Waiting.

Line culture at Franklin ...

There are discussions on websites like Chowhound on the subject of selling spots in line. How do you feel about that?

That's so wrong. Wow, that's wrong. We have this customer who's the first to get here every Saturday. He comes out with his laptop and a lawn chair at about 7:45, and it keeps getting earlier and earlier every week. He lives in California, but he flies in every Friday night to see his wife. He comes in and gets enough food to last the week.

He came in one day and told me, "Last weekend, this guy waiting was talking about selling his spot. The line shut him down pretty quickly, saying they'd beat the shit out of him and his friend."

What if people are actually doing it.

[Laughs a ton] If we knew who they were, we'd tell them it wasn't cool. There are so many people who come wait, have fun, make friends, eat together. A lot of people show up on mornings and start seeing the same people. They get to know each other. They bring each other bagels.

It's kind of like a rock and roll parking lot or tailgating. It's a scene. The great thing about it is that it weeds out the impatient people.

We've been putting out a sold out sign maybe thirty minutes before we open. People show up at like 7AM and bring lawn chairs and ice chests full of beer. There's like 200 people out there before we open.