Is it the economy?

I recently got an e-mail from Bugaboo Creek steakhouse, thanking me for my years of patronage and letting me know that they are closing all but 12 of their restaurants. This got me thinking about chain restaurants in general.


What is the draw of a chain restaurant? When I think about Bugaboo Creek, one of the only chain restaurants I can say I have really ever gone to with any regularity (not counting my addiction to fast food), I think about their smashed potatoes. And that is what I always got when I was there: a sweet glazed salmon, maybe a steak, some barely steamed, plain vegetables, and yummy, gluey, salty smashed potatoes. And I think that explains the popularity of chain restaurants to some extent; if you've been to one, you know what to expect when you see it in another town. And I know, taking a risk on a strange restaurant in a foreign town is risky; I've traveled through England. And Ohio.


The plummeting economy, however, cannot be the only reason that chain restaurants have been failing recently. For example, a TGI Friday's has never been able to exist in the Portland, Maine area. I know of two that have failed. And I also look at my current town of Manchester, NH. I can think of 3 or 4 really great restaurants that have opened in the 3 years I have lived here and despite the economy, they are thriving.


To me, it comes down to this. You can't feed a family of 4 in a chain restaurant cheaply. It's not even that cheap a date. So in my mind, if I am a budgeter, I'm going to eat out one fewer times every month, save my money, and go to the restaurant that actually makes their food on site, with local, quality ingredients, in an atmosphere where everyone working there cares about the product. I KNOW the waiters and waitresses at most national chains don't care about the product, and the cooks I am guessing do little more than reheat and make salads. How else can you achieve consistency, which is what you think your customers are banking on?


Anyway, the point of this rambling is this. Bugaboo Creek, you were fun, it's true. But your drinks are overpriced, your food is not fresh, and dinner probably costs me at least $30 if I have a beer and/or dessert. At that price I'm going to just go somewhere that is owned locally buy someone who has personal stock in the freshness of the fish and the quality of the service. You can blame the economy but the bustling local bistro on main street might sing a different tune.