Competition and coexistence in the fast-food restaurant guild

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• Fast food restaurants form a guild
• sympatric
• similar morphology
• similar behavior
• similar foraging strategy
• similar resource requirements

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• under these circumstances we expect
  manifestations of interspecific competition
• niche partitioning
• major niche axis of diversification
• foraging strategy
• menu offerings

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• Five major thrusts of adaptive radiation
• seafood specialists
• Mexican food specialists
• chicken specialists
• sandwich generalists
• hamburger generalists

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
seafood specialists
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
Mexican food specialists
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
parts is parts
kfc
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
sandwich generalists
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
hamburger generalists
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• high overlap within some types, relatively low
  species diversity
• clear separation in menu offerings especially
  among three species groups
• high overlap among hamburger and sandwich
  generalists
• but also high species diversity
• this is a paradox -- how can this occur?

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• Arbys is a sandwich specialist
• no burgers, relatively few kinds of sandwiches
• narrow niche breadth, low overlap

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• Hardees and Jack-in-the-Box are
  hamburger/sandwich generalists
• broad niche overlap with each other and with
  hamburger generalists
• these species tend to be allopatric - overlap is
  too great to permit coexistence
• competitive exclusion, local extinction

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
local extinction is an issue
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• high overlap among hamburger generalists
• but also high species diversity
• this is a paradox -- how can this occur?

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• The big three -- Wendys, Burger King, and
  McDonalds
• Originally were hamburger specialists
• niche diversification
• Broadening of menu offerings
• Wendys has more breadth than BK and McDs

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• Active competition between McDonalds and Burger
  King
• How is this competition manifested?

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
Number of franchises Revenues x 106 Profits x 106 Advertising x 106
McDonalds 8901 3761 433 (11.5) 686 (18.2)
Burger King 4225 1410 221 (15.7) 251 (17.8)
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• Interspecific competition is a driving force in
  divergent evolution and adaptive radiation
• what is the evolutionary history of FFRs?

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild

• The common ancestor of the FFRs was the hamburger
  stand
• plesiomorphic condition
• broad menu, no inside seating, carhop service
• relict populations can still be found

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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
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Competition and coexistence in the fast-food
restaurant guild
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McDonalds FFR hamburger specialist
Sonic drive-in hamburger generalist
Del Rancho ancestral drive-in generalist
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McDonalds FFR hamburger specialist
Sonic drive-in hamburger generalist
Del Rancho ancestral drive-in generalist
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derived species groups
hamburger generalists McDonalds Burger
King Wendys Whataburger Burger Street
seafood specialists Long John Silvers Captain Ds
sandwich generalists Jack in the
Box Hardees Arbys
Mexican specialists Taco Bueno Taco Bell Taco
Mayo Taco Cabana
chicken specialists Churchs KFC Popeyes
McDonalds FFR hamburger specialist
Sonic drive-in hamburger generalist
Del Rancho ancestral drive-in generalist
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