The Guy Fieri Problem

Let’s say you’re a foodie. Not only are you a foodie, you’re somewhat of a chef as well. You’re passionate about cooking, going to great lengths to learn how to cook truly exquisite dishes from a countries all over the world. Then one day, you decide hey, what the heck, let’s open a restaurant.

What’s on the menu? What food will you serve to your guests?

Well, you’re a foodie, so you’re going to serve foodie food. Food that requires a trained palate. Recipes from all over the world. Locally sourced produce. Organic, free-range meat. The kind of stuff that foodies love. And chances are, you’ll go out of business. That kind of restaurant demands an audience that’s a passionate about food as you are, and though they will spend lots of money for a good meal, they do not represent the majority of Americans who go out to dinner.

Let’s say, instead, you create a restaurant that specializes in more common fare, but it’s really well made and very tasty. The sort of restaurant that Guy Fieri might show up at. Something that’s a transition point from people who want more than Applebee’s, but aren’t ready for Ruth’s Chris. You’re still making good food, but you’re making it for a much larger potential audience. Will you win the acclaim of your local paper’s food critic? Maybe not. Will you get more people in the door? Probably.

Now pick up everything I said, and drop it down on top of the firearms training industry. It’s a business for people who are passionate about what they’re doing, just like opening a restaurant. However, the list of people who are making something that effectively appeals to the market that exists between an NRA Basic Pistol class and a Gunsite 250 is really short.

Somebody is going to solve the Guy Fieri problem. It’s only a question of when.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. We need more of a “dojo” training program. Come out every Thursday and learn a skill. Now here’s how to practice that skill during the next week in dry fire. Tuesday is practice night. Come drill it live. Next Thursday we test that skill and learn the next skill. In 10 weeks you’ll learn 10 shooting skills, and we’ll start them all over again, where you’ll get faster and better than before.

    The problem is that we’ve got an “event” training mentality for a physical skill. No one one earth would go to a two day “Karate Seminar” and claim to be properly trained. Nor a 2 day “Dance Training” and then think he was ready to try out for “Dancing with the Stars.” But we’ve got 10 million people out there who went to an NRA Basic Pistol (If they’re lucky) and think they’re golden. If it hadn’t been for competition shooting I would be one of them.

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