Ron Shaich

And the unfortunate truth is oftentimes, many times, it doesn't make it better.

It actually just makes it worse, more complicated.

And so my view is we don't want to do, we don't want to be everything for everybody.

We want to be something special for somebody.

And that's the essence of what we mean when we say being a better competitive alternative.

To actually standing for something and being something better.

Yeah.

Marketing is the wrong phrase in my book.

I think the right phrase is amplification.

By amplification, I mean if I've got something that actually touches people, then I've got to let them know it's available.

But the idea that I'm going to somehow come up with something cute or better tactic or better technique, that may work in the very short term, but it doesn't sustain a business.

And when you're building fixed assets as we are,

You want something that sustains and lasts for years and decades.

You want something that builds a competitive moat and is a better competitive alternative.

So to me, marketing is...

never the end.

To be cuter or better is never the end.

The end is to actually sustain, is to build a better business that's sustaining and powerful in its own right, and then figure out how to make sure its target customers actually know about it.

And it's on their short list.

Well, first, I have a rule.