chain restaurants vs. local

[Nerdius Maximus]

http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-12070-break-the-chains.html
This article pretty much nails it. I try to eat local more often than not, although sometimes a certain chain might be what I'm craving. Even then, though, the experience is ultimately not as satisfying. I can understand living in a smaller town and having fewer choices, but I can't understand people living in a metro area and always choosing say, Olive Garden over the little hole-in-the-wall Italian place that's been there for 40 years and makes their own sauce and pasta fresh every day and has way better food. People drive by those places every day and don't even notice that they're there, because there's no commercials or popup ads or IPod apps for them. Lol.

 

[USS Triumphant]

In my experience, going to the chain restaurants will usually get you a consistent midgrade experience. The locals have a chance of being really exceptional - or REALLY awful. We have several locals that we like right now, but our willingness to try a new one depends on how adventurous we're feeling.

Then, sometimes there is the fear of finding something really GOOD, because if I'm in a city 150 miles from home for business the last thing I want is to learn a new taste that I will crave when I get home. I'd rather just eat at Chili's, knowing I can eat there again when at home. (I have made this mistake in the past, and now there are places we drive 2 hours both ways for on special occassions!)

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

In my experience, going to the chain restaurants will usually get you a consistent midgrade experience. The locals have a chance of being really exceptional - or REALLY awful. We have several locals that we like right now, but our willingness to try a new one depends on how adventurous we're feeling.

Then, sometimes there is the fear of finding something really GOOD, because if I'm in a city 150 miles from home for business the last thing I want is to learn a new taste that I will crave when I get home. I'd rather just eat at Chili's, knowing I can eat there again when at home. (I have made this mistake in the past, and now there are places we drive 2 hours both ways for on special occassions!)

That's true. It can be risky. Most local places I've tried around here, though, have been really good, so I've been lucky. A lot of it's word of mouth, I think. We have a pretty diverse selection here, though, which is nice.
I do like Chili's, though. Their burgers are really good.

 

[Shatnertage]

I'm a big advocate of choosing local places over chains (usually), but I'm not so sure about the economic argument the author of the article the OP cited makes. Chain places are often owned by locally-based franchisers (or franchisees), so a lot of your money might be staying local. I'm sure whoever invested a big chunk of their money to buy the local Olive Garden franchise is going to be sending an angry letter to the editor.

Another reason why the chains do so well, I think, is family friendliness. Little kids are creatures of habit, and if you know they'll eat the specific mac and cheese that Panera serves, you'll go to Panera.

Living in Vegas I see some real manifestations of the way people prefer chains. The Strip has five-diamond restaurants and all kind of unique experiences, but the Denny's and Outback are always packed. Personally I wouldn't spend hundreds of dollars and travel thousands of miles to eat a Grand Slam Breakfast that I could get at home, but it's convenient and quick and people know what they're getting, so they go there.

 

[Holdfast]

My favourite local cafe/restaurant is already too busy at lunchtime; I'm all in favour of people choosing a chain instead.

More seriously, I don't think there are real shocks here: many people choose chains because of the consistent and predictable experience, something cemented by the high level of "mindspace" (for want of a better word) that they occupy through multi-level advertising.

Locals do well when they fill a niche not otherwise occupied by the chains (eg the aforementioned cafe provides significantly better coffee and food than the nearby chains) and so can build loyalty and word-of-mouth.

As an aside, this polarisation of the market is why mid-size operations find it so hard to thrive these days. You're either a small local operation filling a high-end (or otherwise unique) niche with loyal local customers, or a large operation fulfilling a mass-market experience with all the economy of scale involved in that. Organic unleveraged growth from local to large is extremely difficult, as the mid-range is very inefficient.

 

[Timby]

Outside of ordering from Domino's on a Sunday night every once in a blue moon, and stopping at a fast-food joint for food when we're on a long road trip, I don't think my wife and I have eaten at a chain in years.

I simply far prefer food that's cooked fresh in a kitchen, as opposed to everything arriving frozen and being reheated to order. Places like Chili's, TGI Fridays or Applebee's, and any of the Darden restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster) are just nauseating.

 

[Mr. B]

Living in Vegas I see some real manifestations of the way people prefer chains. ...but it's convenient and quick and people know what they're getting, so they go there.

Even living where I live, I can understand this. Corporations go to a lot of trouble to provide a consistent experience across their locations and they reap the benefits. When I'm on a road trip, I'm more likely to walk in a chain than a local place I know nothing about... unless I have occasion to look up reviews of a place online first.

Having said that, I live in one of the best towns for restaurants on the planet and I eat local all of the time. In New Orleans you can walk into practically any one of the 1000 restaurants in New Orleans and get a good meal. I'm had a few mediocre ones over the years, but never a bad one.

 

[Spot's Meow]

My reasons for choosing chain restaurants are quite clear. One, I prefer the impersonal nature of them. This is the same reason I prefer to do things like shop online. At local restaurants they want to chat with you more. For example I went to a local Italian restaurant with a friend where the waiters are actually Italian and they kept talking about their favorite dishes to us and calling us "bella." It made me pretty uncomfortable. I'd much rather go to a chain restaurant where I only have to see the waiter/waitress when they are asking if I want another drink refill. I like to be left alone when I eat or shop (or anytime really, I am not a people person ).

The second reason I choose chain restaurants is that I am a picky eater. With chains, you know exactly what you are getting in a dish and you don't feel as bad about customizing an order. I know I can go into any Red Robin and enjoy their teriyaki chicken sandwich, because I know exactly what is in it and that I have enjoyed them at other Red Robins. I also know that I can ask for no tomatoes and the pineapple on the side because the chef and waitress don't really give a damn, as opposed to a local family run operation where I feel like I might be offending them if I don't like their food the way they present it.

I should also mention that a lot of local food places, especially in this area, serve varieties of Asian foods, which I don't really like. Everyone keeps telling me to try this little Thai place in town, and that's not going to happen. I don't like Thai food and I doubt I ever will. So, local restaurants usually just don't fit my style. I prefer generalized American food, at which the chains are awesome.

It's also a hassle to park downtown, much easier to use the nice big parking lots of chains.

I should say my exception to all of this is Mexican food, which is much better at small locally run shops. I am fine with them because they do not attempt to include you in some insincere family gathering environment. They just bring you your good food and leave you alone, which I like.

I also wanted to point out that it bothers me when people assume that the food served at chain restaurants is automatically worse than the food served at local restaurants. I can't argue about nutritional value, since I know nothing about that, but in terms of pure taste, I have rarely been disappointed by the chains. I freaking love Olive Garden's manicotti and I haven't found a local restaurants' that I prefer.

I just thought of another reason why I like chains. Growing up, my family often went to chain restaurants over local ones, so I am very much used to them. I love that, even though I have moved away from my hometown, I can go into any Chili's and feel at home again.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I just eat wherever I find food that I like (and, preferably, is close to where I live). If it's a chain, so be it. If it's local, then that's fine too. Neither is automatically better than the other.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

I have come to realize that, living in Boston for 20+ years now, my perspective on this topic has become incredibly skewed. In this part of the country (Boston Metro, in particular), national chain restaurants (such as Olive Garden and its ilk) are incredibly rare and are, in fact, pretty much looked down upon (rightly or wrongly, I am not presuming to say - just reporting the facts.) Local is it for pretty much everyone I know, at all levels of the socioeconomic scale. There aren't even that many fast food chains (such as McDonalds, Wendy's, BK, etc.) except in the downtown business area, and in the farther flung parts of those "villages that comprise Boston" that border on the actual suburbs. The one exception would be "local chains", such as Legal Seafoods (which has become somewhat national), Boston Beerworks, and maybe a local pizza chain or two. And, I confess, this perspective has most definitely infected my own personal thinking, for the better I believe. When I travel to an unfamiliar place, I seek out the local eateries instead of familair chains. There's always the chance of having a less than satisfying meal, of course. But, in my experience, the very pleasant surprises far, far outnumber the opposite.

Oddly, if you drive even 15 - 20 miles outside downtown Boston, you'll find Olive Gardens, TGIFridays, Cheesecake Factories,etc., galore, and all very heavily patronized. Interesting dichotomy.

Ironically (to me, anyway), I grew up on a place that was the complete opposite. I'm visiting my family in my home state in a week, and I am looking forward with some trepidation to the inevitable meals at Chile's, the Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory, Applebee's, etc. I don't mean to sound like a snob; I'm truly not in most aspects of my life. But, well ..., yeah, I guess in this I sort of am. I'd rather try the new organic place on the corner downtown. But, my family tends to not like things that are "different". Cookiecutter is much more to their liking. And I do have to confess there is some comforting sense of "being home" about going to those places with the family.

 

[sojourner]

If you like chains then I would recommend moving to Orlando, Florida. The town that Disney built is choked with chain restaurants. Heck, companies use Orlando as a test market for new chains.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Then, sometimes there is the fear of finding something really GOOD, because if I'm in a city 150 miles from home for business the last thing I want is to learn a new taste that I will crave when I get home. I'd rather just eat at Chili's, knowing I can eat there again when at home. (I have made this mistake in the past, and now there are places we drive 2 hours both ways for on special occassions!)

Huh, what? I can't think of anything better than that, that's fucking perfect! I'm not a foodie by any stretch or whatever, but some of my best food memories are about restaurants in places I visited once and never again. Having the memory of a great meal forever is as good as it gets, why would you deny yourself that?

 

[SG-17]

There isn't a local "Mexican" restaurant near where I live, but there is a Taco Bell less than 5 minutes drive away. I always get the munchies for Taco Bell.

 

[Timby]

I can't argue about nutritional value, since I know nothing about that, but in terms of pure taste, I have rarely been disappointed by the chains. I freaking love Olive Garden's manicotti and I haven't found a local restaurants' that I prefer.

You love something doused in butter, cream and salt, and is therefore as bland and inoffensive as humanly possible? Shocking! Honestly, though, you're the ideal customer for chains, and the reason they're able to stay in business -- you have a very limited palate with no interest in expanding it, so you stay inside the field of what you know.

Allow me to explain further, though. The problem with chain restaurants is that there really is no thing as a "chef." The recipes are sent down from the corporate office, in an effort to make everything taste consistent across the brand, with the recipes planned so as to make everything as inoffensive and non-memorable as possible while minimizing food costs.

So when you walk into a local Chili's (or whatever), you're not sitting down and picking from a menu that's been crafted through a love of food. It's coming off an assembly line, prepared by shitty line cooks who have the routine and system so thoroughly drilled into their heads that they know when to add an ingredient, but they have no idea why they're doing it, or what flavor it's adding to the dish, what have you. It's like the difference between eating a packaged hamburger from the gas station, and going to a restaurant and getting a burger made from a hand-packed patty of sirloin and chuck. The former may be edible, but that doesn't make it good.

And there's a real taste difference between, say, Olive Garden, where everything arrives frozen and is tossed into the microwave (same thing at Applebee's, where the steaks are frozen until tossed onto a hotplate), and a local restaurant where the sauces was made an hour or two prior to dinner service and the meats are seasoned, prepped and cooked to order. Maybe it's because I spent so long in food & beverage, but mass-produced Sysco items, especially the deep-fried offerings, are absolutely disgusting to me.

When I was in Baltimore on business last November, I didn't get to my hotel until 8:30 p.m. I could have gone to the Subway across the street and grabbed dinner there, but I decided to grab my phone, look for nearby restaurants, walked eight blocks and had an amazing crab cake dinner from a nice little diner. Got a little exercise after being on planes all day long, had a fantastic dinner, saw some of the city -- experiences I never would have had if I had decided to get an Italian BMT or whatever the Christ it is Subway serves.

At the end of the day, just in my own lifestyle, I'll always try something new instead of going with food that, to me, is boring.

 

[Spot's Meow]

^I agree with everything you've said, but of course I choose my foods for different reasons. I love comfort foods, things that remind me of my past or that I've eaten many times before. I try new things, but it is rare that I find something new that I like. It's not always the case, sometimes new dishes will surprise me, but usually I am thinking, "this would taste so much better without this, or this, or this." What can I say, I'm picky! Also, consistency is not boring to me, it is comforting.

Also, the food at local places being lovingly chosen is one of the reasons I feel bad eating there - I feel guilty about asking them to change or leave things off the plate when I know they put a lot of thought and effort into making the dish just so. I don't like to impose my pickiness on others, so I prefer to go somewhere where they won't care if I want things changed.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

I eat wherever the food tastes good. Period.

There is nothing about being "local" that guarantees a restaurant will be great. The people running the place could be putting out food that is terrific or food that is terrible. The problem is, you don't know which, unless you've been there before or been told by friends or trusted reviewers. And even then, you've no guarantee that the same people will still be running the place when you go back next week.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Beside the once-in-a-blue-moon escapade to McDonald's and Burger King, I don't think I've ever dined in a chain restaurant. Actually, I don't think we even have "chain restaurants" here: you might find a few venues under the same banner and with more or less the same menu, but that's as much chain-y as you get.

I can understand craving a standardized meal sometimes (the reason why I have McDonalds once-in-a-while when I'm abroad: after all those different dishes and tastes, I want something usual to "reset" my palate before starting again), but having the same dinners again and again is one of my definitions of hell.

For example I went to a local Italian restaurant with a friend where the waiters are actually Italian and they kept talking about their favorite dishes to us and calling us "bella." It made me pretty uncomfortable.

That's not "local restaurant" service, that's crappy service. A waiter should respect your privacy and your level of comfort: if you want to chat, he'll chat; if you want to be left alone and eat your food, he will leave you alone. Otherwise, he's doing a bad job. Waiters trying to chat me up almost never happened to me, and that's not something you usually get in Italy: in fact, I was surprised to learn that in the US some people want to chat with the waiters and be pampered like babies. If I hadn't read it on this very board, it would have never occurred to me. Moreover, I strongly suspect that those guys were trying to be "more Italian than Italians" to meet the expectations of the usual American public. You most likely found yourself in the middle of a mismatch of cultural expectations.

Then, sometimes there is the fear of finding something really GOOD, because if I'm in a city 150 miles from home for business the last thing I want is to learn a new taste that I will crave when I get home. I'd rather just eat at Chili's, knowing I can eat there again when at home. (I have made this mistake in the past, and now there are places we drive 2 hours both ways for on special occassions!)

Huh, what? I can't think of anything better than that, that's fucking perfect! I'm not a foodie by any stretch or whatever, but some of my best food memories are about restaurants in places I visited once and never again. Having the memory of a great meal forever is as good as it gets, why would you deny yourself that?

Quoted for motherfucking truth!

 

[777]

Then, sometimes there is the fear of finding something really GOOD, because if I'm in a city 150 miles from home for business the last thing I want is to learn a new taste that I will crave when I get home. I'd rather just eat at Chili's, knowing I can eat there again when at home. (I have made this mistake in the past, and now there are places we drive 2 hours both ways for on special occassions!)

Huh, what? I can't think of anything better than that, that's fucking perfect! I'm not a foodie by any stretch or whatever, but some of my best food memories are about restaurants in places I visited once and never again. Having the memory of a great meal forever is as good as it gets, why would you deny yourself that?

Precisely why I rather avoid local joints; it is more torturous to know you will never be able experience that divine dish again, than to rather never know and only be familiar with readily available foods; to have that lifelong craving for a great dish, and never be able to satiate yourself on it again, ugh, no thanks. Memory be damned, it is not the same as the real thing. I am no advocate of "better to have loved and lost"

 

[Goliath]

I don't mind chain restaurants. In fact, I ate at one yesterday.

But I like to go to local restaurants too. And my experience has been much the same as USS Triumphant's. Sometimes it's better than a chain. Sometimes it sucks.

This town actually has some pretty off-the-wall little restaurant's. There was Olga's Kozak Kitchen, which looked like a Ukrainian buffet set up in someone's living room, and which seemed to open and close randomly. There is Indian Summer, an Indian buffet in a former seafood restaurant, which kept the seafood decor for the first couple of years it was open. There's Simon's Gallery Grill, in a former jewelry store--still has the display cases up. And there's the Vietnamese/Greek place--come for the pho, stay for the moussaka!

But my favourite is Ali Baba's--a Libyan restaurant. Ali is the chef. He doesn't have nearly enough staff--he even has his ex-wife waiting tables--but somehow manages to provide both good food and good service.

And he's just an odd little guy. One of my colleagues was a regular at Ali Baba's, but he's leaving for a new post in Ottawa. We went there for one last lunch a couple of weeks ago, and when Ali learned that Stephen was leaving, he started giving him advice on where to get good Middle-Eastern food in Ottawa. "Just don't go to the restaurants run by Arabs," he said. "Go to the ones run by Jews. Much cleaner, much nicer."

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

I would rather go to a local restaurant than a national franchise When I was traveling 3 weeks out of 4, I told the woman who approved my expenses that if she saw a Chili's or the like on my report to not approve it.

Sure, you know what you're going to get going to a chain, but why leave home to do that.

I found a great bbq place that was open until they ran out of food. The parking lot was packed every time I went there. I found another place in another town where I had the best grilled rainbow trout ever.