Afternoon all,
Just like Kim Kardashian, mom and pop restaurants are the latest comeback story.
From this Bloomberg News article I learned that consumers are moving from Olive Garden, to your local Italian restaurant.
From the article,
“This really seems to be the dawning of the era of the independent. The independents and small chains are now outperforming. The big chains are now lagging.”
Now I am not a hipster who only eats at local, organic, gluten free, soy, farm to table, grass fed, vegetarian restaurants, but I do actually prefer going to a locally owned restaurant rather than a chain. And rather than go to lets say a Cheesecake Factory, I'd prefer to go to a local restaurant that someone I know in that area recommends. (Unless I want avocado egg rolls)
The irony in all of this is that I prefer going to Starbucks or Petes Coffee, not a local coffee shop that all of the hipsters hang out at. I'm sure the coffee there is great, but I don't really want to listen to 8 people talk about their pursuit of an art career when all they do is run an Instagram page that contains nothing other than food they didn't even cook.
Does anyone prefer to go to a chain vs. a local place? In what situations would you rather go to a chain? What is the best/worst experience at a local restaurant?
For me, I prefer local depending on the type of food. Coffee and Bagels I will go anywhere, but chains are fine and more convenient. Anything else I would prefer a local place, especially Pizza surprisingly. I cant eat fast food chain pizza anymore as I have been blessed with incredible local pizza at home, on travel, and in my college town. My best experience at a local restaurant was when a friend recommended a New York style pizza place. Going to school in the south and having been to New York a handful of times I didn't except a whole lot. Until I was absolutely blown away by it. Best pizza I have had in my life. The owner actually moved down to the south with his wife from the Bronx, where he used to run a pizza place, and just did the same thing here. However my worst, in the same town, was waiting about 40 minutes for "The best burger in town" to ultimately realize that for the price and for the waiting time, I would have been just as happy going to 5 guys.
Would love to hear your responses.
I have strong preferences on where my bagels come from. H&H or bust.
Have not lived in a big city long for an extended period of time so I cannot unfortunately have a preferred bagel place. However cooking an egg cheddar bacon bagel really isn't that tough.
didn't H&H go bust. First the one on 80th street and Broadway then the one by the Westside Highway?
Yeah, new owners now, they reopened on the UES on 2nd Ave between 80th and 81st. Still as good as the original namesake.
I completely agree. I also notice the price points at big chains (mentioned Cheesecake Factory and Starbucks) are higher than better quality local restaurants/coffee shops. Not true all the time, especially at the high end obviously, but can usually find better value away from big chains. There's this great local restaurant called A Food Affair in Los Angeles, #1 ranked on Yelp over a 10 sq mile radius. A bit pricey but authentic French food.
I think what people are looking for, especially if they have some disposable income, is authenticity and new experiences when they go out to eat. Unless you just love Chipotle (as I used to...guilty) and won't try anything else. Both in fast casual and sit-down. I've also noticed the lines for non-chain brunch places on weekends are always out the door.
Lets not go insane here... Chipotle is incredible. Yes I have had very authentic mexican food (im from CA) but man Chipotle is just perfect for 8 bucks and 5 minutes of my time.
Honestly, Chipotle sucks. I don't understand the hype.
Where is A Food Affair at? My favorite has to be JAR which is more low key than other celebrity chef restaurants.
almost always prefer local or regional stuff for food. the only chains I go to regularly are yard house, b.good, and restaurants my clients suggest (e.g. ruth's chris). maybe it's because I like ethnic food, and that stuff is almost always one family with one or two locations and that's it.
rarely go to dunkin or sbux unless I'm in a rush, I prefer to make coffee at home. I think coffee shops are gigantic ripoffs.
Yardhouse is a solid chain, id agree there. Brewing coffee at home via Keurig is amazing as well and I do this about 6 out of 7 days a week.
Buying a bagel from a chain in NYC is basically a sin!!!!
At home I typically go to chains. On the road I try to get local food that I won't be able to have near home
For me, the only chains are around my neck.
Ian Connor, that you? (ps:- reference from username)
For me, the only chains is around my neck. FTFY
It depends where you are. For me in LA/SD/SF, the local food is 1000% better than a chain. But I'm guessing in Iowa places like chili's, yardhouse, Starbucks & panda express is really exciting
Dunno why MS'ed but true.
Someone must really love those chili's baby back ribs #triggered
This is an insightful comment. It all depends where you are. If you're in NYC for instance, you would have to be clinically retarded to believe that a chain is ever your best option. But in bumblefuck nowhere, probabaly better to steer clear of the "local" joints in favor of chains that are known quantities and reliably adequate
This applies for travelling anywhere in the world. When I was in India for a week, I had to rely on McDonald's and KFC for a quick afternoon lunch, because the hotel was far, the port company's food sucked, and the locals were cooking stuff right on the highway. I honestly am one of the most tolerant persons when it comes to streetfood - I've tasted stuff like Baba Ghanoush in Beirut's streets, weird rubbery noodles in Cairo, Chinese food in Beijing and Latin American streetfood. But I can't stand poor hygienic norms.
It varies. When I'm traveling, I try to go to mom and pop spots for food recommended by locals. In fact, when I'm going to a new city I tend to check out the food network or travel channel website (corny, I know) to see what spots they recommend and then I check out the menus. Most of these spots are Mom and Pop shops that Guy Fieri and his shitty haircut visited; say what you want about him but his taste for food is legit. I'd rather get great Mexican food from a lady who started out selling tacos in her backyard than going to some chain. The food is probably better, made with better ingredients, and I rather suppor the actual owners instead of some big corporation.
However, if I'm headed to a state that has fast food chains that I cant get in my city (i.e Zaxby's whenever I head to the South), then I make sure to stop at these chains while Im in town. When I'm home, I dont really have a rule about where I go, coffee is from Dunkin or Starbucks and everything else depends on what I'm feeling at the time.
SB for the CPK avocado egg rolls shout out
When I was growing up on special occasions my dad (also a finance guy) would pick me up and take me to Taco Bell and a movie after. I still probably go every 2-3 weeks because sometimes theres nothing else that I really want besides a mexican pizza and a beefy nacho burrito.
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