Remember the Seinfeld episode about the Pakistani guy?
Unfortunately, it was also eerily empty every time the wife and I stopped by for lunch. We kept coming back, certain it would catch on. Then after four or five visits, we quit. There’s just something about being the only diner in the room. You feel a weight of responsibility for keeping the owner’s hopes up. You feel you should offer suggestions. Worse, you begin to imagine the telltale whiff of desperation. You feel the boat sinking, and you don’t want to be on it.
I mention this because another new restaurant opened in our neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. Unlike the first one, this one is going great guns.
I watched it being built from the park where I walk my dog. Before it was even finished, cars were turning in and would-be customers were trying the door. When it did open, the line reached around the building. It’s the same today. The location and building are nondescript, the service is robotic, and the food barely qualifies to be called food. But the new restaurant is a McDonald’s. And the thing about a McDonald’s is this: If you build it, they will definitely come.
A man with some experience in the field once told me that running a successful restaurant has almost nothing to do with the food. I guess this is the proof. The only time I visit a McDonald’s these days is for a cup of coffee when I’m on the road, but apparently it’s still a big part of other people’s lives. Many decades and billions of dollars in marketing have made it a Pavlovian thing. You see those arches and hit the drive-thru, without being hungry and without quite knowing why.
Now the empty sacks and crumpled napkins are starting to drift up outside the dog-park fence. Meanwhile, the first restaurant is still limping along, maintaining a cheerful demeanor on Facebook and apparently working damned hard to carve out a niche in this sometimes odd neighborhood of ours. Maybe it’s time for another visit.
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Our fast food meals are limited to when we have appointments in the nearby city and eat out as a necessity, as opposed to going to the city for that purpose and being willing to spend the time and money to dine well.
McD’s does have healthy choices if you are determined, grilled chicken, salad, etc. I became quite fond of the apple/yogurt/grape/walnut salad. They recently said they were going to discontinue that. Proof, apparently, that their average customer is not interested in healthy fruit salad.
If you think McD’s is bad, try Hardee’s. They literally have not one healthy thing available. Years ago they had salads and a PLAIN grilled chicken sandwich. Now they specialize in having the most unhealthy food possible. We won’t stop there at all.
I hope your neighborhood restaurant makes it.
Me too. As I mentioned, I need to make another visit soon.
My family and I have made it a habit to patronize locally owned business as often as we can. The food is almost always better at locally owned restaurants. Here, those are the places that usually source locally produced meat and vegetables. (We’re lucky to be in farming country!) Local merchants are likely to remember your name, stock the products you like and generally let you know that your business is appreciated.
Agree totally on the local thing. Jax has a great farmers market that’s open every day of the week. We go there a lot.
what was the first restaurant??
Kool Beans Cafe on Main Street. Across from the Post Office.
They had the recent First Friday there — that was the first time I’d been in there, actually. I didn’t even know it did regular food!! Hm. What a shame… I don’t understand why businesses can do well on main street in Springfield. Uptown Market sure is doing SOMETHING right.
Yes it is. Wish they’d open for dinner sometime, maybe on the weekends.