Is Shake Shack's IPO a good thing? [View all]

[jmowreader]

Tomorrow Shake Shack will go public. (Shake Shack, for those of us who don't keep up with the East Coast, is a very small chain of very small hamburger restaurants known for good food and extremely long lines.)

My feeling is, this isn't such a great thing. Here's why:

1) No first-mover advantage. There are a LOT of these kinds of places on the market already.
2) New Yorkers and Bostonians will stand in line for an hour for a hamburger. People in Ohio or Minnesota probably will not.
3) Their food might be "fast food" priced in New York City, but in Montana that's sit-down money.
4) There is NO guarantee McDonald's won't create a "hamburger boutique" chain within their own system. They've got the supply chain and - more important - the huge amount of money it would take to build a better-burger brand. (No, it wouldn't be "Mickey D's serves fancier food. They tried that shit and it didn't work. This would be a whole new label.)