QuoteAmericans are rejecting the consistency of national restaurant chains after decades of dominance in favor of the authenticity of locally owned eateries

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-16/mom-and-pop-joints-are-trouncing-america-s-big-restaurant-chains

Ruth Ann is VERY BIG on mom&pop

We had lunch @ one today in Raleigh.

You would LOVE IT rc

REDNECK X 2

Roughly the same headline has been running for a few years in the lodging industry.

Old school: I want a "Yes sir" experience just like I'm a rich person, which scales because everyone wants the same thing except for different price/quality levels

New school: I want an experience that's unique, which doesn't scale as well.

Effect: boutique hotels and vacation rentals expanding faster than chain hotels and the "vacation" rental industry handling more and more business travel.

We don't eat out that much compared to most Americans, but we almost always choose locally owned joints.  If you are going to take the time and money to eat out, why go to a chain when you could eat authentic ethnic or regional food?  Even local greasy spoons usually have something that makes them special compared to the national chains.  Usually the mom & pops are a better value too.


Added:
Also Yelp and the like make locally owned restaurants a lot less of a gamble than they use to be.

Quote from: littleman on May 18, 2017, 05:27:24 PM
why go to a chain when you could eat authentic ethnic or regional food?

Because (as the last time I ate "out"), you're in Oakhurst and you're starving and Taco Bell is open and I know that total time from leaving the main road to being happily full will be about 20 minutes. That is, you're not looking for a dining experience, you're looking for calories.

Other reason: you're not looking for a dining experience, you're looking for something predictable. That's always been the reason for the success of chains. The devil you know.

Oh sure, fast-food chains are a little different, most people eat at them because they are cheap, fast and predictable.  I was more talking about chains that charge above $15 a meal.