How the hell do Restaurant chains survive in major cities?

[The Inquisitive]

I was walking home today taking my normal route home from Washington Square Park. I pass St Marks and decide to grab a Falafel at a small little place that sells them $2.50 a piece and notice as I'm walking home a McDonalds packed full with people. How in hell does a place like Micky D's survive in a major metropolis famous for thousands of delicious cheap eats? I don't get it. If you want a good burger there are literally thousands of places in NYC, why would anyone settle for a big mac? How does Subway, or Dominoes have a single customer here?

[DarkTirade]

1. Because people want what's comfortable and familiar.

[T_i_B]

17. And also, in central London McDonalds are everywhere

Which makes them very convenient indeed.

[mwooldri]

34. But then McDonalds in London *is* a cheap eat. nt

[DarkTirade]

35. Heh, my brother went overseas back in the 90s. Spent a month in France.

When the family he was staying with went to Paris, they wanted to try the new McDonalds that had just opened up there.

He travelled across an entire frikkin ocean, and the first thing they wanna do when they get to Paris... is eat at a McDonalds. :P

[baldguy]

2. How much does your falafel shack spend on advertising?

McD's spends more in one second on ads in NYC than their entire yearly operation budget.

[MrsBrady]

3. yep

[TheCentepedeShoes]

4. Since Mama Leone's

closed way back when, who knows...
Mr 'pede and I were talking about NYC restaurants and watering holes a couple of hours ago.
He was from Stamford and knows he city much better than I do.

[grasswire]

10. why did Mama Leone's close, anyway?

I have used her cookbook for decades.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

33. I'm not sure

Thinking sometime in the 70's. Asked Mr 'pede since he is from up there and he couldn't recall. Did the Google and the Wiki but didn't find anything...maybe just didn't look enough.

[Robeson]

5. That reminds me. Does anyone know where I can find the best Olive Garden in NYC?...

...:evilgrin:

[KitchenWitch]

9. will you burst into song when being served Tamales?

[Robeson]

11. That makes me want to ask:.....

...do the cooks at Chili's really happily sing with glee, "I want my baby-backs, baby-backs, baby-backs", while the grease and heat hits them in the face for eight hours?.... :shrug:

[KitchenWitch]

14. LOL

probably not.

It is probably more like "Take this Job and Shove It!"

[crim son]

6. Cost, convenience, defective palate.

Here in Maine I am ever referred to this restaurant or that as "the best place in the world" for whatever; but it's always the same shit. I moved here from Mass. where there is good food to be found. Alas, people frequent BK down there as well. :shrug:

[crim son]

7. Oh, dupe.

Time for bed.

[gmoney]

8. Predictable...

there's a reason they sell Imodium in airports.

[McPainsBrain]

12. Because of branding...

McDonald's spends billions of dollars on advertising and people who stop into those Golden Arches know exactly what they will get: filling burgers served at a cheap price. Lots of people in NYC are tourists, and when they get hungry, they may not want to gamble on a local restaurant if they aren't sure they'll like it. So they go to McDonald's, where it's all standardized.

Can you tell I was an econ major?

Steven Levitt discusses this principle in at least one article of his.

[jobycom]

13. Safe and ubiquitous. Do the math.

First, people know what they will get at McDonald's, but may not know about your falafel shop without a recommendation. So if they are new to the area, they'll try what they feel safe with.

But also, just do the math. How many restaurants do you eat at in a month? Say, people eat out twice a week. They try a different restaurant every time. That's eight or nine restaurants in a month, usually close to their house. How many restaurants are there nearby? Out of those, how many do they trust? Some will love your falafel place, others won't, others won't know of it. Same with most restaurant. But McDonald's is known by everyone. Say, just once every two months most people in the area drop into McDonald's, for convenience or variety or just a craving for the fries. The base they have to draw on is ten tims greater in just that area than your falafel shop. Add to that the number of visitors who pick McDonald's because they don't have the time to research the locals, and the number of people for whatever reason like a Big Mac over falafel or pizza, or just like the Cokes at McDonald's better, and the number of people who work in the area and drop in because they've eaten at the falafel shop four times that week, or because it's the only place everyone can find a meal at, or whatever. You've got a crowded restaurant.

And when I've been in New York, I've tried different restaurants every time I've eaten. I liked one of them--a pizza slice place just next to the WTC site. Every other time I've picked tolerable to bad places. Not every restaurant in New York is good. After a while, a visitor may just decide on a familar restaurant, rather than blow another ten bucks on a bad meal. You locals might know the places to eat, but visitors don't.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. sheeple lack imagination and have lesser developed palates.

tis a known fact :D

[JCMach1]

16. Sometimes you just have to have a bite of the cheesey

crappiness that is fast food!

This morning I was feeling especially evil and was craving a Dr. Pepper. So, instead of all the fancy coffee or teas, I hit the Dr. Pepper... damn it was good!

[taterguy]

18. Because their food is better

Got any more stupid questions?

[The Inquisitive]

23. just one actually

what's it like to be a keyboard warrior? I try imagine the life of the poor cretin who roams across the internet, talking trash and picking fights over something trivial, but alas, I have difficulty even comprehending such a lowly and pathetic existence.

[LostinVA]

19. Because of people like Radio_Lady

R.I.P.

[tjwmason]

20. Best post yet

:spray:

[DS1]

21. Stupid_Douchebags

That's why

[bbernardini]

22. Because people eat things they like. I don't know why people here can't accept that. nt

[PVnRT]

24. Because then they couldn't be smug assholes

I eat at local places. I also eat McDonald's. It is possible to do both.

[charlie and algernon]

26. yeah, same here

Where I work in downtown Baltimore, there are a few local deli's and a subway nearby and I frequent them all. If there was a McDonalds closer, I'd probably go there too.

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. They survive because tourists coming from the ignorant hinterlands are afraid of what theydon't know

It's not many of the locals who are eating at those fucking places, except maybe some of the trendier ones for a while, like Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood and that other one with the Mexican sort of theme that isn't Mexican.

[Inchworm]

27. A Cuban Grill opened here last week!!1!

Mmmmmm...

It is the first place that I know in the county of that isn't a fast food chain, a steakhouse, or a diner.

$8 for a Cuban Sandwhich, but it was worth it.

:9

[pitohui]

28. it's cheaper

i don't how big or even what a falafel is but a burger is $1 from a chain (they are always doing promotions) or a genuine new orleans po boy is like getting to be $7 -- big difference if you have to eat lunch every day

sometimes food is just fuel and people don't have these huge incomes relative to costs any more

for all i known the $1 burger at bk or wendy's is ground-up worm casings, in fact, that's what we used to say they were when i was a kid, but it's protein and people can afford it

the $7 shrimp po boy will have to be for special on saturday in these economic times

as far as london, which someone else mentioned, even starbucks and mcdonald's are too high, much less the other restaurants, you just have to pick up something at a grocery store unless you're made of money, fortunately there are lots of parks and green spaces for picnics

[Tektonik]

29. Where else can one get all you can eat breadsticks?

[KamaAina]

30. Mom and Repuke Stepdad get Domino's when I'm not around

they know better than to do so when I'm visiting (in the East 70s).

Truth be told, though, the place around the corner from them isn't really that much better. Maybe they just need to find a different place. :shrug:

As for Subway, NYC has even evolved its own knockoff version, called Blimpie. :eyes:

[KamaAina]

31. Because most local joints don't cotton to breastfeeding in public??

:hide:

[Tommy_Carcetti]

32. You mean like Olive Garden in Times Square?

:hide:

Actually, it reminds me of my first trip to Las Vegas. I had flown in and out of Vegas only because I went to visit the Grand Canyon, but because my flight out of Vegas was in the morning and I didn't want to drive the 5 hours from the Canyon to Vegas in the middle of the night, I stayed overnight at an airport hotel in Vegas. So I had a night to kill in Vegas and decided to take the shuttle down to the strip. Immediately, upon first glance I was repulsed by the uber cheeziness of the Strip. I had no desire to blow any of my money at a casino or take in any rip off Vegas show. So I just decided to walk the sidewalk.

Now, I could have probably ventured into any of the casinos and had myself an interesting meal. But out of sheer protest, the one place I decided to go on the Vegas strip was....McDonalds. I just did it as an F.U. to everything Vegas by choosing to eat at the one place I could have eaten at in any town in America.

[MsKandice01]

36. After watching enough of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares...

I'm getting to the point where I actually prefer chains over Mom and Pop restaurants...unless I have a specific recommendation to try some new place. It's getting harder and harder for me to give people the benefit of the doubt and just assume that they're taking care of their kitchens. At least with chains, there's a level of predictability because if someone gets deathly ill at one restaurant due to unsanitary conditions, it gets more publicity and it affects them all so they tend to stay a little bit more vigilant about that stuff.