problem, I think.
Lean into it.
Lean away from it.
Run away.
You lean into a problem, especially a long-term or difficult one, by sitting with it, reveling in it, embracing it and breathing it in. The problem becomes part of you, at least until you solve it. You try one approach and then another, and when nothing works, you stick with it and work around it as you build your organization and your life.
Some people choose to lean away from the problems that nag them at home or at work. They avoid them, minimize them or criticize the cause. Put as little into it as possible and maybe it will go away.
And sometimes, a problem is so nasty or overwhelming that you just run away.
I'm a big fan of the first approach. And sometimes, quitting isn't such a bad idea. The second approach, alas, is the one that many of us end up with by default, and the one that's least likely to pay off.
If that helps with this year's resolutions, it was worth thinking about...

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/01/solving-problem.html

Top 10 Best Presentations Ever

Interesting article i read in KnowHR, they have listed the top presentations that they feel are outstanding and great.
http://www.knowhr.com/blog/2006/08/21/top-10-best-presentations-ever/

you can access the source files here
http://www.squidoo.com/bestpresentationsever