(This essay was the 2004 Gerlich Christmas Letter)

I like Waffle House.

A few weeks ago I was sitting at the local House, indulging myself in a breakfast that no doubt took a few days off my life. Those tasty scrambled cheese eggs and pecan waffles are not for the faint of calorie.

I was on my way to a class at church on the devotional classics. I had left home early, textbook in hand, savoring the thought of a little quiet time with a good book over a greasy breakfast. John of the Cross, say hello to my raisin toast. Teresa of Avila, would you like syrup on that waffle?

Waffle House is a funny kind of place. If you're from the north and/or have never travelled south, you've missed out on a rare cultural landmark. The hearty chorus of "Mornin'!" that greets everyone as they enter is so last century that it's actually kind of cool. And you always know the company is doing well when they give you two packets of apple butter without you having to ask for them.

The folks who work and eat at the House are a mixed lot, more likely than not to smoke cigarettes and live in a trailer park. My students hang out there after the bars close. It's kind of like a convention of minimum wage earners who spend most of their money at Wal-Mart.

A cross-country trucker sat behind me. He chatted with the waitress as if she had served him many times before. It never occurred to me that the House could be another man's Cheers, but she seemed genuinely interested in his exploits and the fact that he had a band on the side.

There was the young, somber looking family across the room whose kids had to suck stale air as their parents fed their nicotine jones. I wonder why they looked so sad. Maybe it was all that smoke.

And then there was the guy who intercepted me in the parking lot. He hopped out of an old Dodge van with South Dakota tags towing a decrepit travel trailer, and asked me for money. I told him I had no change (no lie), and hurried into the House. Don't you just hate it when people bum money? Besides, I needed to read that book about all those saintly writers.

The women who wait tables are a cheery group, many of whom have been there several years. My favorite is the British lady, whose accent is a pleasant alternative to the local drawl. I don't see how they could make much money serving omelets and burgers a few million different ways, but they stay anyway. They must like each other.

And then I noticed the Brit's t-shirt. It was a Waffle House official uniform issue, boldly proclaiming "All Grits, No Glory."

If you've never had grits, they are the ground up meal from dried and hulled corn kernels. They're boiled and served as a breakfast side dish. Some people add butter and sugar, while others salt them. Either way, this southern staple is low prole, and not likely to be served by Emeril.

What a cute slogan, I thought. These ladies spend their waking hours slinging grits, eggs, and hash browns (I like mine smothered and covered), refilling coffee for a menagerie of diners, automatically shouting "Mornin'!" whenever the door opens, and calling their customers "dear" as if they were family.

There's just not a whole lot of glory, though, in $1 tips.

While munching on raisin toast, I considered how easy it would be to compare Jesus to the staff at the House. After all, Jesus hung out with a rough crowd, performed a few dozen miracles, developed relationships with people, and all that stuff. As my eyes circled the room, I thought, Yeah, the Brit and her sisterhood are a lot like Jesus.

I looked at my watch, and quickly chased the last of my eggs with a gulp of coffee that warmed my soul. I had just met Jesus, and he's working at Waffle House.

Off to class I sped, with a trace of breakfast stuck on my book. Those saints were already starting to work on me. It's easy to be smug when you've got things figured out. It's even easier on a full stomach.

But it was only after the teacher told an illustration that I did a mental rewind to my 30 minutes at the House. Wait a minute. Jesus may have been at the House, but he wasn't serving tables.

I replayed the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 25) in my head. Jesus liked to speak in terms that rural poor people could understand. He told a story about sheep and goats to describe his followers. One group fed and clothed him and took him in, while the other did nothing. The sheep will inherit the kingdom, and the goats will not.

And then Jesus lowered the boom. "In as much as you did this for these, the least of my brothers, you did it for me."

Somewhere along the way, I had gotten it all wrong. I thought it was my calling to serve a big bowl of Jesus to those in need. Feed them. Clothe them. Show them hospitality. And in so doing, I would become a little more like Jesus.

No, the Brit and her friends were not a metaphor for Jesus after all, because Jesus was on the other side of the counter.

I remembered the trucker, the somber family, and the man in the parking lot. In my quest to be more like Jesus, I had missed him. The trucker spent many lonely miles on the road. The somber family looked like they may as well be alone together. And the man in the parking lot needed money for something. All grits...and no glory.

Maybe the Brit knew this all along. Jesus is not the one doing the serving as much as he is the one being served. It's all kind of confusing at times, but I do know that I'm headed back to the Waffle House. I want to see Jesus.

And I'd like a big bowl of grits.

The Amarillo Globe-News on 29th November formally announced what we already knew was coming: a new-and-improved shopping center at the location of the current Western Plaza. This comes hot on the heels of the announcement in the 18th November paper about The Shoppes at Southpointe.

Which again begs the question: can Amarillo's propensity to consume keep up with its propensity to sell?

I say yes.

One must consider a few facts: Amarillo's population is roughly 180,000, and the "metro" area is about 225,000. But our trade area includes most of the Texas Panhandle (409,000 people), the Oklahoma Panhandle, and parts of extreme southeast Colorado, southwest Kansas, far western Oklahoma, and far eastern New Mexico. In total, there are well over 500,000 people who shop on a somewhat regular basis in Amarillo.

Granted, folks from the outlying areas do not buy everything here. The proliferation of down-sized Wal-Mart Supercenters in towns like Hereford, Dumas, etc., is helping keep some dollars in those towns. But when it comes to major shopping expeditions (durables, cars, better clothing, etc.) Amarillo is a magnet. Furthermore, the restaurant, movie, gasoline, and motel industries all benefit from these out-of-town shoppers.

The plan is to demolish Western Plaza sometime in 2006 and replace it with 10 buildings housing a variety of retail, office, and restaurant operations. Graham Central Station will move to a new building to be located on the southeast corner of the property, and will do so seamlessly without any effect on their business. The new Graham's will be built first and thereby allow them to just move across the parking lot without having to temporarily close down.

Planned tenants at the new center (which is a typical "power center" layout, different from the "lifestyle center" at Southpointe) include Chick-Fil-A, la Madeleine, Red Robin, Starbucks, Petco, Lane Bryant, Mardel, TJ Maxx, Michael's, Office Depot, Books-a-Million, and others.

Naturally this announcement has caused another stir among Amarillo retail management. Wolflin Village will be hit with the planned departure of Office Depot. Westgate Mall would lose Lane Bryant. But the overall reaction was a little more upbeat than what was said about the Southpointe project.

I spent an hour on the phone last week with someone from the developer of Southpointe. Their plans are very ambitious, and include a lot of stores that are not currently in Amarillo. These shops are certainly in the mid- to upper-tiers of retailing and will likely attract a different audience than either Westgate Mall or Western Crossing. I have a copy of the site plan, and it is impressive to say the least.

Still, I think the Western Crossing has, for the moment at least, more highway exposure than does Southpointe. Daily traffic flows on I-27 near the Southpointe area were 57,000 cars daily in 2002. A 2000 study of I-40 in Amarillo reported 98,000 cars per day.

Granted, the vast majority of these cars are driven by local drivers, but there is more transient traffic on I-40 because of it being a transcontinental highway.

That said, the enormous amount of growth on Amarillo's south side, as well as in rural areas between Canyon and Amarillo, point to heavier traffic on I-27 in the future. TXDOT plans to widen I-27 to six lanes from Hillside in Amarillo, all the way to Canyon. The recent and future bridge projects were planned with that in mind, so that an additional lane can be added without more construction.

With the growth that Amarillo is poised to capture in the coming years from yet-to-be-announced projects, these new retail centers should both do well. This is all forward thinking for an area that will need much more in the near future. The out-of-town developers apparently know more than most local people are aware of, or else they wouldn't all be so bullish on Amarillo. Furthermore, the vocal small-minded people of Amarillo who are bad-mouthing these projects need to awaken and realize that their small town is changing.

As I teach in my Retailing class (and yes, we will have a lot of fun with this topic next spring!), stores follow people. The people have been coming to Amarillo for quite some time, and there has been little retail development in the past 15 years aside from a couple of power centers on Soncy Road. It's time to take it to the next level.

Dr "Build It And They Will Come" Gerlich

Coffee is hot. Colas are cold. While coffee sales have been reaching new highs in recent years, sales of colas have been slipping at about 6% per year.

So what's a soda company to do?

If you can't lick 'em, join 'em. And that's what Coca Cola is in the process of doing with its new Coca Cola Blak, a blend of cola and coffee. The oh-so-trendy painted aluminum bottle pictured at left is currently being test marketed in Spain, and is slated for US distribution in 2006. (If you haven't seen the aluminum bottle in action, check your c-store for Anheuser-Busch products in 16oz versions, or your liquor store for Iron City Beer from Pittsburgh in the smaller 12oz. versions, or stores everywhere for various fruit drinks like CapriSun).

Coca Cola is no stranger to canned coffee. Their Georgia Coffee is one of the best-selling canned coffees in the world (think Japan and Taiwan). Chilled coffee in a can may sound strange to Americans, but it is an incredible taste delight (especially with cream and sugar). Coke is clearly trying to leverage what they already know about coffee by pulling a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup-type trick.

And this is only the tip of the energy iceberg for Coke. They recently started distributing Von Diesel energy drinks in the hip camoflage cans, have plans for a Tab energy drink aimed at women, and a Powerade energy drink for tired athletes.

Coca Cola Blak begs the obvious question: Will it work? It's not that it hasn't already been tried. From 1994-1996 Pepsi Cola tested Pepsi Kona, which failed miserably (not too long after the failed Pepsi A.M. and flavored Pepsi versions). But it is possible that Pepsi Kona was simply ahead of its time, because the US coffee craze had not yet hit full stride. Perhaps 10 years later the market might be ready for a coffee-flavored Coke.

And for the sake of the Coca Cola Company, let's hope it is. They need all the buzz they can get.

Dr "Make Mine A Venti" Gerlich

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Thanks for coming. I hope your mind is open.

2005
December (3)

News and views about what's going down between Amarillo and Canyon. Business. Politics. Religion. Life. And probably a few other things.