O'Connor Burger (2)
It felt like I’d somehow become a startup consultant—first at Blackwood, and now again here.
I didn’t know why everyone kept shying away from work that was, in the end, their own responsibility. It was exhausting, really. Annoying, too.
“O'Connor Burger is on the expensive side when it comes to ingredients, so I don’t think it’s a great fit for a food truck.”
People tended to prefer food trucks for simple, cheap meals.
But the O'Connor Burger alone cost nine dollars. For a hamburger, that was expensive.
“It’ll be fine. It’s not like the people around here are short on money, and if the taste and the novelty are there, they’ll buy it gladly. If we call it a ‘Manhattan specialty’ or ‘New York’s best hamburger,’ wouldn’t people flock to it?”
Sean O'Connor looked flustered.
“Uh, well, our place isn’t that famous yet.”
At this point in time, it was nothing more than a hamburger sold in a small pub. But a few years later, it would become a burger enjoyed by people all over the world.
“That’s how promotion works. And from what I’ve tasted, it’s not even a lie.”
“There’s more than a little we’d need.”
“We can buy the food truck. As for the key ingredients like the buns and patties, we can just have them sent from headquarters... no, from home, right?”
“Well, yes, but...”
So I told the hesitant man, “Just try it for one month. That’s enough time to think up your next business idea, and with the app you just made, you can handle location tracking and promotion. I’ll fund it.”
Fernando asked cautiously, “How much are we talking?”
Unlike when I’d met him at the pub, I had money in my pocket now.
“I’ll cover the purchase of the food truck, the operating costs, and all the initial expenses. I’ll even support turning it into a franchise.”
At that, the two of them gaped at me.
“Huh!”
For a founder who was short on cash, an investor was king.
* * *
Sean and Fernando moved fast.
First, they picked up a used food truck and applied for an operating permit. While Fernando gave the truck a thorough makeover, Sean sat with his phone in front of him, thinking hard.
I wanted to succeed and come back with my head held high.
Somehow, just a few months in, he’d ended up in a position where he had to go back to his family for help. It was at least a relief that he wasn’t asking to borrow money, only to have ingredients sent over.
He took a deep breath and made the call.
“Hello, Father.”
[What is it?]
“I’ve got something to ask you.”
[And that would be?]
“I’m thinking of starting a food truck with a friend, and I was hoping you could send over the hamburger ingredients.”
[A food truck? What about the company?]
Sean explained the situation honestly.
“I worked hard, but it didn’t pan out. So I’m going to try again with a food truck.”
There was a short silence.
He’s not going to tell me to come home right now, is he?
He was still trying to think of how to persuade his father when the reply came back immediately.
[Understood. I’ll make them right away and send them over.]
“Ah, thank you.”
[Hmph. Don’t thank me for that. Just make sure you stay warm and take care of yourself in this weather.]
Before hanging up, Sean said, “You take care of yourself too, Father. I’ll come home and visit sometime soon.”
* * *
Carl O'Connor, the owner of O'Connor Pub, hung up with calm composure.
Before Sean had even called, he’d already prepared a mountain of sauce, patties, and everything else needed. They were packed and ready; all that was left was to send them by air freight.
The reason he’d been able to prepare in advance was because his daughter had come by and given him a heads-up.
Looking at her, he said, “I think I made too much. Do you really think Sean can sell all this?”
Trish shook her head.
“Mr. Miru said the more, the better.”
She remembered the call she’d had with Han Miru.
She’d thought he was calling to feed her another scoop so soon after the Blackwood ransomware incident had ended, but then he’d suddenly brought up something completely out of the blue.
He wants to turn O'Connor Burger into a global franchise?
If anyone else had said that, she would have written them off as a con artist.
But Han Miru was different.
The moment she heard it, she realized it might actually be possible.
Come to think of it, even he fails sometimes.
Nothing he had invested in had gone badly. No—more than that, every single thing had been a stunning success that defied imagination.
This might be the only failure he’d ever had.
And yet, a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
It’s a little suspicious that he waited until now to suggest selling O'Connor Burger through a food truck. He isn’t planning this from the beginning, is he?
* * *
Once the ingredients arrived, Sean and Fernando practiced their movements inside the cramped food truck, trying to coordinate their workflow.
Originally, O'Connor Burger had been sold at the pub. Because of that, it had been served with dark beer, but a food truck couldn’t sell alcohol.
And it wasn’t easy to have beer shipped all the way from home, either.
“If we just sell it with cola, I don’t think it’ll stand out much from other burgers.”
Fernando offered an idea.
“How about orange juice?”
“Orange juice?”
“California means oranges, doesn’t it? Instead of some mass-produced juice, we could sell it with fresh-squeezed orange juice.”
They tried making it that way and eating it together, and it paired even better than they’d expected.
Still, Sean couldn’t shake his concern.
“There are famous food trucks and well-known restaurants all around here. Do you really think O'Connor Burger will sell in a place like this?”
He’d been eating O'Connor Burger since he was a kid. Because of that, he had never thought of it as anything especially remarkable.
But Fernando, who’d tried the burger Sean made, saw things very differently.
“What are you talking about? It looks like it’ll sell like crazy.”
“The price is too high, too. If we want to compete with other food trucks, I think we’d have to knock it down by about three dollars.”
“Even at that price, there won’t be much profit after ingredient costs. Don’t worry about it. Once people start lining up to buy, you’ll see.”
“I hope so.”
In any case, once they’d finished preparing, the two of them drove the food truck out for its first day of business.
Sean let out a sigh in his heart.
Ugh. I can’t believe I came all the way to Silicon Valley to sell hamburgers.
Unlike the grim Sean, Fernando was humming cheerfully.
Why am I so excited? Is this... my true calling?
* * *
After the Blackwood ransomware incident, Snow Crash had secured a number of major clients.
Having more customers was great, but it also meant more work.
There was the cloud system we were building for the FBI and the NSA, the system and app development for Blackwood’s move into hospitality sharing, and on top of that, a full overhaul of ZWS’s security system.
The employees were practically screaming under the weight of the workload.
The busiest one of all was none other than the CEO.
Syd barely rested at all, throwing himself into work nonstop. Watching him, the other employees could only feel awe.
Even the people who called themselves geniuses usually ended up humbled the moment they watched Syd work and realized they were nothing more than ordinary human beings.
When I tapped his shoulder, Syd took off the headphones he’d been wearing and looked up at me.
“Oh! You’re here, hyung?”
I lifted the bag in my hand.
“Lunch. I brought hamburgers.”
“I still need to finish what I’m working on.”
“Eat first. You look like you’re about to collapse.”
I led Syd to the break room.
“What about cola?”
“They’re selling it with orange juice. Try it together.”
It was hard to sell beer from a food truck, so instead of dark beer, that was the choice they’d made.
Once they had a proper storefront later on, they could sell both.
Syd tore open the wrapper, took a bite, and his eyes widened.
“Oh!”
“What is it?”
“This is insanely good.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s the best hamburger I’ve ever had. What kind of burger is this?”
I told him the name.
“It’s an O'Connor Burger.”
“Ah! This is the O'Connor Burger you told me about before?”
“Yeah. We started food truck sales today, and I think it’s going to do well, don’t you?”
Syd nodded as he chewed.
“Yeah. If it were me, I’d buy it every day.”
In fact, Syd was known to like O'Connor Burger.
I smiled.
“Then I’ll tell them to open the first franchise branch near Snow Crash.”
* * *
Silicon Valley was packed with big-name IT companies and corporate research labs.
And true to its reputation as a cradle of startups, it was also full of small firms with only a handful of employees.
Larry Carville was one of those people. He’d started a startup with four coworkers. Fortunately, development was going smoothly, and investor inquiries kept rolling in.
For a service to succeed, it had to launch faster than its competitors. There was never enough time.
“I’ll go out and grab something to eat.”
When lunchtime came, Larry headed for the open lot where the food trucks had gathered, taking over for his coworkers.
The food trucks famous for their taste already had long lines snaking in front of them.
With no choice, he walked up to the truck with almost no line at all. Two young men were selling hamburgers there.
The price was nine dollars for a single burger. Fifteen for a set.
No way. Why is it so expensive?
Normally he wouldn’t have bought it, but he was hungry and short on time. The set came with freshly squeezed orange juice instead of cola.
Hamburger and orange juice. Does that even go together?
“Five to go, please.”
He took the hamburgers back to the office.
“Let’s eat.”
“What burgers are these?”
“A new food truck opened up out front, so I figured I’d give it a try.”
“Oh?”
His coworkers each picked one up.
“Huh! There’s scrambled egg in here.”
“Hmm, it doesn’t look that great.”
“I wonder if it tastes good.”
They all started eating with expressions that said they didn’t expect much.
But the moment they took a bite... every one of them made the same face.
“Oh!”
“What is this?”
“Is this flavor coming from the egg?”
“The bun’s a little unusual, too.”
It wasn’t that it hit them with some unimaginable, overwhelming taste. But there was a distinct uniqueness to it, something they’d never felt in any other hamburger.
This burger is different!
“It tastes even better with the orange juice.”
“I’ve never had anything this good before.”
“There was a food truck like this near the office?”
The chatter died down after a moment.
Before long, everyone had fallen silent and started eating, savoring every bite. Even the coworker who’d claimed he wasn’t that hungry finished one whole burger.
Another coworker asked Larry, “Where did you say you bought this?”
“From the food truck in the lot at the intersection up front.”
“What’s the name?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
They hurriedly checked the wrapper and the bag. But nowhere was there a business name written down.
“Wait a second. We just ate the best hamburger of our lives and we don’t even know its name?”
“If it’s a food truck, it might not even be there tomorrow.”
“I feel like I could eat this every day.”
“What if we never get to have it again?”
This was no time to keep working!
Larry and his coworkers ran back to where they’d bought the hamburgers, but lunchtime was already over, and the food truck that had been there was long gone.
Larry shouted in shock, “No, no!”
* * *
Silicon Valley was the center of American industry.
Investors and founders alike were bored with the old and always searching for something new. Food was no exception.
Rumors about O'Connor Burger spread instantly through social media.
The hamburger from New York hit Silicon Valley’s tastes dead-on. Within days, people on local community boards were talking about it nonstop.
Then all kinds of comments started pouring in.
The rumor spread even farther from there.
Before long, O'Connor Burger had become a burger people either had to try at least once or couldn’t stop talking about. And with that, the first chapter of its legend began to take shape.