Well, the holidays are come and gone. I hope everybody had a memorable time. We sure did.
So, with all that behind us, I hope to return to the (new for me) normal, and
maybe concentrate on food for a change. I’ve
been turning the discussion of the topic below over in my head a lot lately,
and I wanted to get into it a bit without distractions of medical or holiday
nature.
A subject I have danced with for a long time is the subject
of “chain” restaurants. I have been
taken to task occasionally for always running down “chains” and not pushing the
many local independently operated restaurants around here. Almost the same thing in my mind, damning by
faint praise, but it may be a fair comment.
Although I think I’ve brushed on it in the past, I should narrow
down the subject a bit; for the present discussion I offer what I would
define as “chain”. Generally, I would
consider a chain restaurant as one that has multiple locations nationwide, a
national headquarters, and pretty much the same menu at all locations. Most of their food is prepared at a regional
center, and distributed to all the venues. McDonald's would be an example of what I am thinking of.
There are some advantages to his approach. If you’re on a business trip, or traveling in
unfamiliar territory, it is comforting knowing you can go to say, Olive Garden and get the same
identical bread sticks or endless salad you’re used to no surprises. More later, but like Mr. Sietsema says: “You can
sit down at Denny’s and get the same fluffy pancakes whether you’re in Miami
and Minneapolis”. Food quality, décor, speed
of service, and prices are probably the same in either place. Consistency is what they aim for. Close your eyes, and once you walk in the
door at Cracker Barrel you could be anywhere..
And before I go further, I have to state that some of my
opinions are just that, opinions or beliefs.
I have never been associated with any particular business, but a few contrasts
I see between “local” and “chains” would be:
(Your) Money does not all stay within the local economy. A portion goes to “headquarters”. With hundreds of outlets, if one restaurant
fails or does poorly, revenues from 15 others can lessen the hurt without
killing the enterprise. If a local
restaurant struggles, they’re on their own.
If food arrives via 18 wheelers, local farmers get no
benefit.
Delivered food offers no opportunity for creativity in the
kitchen, how a dish should be prepared and finished is dictated in the name of
consistency.
A local chef must find financing on their own, with a
massive corporation behind them, chains can bankroll a certain amount of the cost.
Of course the great leveler is the murky subject of “service”. Whoever approaches your table can enhance or
detract from your experience. My only
thought along these lines are that in a multi-state chain, most servers are
just doing a “job”. Of course they want
you to enjoy your meal but have no stake in the business. If you work in a small independent place your
actions can affect the bottom line. If
it fails, you do also. In the chain you
can just move down the street and try again.
This of course is a gross generalization, but you get the idea, I think
there is a kernel of truth here.
So anyway those are some thoughts. What kind of triggered this was a piece that
appeared in the December 13 Food Section of the Washington Post. My model, Mr. Sietsema, rated the nation’s 10
top chain restaurants, as a result of multiple visits to each. I kind of hate to do this to you, but if I launch
into that piece, your eyes will probably further glaze over, so we’ll save that
for the next posting. Just to throw you
a crumb his number one of the ten (which surprised me) is a place has a front
porch with rocking chairs.
Wonderful News
A bit of local news, I have heard from a few sources that the
previous home of Café Des Artistes and La Rive Breton will now be ANOTHER Tex
Mex emporium, perhaps associated with the Plaza Azteca Group. And on the other corner, it is still dark…
You’ll have to now decide what is the Leonardtown
DFD
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