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Why are there so many Thai restaurants in the US?

2023-07-11

One of my favorite stories of the year. From Vice:

Comparatively, according to a representative from the Royal Thai Embassy in DC, there are just 300,000 Thai-Americans—less than 1 percent the size of the the Mexican-American population. Yet there are an estimated 5,342 Thai restaurants in the United States, compared to around 54,000 Mexican restaurants; that’s ten times the population-to-restaurant ratio. So, why are there so many Thai restaurants in the US?

The Thai government has created a company, the Global Thai Restaurant Company, to make it easier to start and run Thai restaurants. If I understand correctly, they aren't quite franchised (as in sharing a brand name), but effectively provide a pre-planned out restaurant. More from the article:

The Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Export Promotion, most likely run by bureaucrats rather than restaurateurs, drew up prototypes for three different “master restaurants,” which investors could choose as a sort of prefabricated restaurant plan, from aesthetic to menu offerings. Elephant Jump would be the fast casual option, at $5 to $15 per person; Cool Basil would be the mid-priced option at $15 to $25 a head; and the Golden Leaf prototype would cost diners $25 to $30, with décor featuring “authentic Thai fabrics and objets d’art.”

Why go to the trouble? To increase exports and travel to Thailand through gastrodiplomacy.

The value of speed to market

2023-07-11

Post by @buccocapital
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I interpret this in a couple of ways:

  1. Companies that ship faster have more clarity about the opportunity / better decision making structures internally
  2. Companies that ship faster also learn faster

I also thought it was interesting that the comparative benefit (top quartile vs. bottom quartile) is greater in manufacturing than it is in software.

Update on Meta(verse)

2023-07-05

Truly incredible statistic from the Nation on Meta's Metaverse, Horizon Worlds:

Metaverse platform, had only 38 active daily users. The Guardian reported that the monetized content ecosystem in Meta’s flagship product Horizon Worlds produced no more than $470 in revenue globally. Thirty-eight active users. Four hundred and seventy dollars.

I don't consider this to be a definitive statement on the concept of the metaverse, but wow are those numbers small. Found via The Browser.

Shipping profits during the pandemic

2023-06-29

"In 3 yrs from 2020 to 2022, the shipping industry generated as much profit as in previous six decades combined." Just incredible the way that the pandemic created ripples through different industries.

Wind and Solar generation are outpacing coal

2023-06-26

From Politico:

Wind and solar generated more electricity than coal through May, an E&E News review of federal data shows, marking the first time renewables have outpaced the former king of American power over a five-month period.

I believe two things are true at once: 1) we are not reducing emissions quickly enough; 2) the speed with which we are moving away from greenhouse gasses and towards electrification is underrated.