Affected by Restaurants

March 23, 2026

Good morning! Is it corn beef or corned beef? “Traveler, there is no road, you make your own path as you walk.”  (Machado) Is it my imagination or does it seem the best way for a coach to get fired nowadays is to be successful? Blitzkrieg math:  The astonishing speed at which 136 teams are reduced to 32… in the blink of an eye. Intuitive perhaps, but the scores of basketball games in the old days would often be something like 7 – 4.

Have you had this heartbreaking experience one too many times?  We have.Forty-two percent of the ice cream machines at McDonald’s restaurants in Dusseldorf* are broken as of this writing.Of the eight locations near the world headquarters of Without A Vision Consultancy, one of those machines (12.5%) is not working as of this writing; steer clear of it.If you tire of tracking airplanes or ships or plants or birds or wind or wild fires or tides, try the excitement related to tracking broken-down ice cream machines at McDonald’s.Here is the link: 

McBroken – McDonald’s Ice Cream Machine Broken?

• Report:  Minnesotans could pay billions a year if the State doesn’t adapt to strategic public policy priorities related to climate change.  (Schneider/ StarTribune)
  • Minnesota has seen heavier rainfall, smokier air, and warmer summers in recent years.
  • If the state invests more in climate projects, it could cost up to $4 billion annually — but ten times that amount down the road if it doesn’t… (Ibid.)
• Hamnet = powerful, poignant, potent, packs a punch, A+
  • “What shall I do?  Keep your heart open.”
  • Is it Stratford on Avon or Stratford upon Avon?
  • It got me thinking:  Have you ever encountered an euphoric, congratulatory critique/ review of The Academy Awards ceremony the morning after?
• Quick, name the three states (of the United ones) with the biggest share of their economies linked to outdoor recreation.  (Fitzpatrick)
  • (One is NOT Minnesota — or WHYsconsin)  Answer down below.
• “A person can only savor not being dead and frozen for so long before s/he wonders what s/he should do.”  (Doyle)
• It is a rare human who has not been affected in some way by the restaurant industry.
  • You can tell a lot about a town — or a neighborhood — by the quality of its public food places and watering holes.
  • Even in my tiny little hometown (which almost no longer exists), there was a cafe and a coffee shop — and two or three saloons.
  • We are in a period of tremendous transformation
    • “The restaurants that succeed over the next several years will be the ones willing to ask harder questions about who they’re trying to serve…
      • what experience they’re really offering, and which outdated axioms they need to unlearn to get there.”  (Mathews, Etc., et al.)
        • Or, what we’ve been trying to teach:  WHY? in the heck are we doing this?!
  • “The guests are still going to interact with the maitre d’ hotel.  They’re still going to have a great conversation with the bartender…
    • But technology should enable the bartender to do her/ his job faster…
      • Technology will allow the chefs to get out of their offices and spend more time in the dining room with guests.”  (Wade)
  • “We don’t think it’s an either – or…
    • we think it’s an ‘and’; great digital and great physical experiences…
      • That as technology continues to disintermediate (what in da heck does that word mean?!) human connection on a daily basis, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence,
      • people are really seeking to fill that void with human connection.
      • But you have to give them a space and an ambience and an experience that’s evocative of that, that delivers that.”  (Schulman)
  • New restaurant technologies and shifting consumer behaviour are converging at a pivotal moment for restaurants.
    • Automation and generative artificial intelligence could improve restaurant margins and productivity,
      • while also lowering innovation costs.
    • At the same time, artificial intelligence-enable personalization is beginning to deliver dramatically higher conversation.
    • And, as anti-obesity medications gain adoption, how much — and why — people eat may change.
    • Together, these forces mean restaurants may need to rethink what they serve and how they attract and retain guests.  (Rodriguez, Etc., et al.)