Week sixteen of 2023 is almost in the books, and it has been a great week here in Uvalde, Texas. I trust that yours has been tremendous and that YOUR WEEKEND AHEAD WILL BE AWESOME! I’d like to share a prayer from Peanut’s Carlie Brown – Be yourself. “No one can say you’re doing it wrong.”
Four Lessons That I Learned This Week.
1. Never live with your assumptions. It’s like believing everything you think. It’s rarely true, accurate, or timely.
2. If you want peace in your life, give yourself away. Every study on the planet proves that when you serve others, in any way, but with the right motive, you are the one that is blessed.
3. Bible reading is for far more than greater knowledge. The proof of this is how I flounder when not having time, or taking time to read scripture, daily.
4. When counseling people or trying to help, you might not be appreciated or liked. But speaking truth in love is how to place your head on the pillow with the certainty that you did what God asked of you…and that is more than enough.
This Week’s 4forFRIDAY
10 Things You Shouldn’t Miss at Buc-ees’s from Atlanta Magazine
Taco Bell’s innovation team could probably solve all the world’s woes if we asked them to:
Make a list of Earth’s most pressing challenges and the precise consistency of the cheese on a fast-food burrito probably doesn’t rank too high.
But if this detailed New Yorker profile on Taco Bell’s Innovation Kitchen teaches us anything, it’s to never underestimate the 12 chef scientists and 60 food-innovation developers behind the chain’s menu magic.
They take their work seriously — you have to if your output is a primary growth engine for a ~8.2k-location, $14.65B-in-annual-sales restaurant serving 42m people every week — and they regularly solve complex problems.
Why we’d elect them as our (Crunchwrap) Supreme Leaders
Whether you love or hate the food, the stream of additions to Taco Bell’s menu makes it one of food’s most compelling spaces. At its root is a legendary creative culture they’ve nurtured — one well worth learning from.
Some key components:
• Iteration: Taco Bell annually releases ~10 new products; to do so, their innovation team generates thousands of ideas and tests ~70 of them.
• Patience: The idea for the Crunchwrap Supreme was tweaked in the lab for 13 years until it made the cut.
• Practical constraints: A creative process without limitations is often too blue-sky; the scale of Taco Bell’s business requires careful consideration of the cost, quantity, and preparation of each component, as well as speed — can it be prepared in ~1 minute?
• Attention to detail: Scientific precision is lent to ingredients’ material properties — from bounce to juiciness, springback to spreadability. And every ratio is carefully considered, like how the balance of fats and acids impacts mouthfeel and brain chemistry.
• Breaking convention: The team pushes past technical limits — famously trying a paint-spray gun to try applying the correct amount of Doritos powder to their taco shells.
• Consumer focus: Every successful creative product is evocative for its audience, even an oddball limited-edition Grilled Stuft Nacho. Per The New Yorker, “nostalgia” and “emotion” are frequently raised in their Innovation Kitchen.
