Clarksville's Broken Palate: Chain Restaurants

 

By Edie Torial

 

 

"What a colossal waste of time!"

 

Is this a reference to waiting at the DMV lobby? Waiting for an explanation about "Lightband" from CDE? An installation schedule from Charter? The answers could easily be yes, yes and yes! Yet for the sake of sanity those aren't the topics du jour.

 

You're hungry and can't imagine another bad Chinese buffet or cloned Mexican restaurant with 300 menu items consisting of the same 6 ingredients? Get in line, it's long and starts around the corner.

 

A friend recently asked why there wasn't a foodie website for Clarksville's restaurant scene. Come on, really? Has anyone visited a less imaginative dining community? God bless the handful of businesses striving to make a difference, but do the majority of Clarksville residents really care? It's difficult to make that uphill climb to argue Clarksvillians do actually care about a restaurant's dining experience. If you can name two chef's in the area, I'll retract the statement.

 

While you're debating the next destination to refill your appetites think of these 5 things:

1. Every chain restaurant in Clarksville buys their product from the same food-drink vendors. And yes, these chain restaurants do not source local product to support the Clarksville area.
2. The local restaurant employees are no different than their national counterparts. They tend to bounce from restaurant to restaurant ending with nearly the same experiences for customers.
3. Restaurant profit margins are constructed via out-of-town corporate formulas. i.e. Similar budget accounting for indistinguishable menu items, drinks, salaries, benefits, costs-of-sales and profit margins. See a trend?
4. Yes chains do fill a service to the area and provide jobs. They also send our local dollars out of town and invest those meal expenses into other communities. Remember that during tax increase season ...
5. Lastly, if you're looking for a value stay at home. Its cheaper, and often healthier, to eat a home cooked meal. Keep those excuses and half-truths in your back pocket.

Wouldn't it be a great local amenity if a business owner had the confidence to open an Italian ristorante? What? You say Olive Garden? Just focus on opening your can of Chef Boyardee and don't cut your hand! How about a French bistro? Greek restaurant? A German bierhaus? Peru is the new trendy menu, right? How about a Brazilian steakhouse? Puerto Rican venues opposed to dozens of cookie cutter Mexican restaurants? Maybe we could even have a Mediterranean menu that isn't served at a hookah bar? Be on your guard with the chains even stooping to hiding behind local branding. Most recently a good example can be found at the marina's new "Liberty Park Grill" which is a locally themed restaurant via corporate outfit from Knoxville. The sad part is we deserve our pathetic state of dining affairs. Local restauranteers have been given zero signs from locals that we're ready to step up and consistently support a creative local restaurant scene.

If chain restaurants are bland, why are they popular?

• Purchasing power primarily drives their prices to the lower side of non-chain restaurants.
• Corporate chains invest more money into their buildings. They're larger and seat more people (bulk purchases of frozen food come into play)
• National marketing, advertising budgets based on low cost shared pricing for corporate franchisee owners
• Bulk ordering reduces prices (often pre-cooked or frozen foods)
• Predictability is comfortable. Menus are more consistent and safe.

When food is purchased in mass with corporate leveraging power it might be tasty, but there isn’t anything special or unique about it — especially when you can visit a dozen other places within a few miles and eat nearly the same thing with a slightly different menu name.

What local restaurants often give is a sense of community that chain restaurants cannot duplicate.  I visit the small restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries around town understanding it's a show of confidence and investment in Clarksville. The additional fact that many of these business owners are often onsite greeting customers, talking to staff and engaged with their business only adds to the interest. For those of you Facebook savvy readers there's a page dedicated to Clarksville memories. Take a few moments and browse the references about businesses, houses and restaurants built by locals. Isn't it beyond disappointing to think of Clarksville children only having childhood memories of corporate restaurants, Walmarts, generic retail stores, gas, etc?

The chain restaurants corporate offices understand these concerns emanating from communities nationwide. That's why the corporations are working hard to capitalize on our desires for comfort foods. And btw --- that "homemade" apple pie at Cracker Barrel? It was most likely pulled straight from the freezer, and before that, produced in bulk at a factory. Enjoy!

We could actually learn a thing or two from the locally owned dining options at our regional neighbors in Nashville, Memphis and even Evansville. The Clarksville MSA population will hit 300,000 sometime in the next 2-3 years. That's still an absurd number for us with long memories, isn't it?! We now have the resources to begin better supporting local businesses with our growing population and it's about time we stepped up to be accountable.