Tricks of the Trade - Fast food outlets

Barring the recession it has been the MALL-story that has been hitting the headlines these days.As according to statistics there are over 575 Malls catering to over 10 Mn urbanites; with an average foot-fall of over 4000 people/day.
And it has been the restaurant business which has piggy-banked under the guise of food-courts across these Malls that have been hitting the cash-registers (or have all of them really been doing good ?). So here i am to talk about the story of the tortoise and the hare of the fast-food outlets :

To begin with; there are many similarities b/w both the fast-food chains & book publishing; just as you would not buy a book unless you believe the flashy (mostly mis-quoted) back-page reviews in the similar vein you would with a higher probability visit a food outlet already crammed with customers rather than try out something which is both obscure(far-eastern dishes) or un-touched.

This was what i observed when i went to a nearby Mall :-


If you can notice how the McDonalds is brimming with customers while other outlets would still be catering to the occasional bugs and ants.
This was an eureka moment for all the marketing junta patting themselves on their back for their 300 Cr of advertisement budget well spent....

But once again i did notice a nearby stall across the corner also brimming with salivating people across the counter; and ended up ordering a mini-thali from this Dosa-Plaza :

In fact only these two outlets (McD & DP) were actually doing business across the 30 odd food-stations; and i felt so compelled to start a david .vs. goliath story until i discovered their modus-operandi
The mini-thali that i ordered took almost 20 mins to be delivered and until that time i had to wait across the counter maintaining my gentlemanly poise; and most of the people waiting across the counter were those afflicted with similar delays.... and since there were so many of us waiting across the counter this in-fact brought in more customers to DP ???

So here is the learning for the day :-
Why spend your money on marketing when you can accomplish the same with lousy service ???