NYT readers are so mad that burger entrepreneur has been successful

That's a pretty good column ... as Dick noted, the writer spares us the minute details about how the beef is butchered/prepared and focuses on the restaurant owner's business and marketing.

Props to Adam Fleischman for starting and succeeding in a new business in early 2009, when the recession was reaching new lows (I won't pay $12 for a hamburger, though).

Why the hate from NYT online commenters? My theory is the majority of online NYT readers are journalists, and we tend to despise successful businessmen with a passion. Especially the ones who own our places of employment!

 

Coco, I sincerely doubt most Times commenters are journalists. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them despise hamburgers as both meat and fast food, though. It's the Mark Bittman effect.

 

Not everyone who follows their passion makes it big, but if you follow your passion and you can run a good business (or get people who know who to run one to work for you), who knows? My dad worked with a guy who, as a fellow layoff from the phone company, opened his own high-end butcher shop, and it's gone gangbusters.

I guess it helps if your business is good meat.

 

What's with the back-handed compliments for Frank Bruni in this thread? Guy is a pro and one of the best in the business.

 

Whoa. Meta.

 

You have to consider the context. If you want food porn, or tales of plucky restaurateurs succeeding against the odds, you head for the Dining & Wine section.

It wasn't a bad column but compared to the black tar heroin Times readers usually get, it was weak, weak stuff.

 

Noticed the other day that my old shop completely cut off reader comments on stories ... cold turkey. There are still forums for readers who are so inclined, but almost no one uses them. Can this be a trend?

 

One can only hope.