Once upon a time you had independent restaurants that sold good food at modest prices. You also had lousy, greasy spoons that sold bad food at modest prices. So, enter the chain restaurant. There was no gamble there. You were treated to mediocre food at modest prices. The video of the rats running all over a KFC /Taco Bell spring to mind as one of those major exceptions.
The wall-to-wall establishment of chain restaurants was kind of the middle of the road between the win-win and lose lose situation. Restaurant chains could saturate the market with advertisements. Branding was incredible. You may not get the greatest of food, but at least it was consistent. You could go into any Denny’s, Chili’s, House of Pancakes, Applebee’s, Olive Garden and get pretty much the same food as any other branch of the chain. The menus were prepared from a central office. Ingredients were the same and hardly varied.
You could go as a couple to any of the restaurant chains. You could get Chinese Food at P.F. Chang’s or even the Panda Express. You could get chicken, burgers, whatever, and you always knew that the food was prepared if not the way you wanted, then certainly the way you expected. No surprises.
So gradually the chain restaurants moved in and the independent restaurants closed down. Some of the independent restaurants, glorified in highway lore and local nostalgia, should have closed. The chain restaurants were a blessing, sort of, as kitchen conditions were regulated to certain standards. Well, sort of. There are more than a few egregious exceptions.
Now while most of the chain restaurants, with the exception of venues like Ruth’s Chris and Houston’s, are not particularly aesthetic in their ambiance, what with same-same, bright colors and far too often screaming kids, they are still a good places to take a date, run in for a quick bite and run to a movie. You may have forgotten what you ate ten minutes after eating it, but at least it won’t rumble in your stomach. That is a major plus in this day and age. And, if you are planning to have sex later that night, you will entertain less fear of the meal attacking you when you least expect it.
The cheapest viagra pills patients who get the gamma knife surgery done have a lot of scope to live further than six months of time. order viagra This is of course just speculation at this point. So, you can get it staying at home cialis 20mg no prescription easily. Men often measure their self-worth by their ability to stay strong, to protect & take care of their loved ones; so when they struggle at job, lose their job fall into drinking habit. low price cialis So now most of the modestly priced independent restaurants are gone. The chains often find themselves with little or not competition. So now they are not only are their advertising campaigns directed toward telling you what superb food they are serving. Superb and in some cases a whole lot of it. Great food. Eat it cheap. And eat more than you are supposed to. You would think by the advertising you were treating yourself to fine dining. No, you are not.
One most wonder if they threshold for fine dining has dropped so low that most chains are serving what constitutes good food. One most wonder if sheer volume of food supersedes actual quality of food. Silly me. There is little to wonder there.
So now I hear commercials where chain restaurants like Chili’s are offering take out food. They are turning their attentions to the lesser food venues, the fast food and drive-thru eateries. You can now get the same meal you ate at your table with belief in its consistence if not its culinary delight, and drag it back home. Forget the movie. You aren’t going out anyway. Not in this tough economy. That is why God created Pay-Per-View.
To hear the commercial they are, subtly speaking, in a heated duel with the types of fast food chains that actually serve crappy takeout with absolutely no expectation. Yes, the mid-prized chain restaurants are now challenging their lesser cousins for a piece of the low budget market share. The battle is on and soon will rage. It’s a bad economy out there and restaurants are hurting. Every buck won over to your side is a buck well earned. Any day I expect to see the brutally honest commercial, “My mediocre food is better than your mediocre food and it only costs a few bucks more.”
This should be an interesting battle for market share. I am sure other mid-level chains will join in. Conversely, the strategy is two fold. They are not only chasing the drive-thru but the diner that used to frequent chic little bistros and storefronts where the food is pricey and avoidable when there is a different paradigm for date night. Forget the candlelight. When you are short on money and worried about your job, run down to the shopping plaza and pick up some food.
It is convenient. As with the drive-thru’s, you can pull up to a Chili’s and just get it to go. Order it over the phone, and they will give you an exact time when to come and pick it up. Nice and hot. In bags that remind you of the dining experience you either worked to avoid or just left behind. Yum.
