Know your market

Utah has the lowest incidence of smoking of any state, because of the dictum against tobacco use on the part of the LDS church, which dominates the state.  Speedway, once owned by Marathon, now 7-11, promotes its cigarettes as the lowest price in town.

The Mormons also have potentially the blandest palate in the U.S.  I joke about "Utah hot" versus "hot" when it comes to spicy foods.  The dish at St. Marks Hospital that I thought was restaurant quality, gets the most complaints for being too spicy.

Houston TX Hot Chicken is a food chain brand owned by private equity, one of those companies that owns multiple brands.  They had a different chicken banner here, but changed it to "hot chicken."  Whenever I look in the windows of the store, it seems empty.  I imagine it will remain so.  I wonder what will replace it.

Salt Lake City's 9th and 9th neighborhood.

In both instances, I suppose the firms could be aiming for a strategy of control of the market/dominance--all the paltry sales of cigarettes that exist in Salt Lake City, and an urban market with a greater diversity of population than the state majority Mormons, who may like spicy food disproportionately.