<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Sweet Willie:
Customers want atmosphere over quality of the food. Most would rather go to a PF Chang’s rather than the local Asian independent offering.
My biggest belief, customers are lazy & gun shy. The chain is known for what it provides; most people I know do not venture beyond a chain for fear of the unkown. They would rather put up w/run of the mill than get burned with a possible bad meal at the independent.
There are some decent items on some chain restaurant menus, but there is far better (and generally much cheaper) at the independent.</font>
Good food comes from places where the staff/chef have a stake in the success of the restaurant. Your average cook/waitstaff at TGIF's for example, works for a corporation that will survive even if the food is vile at his/her particular location. He/she has no incentive to make the food as good as it could be, or even good at all. Even if the staff wants to improve the food, the corporate bean counters usually give the staff little controll. At a mom & pop restaurant, the happiness of the customers is directly tied to the financial success of mom & pop. Even at the risk of an occasional unsatisfactory meal, I'd rather support mom & pop than most any corporate chain.
Chains are for ghosts to rattle.