Teriyaki madness

[tufnel1530]

Anyone else try this place? Used to have these places when I lived out West but never seen them here until now.

Actually pretty good have to say.... dark meat chicken version anyways.

Like Chipotle they try and pass it off as healthy (which its not really) but its tasty stuff... spicy bowl is good also.

https://teriyakimadness.com/

[number six]

Yeah there's one near my wife's office and she's brought it home before.

It's really good, a step above most of your hole in the wall chinese.

[stf]

It's a franchise I'm working with. I tested it when they opened theit 1st one in Miami. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality / quantity / price ratio. One of the few good asian fast food chain imo

[number six]

I'd have 2 concerns with this as far as a franchise.

First, the competition with Chinese restaurants is absolutely insane. Every strip mall on the street near my house has a Chinese restaurant, one strip mall down the street is getting a 2nd.. which I don't even understand how that's possible. At one intersection there are 4 plazas.. one on each corner and each one has a Chinese restaurant serving almost the exact same food.. the only difference is what mad libs they used to come up with the name (China, Fuji, King, One, Star.. Pick 2)

The second problem.. and the more concerning.. is quality does not seem to matter at all. Most of these strip mall Chinese restaurants near me are awful. I have one 2 strip malls down that I usually go to that's decent.. but somehow these others stay in business. The biggest culprit for bad Chinese food is Panda Express. It's food is both terrible and way more expensive than the China King Stars.. yet they are thriving.

There was an "upscale" Chinese restaurant in the area awhile back that offered a similar gimmic to Teriyaki Madness but it only lasted a year or so. So while I'm all for better chains opening and hope they do well it seems to be an uphill battle in the cheap American-Chinese food market.

[tufnel1530]

I'd have 2 concerns with this as far as a franchise.

First, the competition with Chinese restaurants is absolutely insane. Every strip mall on the street near my house has a Chinese restaurant, one strip mall down the street is getting a 2nd.. which I don't even understand how that's possible. At one intersection there are 4 plazas.. one on each corner and each one has a Chinese restaurant serving almost the exact same food.. the only difference is what mad libs they used to come up with the name (China, Fuji, King, One, Star.. Pick 2)

The second problem.. and the more concerning.. is quality does not seem to matter at all. Most of these strip mall Chinese restaurants near me are awful. I have one 2 strip malls down that I usually go to that's decent.. but somehow these others stay in business. The biggest culprit for bad Chinese food is Panda Express. It's food is both terrible and way more expensive than the China King Stars.. yet they are thriving.

There was an "upscale" Chinese restaurant in the area awhile back that offered a similar gimmic to Teriyaki Madness but it only lasted a year or so. So while I'm all for better chains opening and hope they do well it seems to be an uphill battle in the cheap American-Chinese food market.

Teriyaki is Japanese technically  but yah this is America so all asian food is Chinese.

The teriyaki thing is kind of its own niche.. its not really trying to be a Chinese place with 100 things on the menu. Can people tell the difference? probably not.

They are also trying to get by on the "hey its chicken and veg so its healthy" thing.... but its chicken, rice and veg covered in sugar sauce at like 10,000 calories per bowl so not so much.

These places are huge on the west coast but none knows what the hell they are here. If you look at Seattle they are everywhere.

[number six]

Teriyaki is Japanese technically  but yah this is America so all asian food is Chinese.

The teriyaki thing is kind of its own niche.. its not really trying to be a Chinese place with 100 things on the menu. Can people tell the difference? probably not.

They are also trying to get by on the "hey its chicken and veg so its healthy" thing.... but its chicken, rice and veg covered in sugar sauce at like 10,000 calories per bowl so not so much.

These places are huge on the west coast but none knows what the hell they are here. If you look at Seattle they are everywhere.

Well I mean it's chicken in various sauces and eggrolls.. so yeah generic 'asian'. It's like at the food courts, they'll have 3 or 4 restaurants with exactly the same food even though only one of them might be specifically themed as chinese.

Not that any of this is legit asian food anyway but still.

[Niloc]

Looks like the closest one to me is... too far. Hope they open more locations.

"Fast food" style Chinese food (vs. sit-down or anything trying to be "authentic") has been going down hill for a while.

Used to be there were decent places and shitty ones; now they all seem to buy from the same supplier.

One out in Oldsmar, with the rather silly name of "Cyber Takee Outee" (because they had online ordering a couple years before it was common), used to be good, but just like all the others the quality went down.

A few things are still safe to order, anything vegetable-heavy is usually OK, like chicken in garlic sauce, but wonton soup is now thick, gluey wontons with almost no filling in a yellow broth that seems to just be salt water.
Used to have chives, slivers of carrot & pork, and the wontons were thin. Now they all suck.

Reminds me, I've got to try the wonton soup from a local Vietnamese place that is pretty good; https://www.thinhankitchentofu.com/
They've also got Bahn Mi sandwiches for $4 each - those are a hell of a good deal. Really good bread.

[number six]

If you recall before the great Chinese restaurant invasion of the 90s, there were only a few Chinese restaurants and they were normal sit-down places that were usually pretty good. Since then though.. I just don't think a traditional restaurant is going to be able to compete with all the cheap strip mall take out places.

We had two sit-down places in the area, one was good for awhile then the owners sold and it's changed hands since then about 5 times. It's always stayed Chinese but the current iteration is amongst the worst Chinese i've ever had, last time I went there the food had been obviously microwaved. Haven't been back.

The other was the Teriyaki type place down the street that was good but didn't last long.

The exceptions to this are chains like PF Changs, which isn't bad.. it's just chinese food done with care, but its also 3 times the price. And the myriad of Buffets which have been on the decline the last few years. (I don't know how the remaining ones are surviving COVID).

My million dollar idea would be to start a take out Indian place that's geared towards americans.. ie make the menu accessible for people that don't eat Indian food. If done right that stuff is just as good as Chinese food if not better.. and the Indian take-out place has been a staple in the UK for decades so i definitely think that could work here.

[Niloc]

My million dollar idea would be to start a take out Indian place that's geared towards americans.. ie make the menu accessible for people that don't eat Indian food. If done right that stuff is just as good as Chinese food if not better.. and the Indian take-out place has been a staple in the UK for decades so i definitely think that could work here.

I'd eat at a place like that. You'd only need to keep 3 or 4 big pots of the main sauces going, and then just add whatever the customer wants; chicken, tofu, vegetables. Beef is often off the menu since that's a Hindu no-go, same with pork since there are plenty of Indian Muslims too - though it may not matter for an Americanized fast-food type place. Not like there haven't been a ton of fast-food bagel sandwiches with bacon or ham on them.

On the other hand, I wouldn't invest in a place like that. Anything new seems to fail. Open yet another burger joint, and it at least has a shot. It'll fail more likely than not, but something people really don't know? No chance.
There was a Thai place in my area in the early 2000s - very inexpensive and it was the best Thai food I've ever had. Only down side was they didn't deliver. They lasted maybe a year. Bunch of shitty pizza places have opened in the same area and stayed in business since then though.

The very best bet is to open something that isn't in an area, but people have both heard of and are already familiar with - like if it was possible to open an "In & Out" burger place in Florida, there would be lines around the block.

Hell, when a McDonalds opens in a small town they still get huge lines for weeks, and it's not like those people have never tasted McDonalds before.

[number six]

I'd eat at a place like that. You'd only need to keep 3 or 4 big pots of the main sauces going, and then just add whatever the customer wants; chicken, tofu, vegetables. Beef is often off the menu since that's a Hindu no-go, same with pork since there are plenty of Indian Muslims too - though it may not matter for an Americanized fast-food type place. Not like there haven't been a ton of fast-food bagel sandwiches with bacon or ham on them.

On the other hand, I wouldn't invest in a place like that. Anything new seems to fail. Open yet another burger joint, and it at least has a shot. It'll fail more likely than not, but something people really don't know? No chance.
There was a Thai place in my area in the early 2000s - very inexpensive and it was the best Thai food I've ever had. Only down side was they didn't deliver. They lasted maybe a year. Bunch of shitty pizza places have opened in the same area and stayed in business since then though.

The very best bet is to open something that isn't in an area, but people have both heard of and are already familiar with - like if it was possible to open an "In & Out" burger place in Florida, there would be lines around the block.

Hell, when a McDonalds opens in a small town they still get huge lines for weeks, and it's not like those people have never tasted McDonalds before.

The uphill battle with Indian food is accessibility. I don't think an Indian person could open an american-centric take-out place and make it work because there's a cultural divide and of course the flip side to that is good luck having good indian without well, an indian.

However, you take the menu and explain what everything is in very simple terms.. make sure you have a spicy and non-spicy version of each core sauce and then yeah just do tofu or chicken and concentrate on just having the core stuff everyone likes such as Chicken Tikka or Butter Chicken, maybe throw in some Northern Indian food like Dosas (which are really just crepes).. have some of the desserts like Gulab Jammin and maybe Lassi.. and then get out in the community and show people that Indian food isn't so exotic.. and I think it could work.

If I didn't fear restaurants so bad I have an Indian friend who runs a restaurant in Palm Harbor (that's excellent!) that would be a great guy to do this with but yeah most restaurants fail and this isn't a subway so it's an uphill battle to start as you noted.

[Big Al]

[quote author=numbersix

My million dollar idea would be to start a take out Indian place that's geared towards americans.. ie make the menu accessible for people that don't eat Indian food. If done right that stuff is just as good as Chinese food if not better.. and the Indian take-out place has been a staple in the UK for decades so i definitely think that could work here.
[/quote]

Yep.  “ Was “ and still is a great idea.  It’s been called “ Moon Under Water “ and has been on Beach Drive in St. Pete for over 20 years.  American-ized British and Indian food both take out and sit down.  I was a bartender and manager there before I went to law school.  Check out the menu. 

The Moon recently got bought out by the company who owns Ceviche and now the Moon will be moved to another location with Ceviche taking the Moon’s spot on Beach Drive.  The Moon was a ery profitable enterprise!

The Moon has always been one of my favorite places to eat and you can bring others there who don’t like British/ Indian because they serve a well rounded menu.

There’s my rusty nickel for the weekend.

Happy dining & happy gaming,
Big Al

[number six]

Yep.  “ Was “ and still is a great idea.  It’s been called “ Moon Under Water “ and has been on Beach Drive in St. Pete for over 20 years.  American-ized British and Indian food both take out and sit down.  I was a bartender and manager there before I went to law school.  Check out the menu. 

The Moon recently got bought out by the company who owns Ceviche and now the Moon will be moved to another location with Ceviche taking the Moon’s spot on Beach Drive.  The Moon was a ery profitable enterprise!

That place sounds awesome! Next time I'm over that way I'll give it a go.

What I'm thinking about is a bit different though, I'm literally talking about an Indian restaurant setup like a take-out Chinese just with Indian dishes instead. Moon Under Water looks more like an English Pub style restaurant with Indian dishes because let's face it, Indian food is about as british as it gets these days.. when I was last over there we lived off Indian and Thai food because you did not want to eat the British food, it was terrible.. even the stuff you'd suspect would be good like Fish n' Chips.. just a flavorless greasy mess.

Anyway I think Indian food could take off just like Chinese food did once people get more familiar with it and if it was made a bit more accessible.

[k7]

when i was in england, i ate mcdonalds.

and cod. man, their cod kicks ass...

the cheap ass in me could not handle, that you paid a tax to eat in a restaurant. i paid takeout, and sat down. no bobby ever stepped up to me. i could be facing hard time.

[PinFever]

the Mad Spicy Steak is MAD SPICY / Goodness Gracious hot where is the water hot

[number six]

when i was in england, i ate mcdonalds.

and cod. man, their cod kicks ass...

the cheap ass in me could not handle, that you paid a tax to eat in a restaurant. i paid takeout, and sat down. no bobby ever stepped up to me. i could be facing hard time.

Yeah we ate McDonalds and Burger King as well for lunch a lot because prices were mad expensive.

However they managed to screw even that up. The British man.. terrible at food apparently. But the candy is super good.. go figure.