What’s Wrong With Chain Restaurants
Categories: LifeEvery time I’ve ever had anyone ask me about restaurants in my town, or that I like, I hear that chain restaurants don’t count, or are not real restaurants. A good, real restaurant must be independently owned and operated. What is this attitude, and where does it come from?
Now, I can understand dismissing fast food stores from a list of restaurants. That’s like dismissing gas station convenience marts from a list of grocery stores. But what is inherently wrong with chain restaurants? What is inherently right with independent restaurants?
I’ve had good and bad meals in chain restaurants, and I’ve had good and bad meals in independent restaurants. There’s nothing about a restaurant being independent that guarantees the food and service will be good. There’s nothing about being a part of a chain business that lessens the quality of the food and service.
And at what point does an independent restaurant loose its independent halo and become a chain devil? When the owners open a second store in town? When they open a store in another town?
When I go visit friends or relatives in other cities, and they take us out for dinner, we inevitably end up at an independent place. Usually, the place, food, and service are all fine, but also usually, I’d be just as happy and satisfied at a chain restaurant. At an independent place, I probably don’t know what I’d like on the menu; at a chain place, I probably have already tasted at least something on the menu.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have no dislike for independent places, at all. I don’t shun them, and I don’t dismiss them. (My mom owns a great independent restaurant—and I love the food.) I just find the somewhat snobbish attitude against chain places to be unnecessary and silly. It’s especially annoying when someone dismisses them as not counting, or as low-brow, or as tasteless.
Chain restaurants don’t become chains unless the food and service is usually good, at least in the beginning of their growth. I like many chain restaurants, and I’m not ashamed of it.
Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com
“There’s nothing about being a part of a chain business that lessens the quality of the food and service.”
I have to disagree with you on this one, at least when it comes to large national chains. There are two reasons for this. First, a small chain or independent restaurant may want to make a profit but the large chains exist solely to make a profit, which means they will buy the cheapest ingredients possible. They augment the flavor of these inferior ingredients with food science, which isn’t real food and it sure as hell doesn’t taste as good as something cooked by a real chef. That’s not even to mention the reduced nutritional content.
Second, and this isn’t independent of the first, they strive to provide a standard taste to all their locations regardless of season or location. Most of their food is precooked and simply reheated at the “restaurant”. Also, because of their size and the hassle of buying from local producers they buy from large producers which are also only in business to make money. CAFO meat and corporate veggies precooked and simply reheated with a touch of food science. Yummy! Or not.
That isn’t to say that local places can’t be crap. Just watch Restaurant Impossible on the Food network! However, I think that having a real chef that cares about the food they are severing and a restaurant that buys and serves local seasonal dishes is a must. If you can chain those together then I’ll be glad to eat there, but nothing like that exists.
You have good points. Maybe my tastes are just not as refined as other people’s.