High-income Americans rarely mix with poorer people. Restaurants like Applebee's and Olive Garden are the exception
High-income Americans rarely mix with poorer people. Restaurants like Applebee's and Olive Garden are the exception
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Some people just have no idea what good food is and it’s puzzling to me, but it must not be related to income. I eat out at local restaurants mostly and they are not more expensive than those chains, and the food is way better.
Risk reduction. Safe choice.
The food will be ok, there's a relatively small risk of food poisoning, or having an especially shit meal. You know what you're getting.
Same business model as chain hotels and blockbusters starring A-listers with name recognition. Customers know it will be just ok, but that's enough.
This is exactly why I go to McDonald's when I'm anywhere away from home. It's almost always the same, and their corporate side is extremely serious about consistency and quality.
Cracker Barrel took this a step further, providing a generic "home-y" feel anywhere in the country.
Cracker Barrel is atrocious though. Absolutely flavorless. It's the epitome of bland old white people food.
I'd rather eat Applebee's. At least they use salt.
Exactly. Finding good restaurants takes time, too. We had a lot less (none) of that available after we had a kid. So low risk and sticking to what you know makes sense. As she got older we have been able to experiment some.
My grandmother always insisted on going to somewhere like Olive Garden or Applebees when I'd go have my regular visits with her. Never understood it, but it made her happy and she didn't like trying new stuff, so not a big deal. I feel like Boomers have got to be the only people left keeping these places afloat. I don't know a single person blow 50 who eats there.
There's a large swath of people who never try anything new. They'd visit somewhere 3000 miles away and eat at somewhere familiar like McDonald's/Subway etc.
I'm interested to see if that happens to me as I get older.
Right now my policy for trips is "no chains".
Checking out foreign versions of American fast food chains can be pretty fun. Their menus are often changed a bit to suit local tastes. Don't get me wrong, I won't turn down any chance to eat at a local hole in the wall, but I'll make a point of getting something from a McDonald's or KFC that they don't offer back home at least once if I get the chance.
Probably why there's an Olive Garden in Time Square
Some of them are much better, some are just as bad. Too many local resteraunts around me have the same Sysco derived menu items. The same coconut shrimp cooked the same way in them all... Sure it is a different name out front and it isn't a franchise but it may as well be.
You can usually avoid the bad ones using google reviews and a bit of trial and error. I guess it depends where you live, though.