As I sit here writing this, I’m sipping a Negroni in the record/cocktail lounge. One of the best cocktail connoisseurs west of the Mississippi is dressed like a Wayne’s World guy and sponsored by Buc-ee’s, and I’m chatting about the rise and fall of the town’s food scene. There’s something cool about the town called the Beer-muda Triangle, three craft breweries that offer live music and a welcome break from Busch Light and Stag. The owners of these breweries and the brewery owner join us for our conversation. Today’s topic is how best to support the town’s monthly First Fridays, a sort of bar crawl and art exhibit.
This isn’t new. They’re working with other businesses to bring in new ideas. For example, two of these breweries don’t have food service licenses. To cut costs, they stock some of the restaurants’ menus and customers can order directly, add it to their tab, and have their food delivered a few doors down. Talk about a win-win-win! The brewery doesn’t have to cover the costs and responsibilities of a kitchen, and they can seat you. I don’t have to go out to buy food, and I only have one bill to pay. The restaurant doesn’t have to cover the costs and responsibilities of a liquor license, and they can continue to sell food to people who aren’t on their premises! This kind of collaboration is a great way to compete and still complement each other.
Competition is often seen as brutal. Businesses can use the political process to protect themselves from competition or to target competitors. For example, Wright Amendment of 1979. The Wright Amendment, repealed in 2014, was a federal law that governed traffic at Love Field in Dallas. Enacted after Southwest Airlines refused to vacate Love for Dallas-Fort Worth, the law prohibited all airlines from operating aircraft with a transport category of 56 or more seats beyond Texas and surrounding states. (Southwest’s main competitor, American Airlines, headquartered in the DFW area, was an exception, of course.)
As I sit sipping my cocktails, I find myself mulling over the following thought: Who said competition had to be fierce and hostile? After all, everyone around me is competing for my hard-earned entertainment dollars. And yet they are fully aware of the competition and are trying to create their own niche. It seems counterintuitive that they would come here and effectively undermine their competitive advantage. But they understand the environment in which they operate. They can’t compete with the big breweries and chain restaurants on price, but they can compete with them on variety. And that additional variety creates more wealth. Not just for the Beer-muda Triangle, but for all of us. We have a wealth of choices and new experiences to spend our entertainment dollars on. They work together, but they compete, collaborate, and create with their own interests in mind. In a world lacking open and honest competition, it’s encouraging to see that extreme cynicism about the world around us has not yet taken hold, at least in our own little world.
