Originally Posted by
Dugernaut
I found a great beer pub / steak place in my travels in PA. The beer was good, and the food was better. I stopped in a few times, and got to know the owner. One trip he was complaining that he wasn't going to make it. A new mega big box plex had opened a couple miles down the road and he was getting killed by The Olive Garden, Bennigans, and Outback. He knew and I knew that he provided much better value, but these were the first time these chains had entered the market, and the locals had seen it advertised for years, and in their minds, their town had "arrived"
Very good point. It is people accepting the mediocrity of these places that drives the small restaurants out of business. Interestingly, perhaps because of the stronger ethnic sense of community, or just a higher food consciousness or awareness, it happens to a lessor extent in some parts of the country. And not just big cities. My wifes family is from western PA and the local Italian and Polish places still do a good business with correspondingly fewer chains than in many other parts of the country.