Chains Coming to ABQ (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: real estate, coupons, movie theater)

[FLEABttn]

Break even or loss levels? Wrap the 1-3% cost into the price of the meal (it's not 5% or higher and if the small business is paying those levels then they probably will go out of business anyways for making bad decisions). Or take debit cards only in which the customer is the one footing the bill outside of the sunk cost of the hardware to process the transaction (I haven't eaten at a Taco Bell in years but it was a college favorite and it had a 75 cent processing fee to use your debit card), which will more than pay for itself with increased business. There are other mom-and-pops here who process both kinds of cards just fine, so clearly they saw it as advantageous.

If I'm going to BFE I'll plan cash accordingly. If I'm going to the middle of ABQ, not so much.

You copped the attitude first when I made mere mention of the cards, jumping to conclusions that weren't even correct. Kindly save the lecture.

[Mike Horrell]

Originally Posted by FLEABttn

Kindly save the lecture.

It's free, unlike your purchases...

[ABQRick]

If an establishment does not accept credit cards, I likely won't be spending my money there. I don't carry cash (most people I would assume don't) and it's not worth the hassle to find an ATM (most charge a couple bucks as well). There's always a way to recoup the cost, and the convenience to the customer will only help their business.

[JBM]

I'm 19 now, and I rarely use my debit card... I go to the ATM and grab cash.... I really don't like the idea of someone in an office somewhere knowing all my purchases and where I go to eat and shop and what have you. I guess I don't meld well into my generation in that aspect, as all my friends are big fans of debit cards... El Patio, for instance, does not accept them. So I guess I'm on Mike's side haha, though, I am not totally against my debit card and use it sometimes when it's just far more convenient.

[Mike Horrell]

Originally Posted by JBM

.. El Patio, for instance, does not accept them. So I guess I'm on Mike's side haha, though, I am not totally against my debit card and use it sometimes when it's just far more convenient.

I'm not against cards; as I said above, I use them myself more often than not, what I
am against is the sense of entitlement some people have about using them.

I use my Amex card a lot because I get better bennies from Amex than Visa, but I understand
when a lot of businesses won't accept it because the merchant fees and other burdens
required of the business owners are too high.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Mike Horrell

I use my Amex card a lot because I get better bennies from Amex than Visa, but I understand when a lot of businesses won't accept it because the merchant fees and other burdens required of the business owners are too high.

In all fairness, there is a cost to any payment method.

With cash, you have a lot greater chance of theft (internal/external), robbery, and the like. If you use an armored car service, that is also a cost. Also, you lose a number of sales as people like myself carry little cash. In general, people NOT using cash spend more.

With checks, you have to pay for a check verification service and accept the risk of bad checks. My wife used to work as an auditor for a large retailer and they would receive 1000 bad checks to collect on between the holidays.

With credit cards, you have to pay the merchant fees. However, in a restaurant setting, most people spend 10-15% more.

PERSONALLY, based on my experience in the hospitality business and as a financial auditor, I think that one MAJOR consideration to not accepting credit cards is that it is a lot EASIER to hide income from the federal/state /local tax authorities.

[FLEABttn]

Oh, I found out they do take cards. Guess I'll give them a try then.

[HerpsofNM]

Being a displaced east coaster/southern New Mexican (10 years in Myrtle Beach, SC, 3 years in Abilene, TX, 7 years in Alamogordo, NM, 7 years in Las Cruces, NM, and the rest here in ABQ) not many northern/central New Mexicans seem to stray to the southern end of the state. Should they, and possibly some of those that have, would know of the Santa Fe Grill locally-owned chains in Las Cruces. They are some of the best burritos I've had, both regular and breakfast. They use to be cheap too, or at least cheap for the food portion one received, but a few years back went up slightly in price. If memory is right, base-burrito (green or red chile meat [beef, chicken, or pork]) price was 2.99, but went up to 3.49 and comes with a choice of 3 toppings at that price. Breakfast burritos are also 3.49 and additional toppings are 50 cents.

Outside of Las Cruces, but still southern NM is a place in Hatch called Fidencio's Mexican Food and is off of Highway 26. It's a little hole in the wall place and last time I ate there they only took cash. Their burritos are probably by far the best I've had, period. They have a place in Las Cruces near the Mesilla Valley Mall, but I've not tried it.

Both of these places are very much NM-style to-go capable, even at their size/food portion. I say very much because that's pretty much how I ate them, to-go while on my way out into the field assisting with graduate biology projects or on my own personal time looking for local reptiles and amphibians.

Another place that went the way of the dinosaur was Alamogordo's former IGA store. They had their own taqería/tortillaría that produced their own bagged tortilla chips (not a fan) and their own burritos (HUGE fan and huge burrito!). But Alamogordo's pretty much a 1 pony show now when it comes to grocery stores. Wal-Mart forced out Albertson's and Smith's, though both were always expensive and even compared to them up here. And Lowes (not the hardware store) bought out the IGA, which I'm not sure if even the Lowes is open in Alamo-ghetto, I mean Alamo-go-nowhere, I mean Alamogordo.

As for myself up here in ABQ, best I've had has been Frontier and smoothered or not. Typically I get it on the side, cut up the burrito, and run the pieces through the chile sauce. Twisters, off of Coors (north of the Coors & 40 walmart) wasn't bad but DEFINITELY not a to-go burrito.

As for the semantics of chile/chili....well this guido/gringo interprets is as follows:

Chile is a country in South America and is also the fruit of Capsicum plant.

Chili is a soup/stew-like meat and chile sauce that may contain other fillers (like beans, corn, etc).

But to be specifically on topic, I'd like to see a Santa Fe Grill here in Albuquerque. And to ruffle the feathers, nothing beats southern New Mexican chile.

[abqandrea]

Originally Posted by Zandyman

Culver's burgers are just okay. Culvers frozen yogurt concoctions are excellent.

-Z

Originally Posted by karmathecat

Have you tried Chillz? Their frozen yogurt is really good.

Both Culver's AND Chillz serve frozen custard, not yogurt. Huge (and delicious) difference:
Frozen custard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The owner of Chillz is from the midwest and frankly I send everyone I can to his shop because he is friendly and serves a fantastic custard you can get nowhere else in ABQ.

[rjmagyar]

It looks like some one hear the call:

Assistant Manager Opportunities Job in Albuquerque 87110, New Mexico US (http://jobview.monster.com/GetJob.aspx?JobID=90648033&from=indeed - broken link)

Paradise Cafe is a lot like Panera. In fact, I think they might even have the same owner. Anyway, judging by the job posting, it looks like they might be coming to town.

By the way, I was recently up north and have some delicious Panera and Chipotle meals, and I wish even more that they would expand down here.