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Just counting those 6 chains by land area Atlanta has .11 chains/square mile, Houston has 0.4 chains/sq mi, Philadelphia has .08 chains/sq mi and Boston has .04 chains/sqaure mile.
Doing it by population you have Atlanta with .00002 chains/person, Houston with .00001 chain/person Boston with .000003 chains/person, and Philadelphia with .000007 chains/person
Either way, Atlanta and Houston have more chains per person than Boston or Philadelphia with those numbers.
Atlanta = 2 x 10^-5
Houston = 1 x 10^-5
Boston = .3 x 10^-5
Philadelphia = .7 x10^-5
Southerners aren't afraid of locally-owned restaurants. There are plenty of nice local places here as there are plenty of chains. I doubt many of the people making this assertion have ever even been to the south.
Also, down south, people actually still know what their kitchen is for. A lot of good cooks down here so we eat at home a lot of the time. No need to have to jump on the subway to go to some locally-owned restaurant every night due to lack of skill in the kitchen.
There are plenty of non-chains in Charlotte....but they pretty much all are either very high priced or they simply aren't very good. You also have to get off the beaten path to find them. In addition, though there are people in the South who detest chains, the culture in general does favor and embrace them. For instance, on a typical Saturday night you may have a 30 minute wait to get a table at Chili's.
So there is never a wait for a table at Applebee's in NYC on a Saturday night?
Last time I was up in NY the restaurants within walking distance were Red Lobster, Applebees, a chinese restaurant and 2 diners that were open. Both diners I know have nasty kitchens and I would never eat at them. Chinese I wasn't impressed with the last time through. The wait at Applebee's was 40 minutes.
So my choices were 2 independent cesspools, not very good chinese, Applebee's or Red Lobster. Which would you choose?
So there is never a wait for a table at Applebee's in NYC on a Saturday night?
Last time I was up in NY the restaurants within walking distance were Red Lobster, Applebees, a chinese restaurant and 2 diners that were open. Both diners I know have nasty kitchens and I would never eat at them. Chinese I wasn't impressed with the last time through. The wait at Applebee's was 40 minutes.
So my choices were 2 independent cesspools, not very good chinese, Applebee's or Red Lobster. Which would you choose?
The tourists in NYC always crowd out the chain restaurants. Most of them are from the South. I think they are just too afraid to take a chance on the great food in all of NYC's small and locally owned restaurants; it's easier for them to get the Jack Daniel's Burger or whatever at a chain restaurant.
Anyway, I'm not too surprised at those numbers. None of them have any more than the other. Even Houston (which I expected to have more just based on how big it is) isn't too big on chains in the city proper in the big scheme of things. Chances are that most of those "restaurants" are in the touristy areas.
What??
Quote:
Originally Posted by waronxmas
I think something is off with your math. Also, is this a Starbucks denisty thread redo?
No, I'm just pointing out that the number of chain restaurants usually correlates with development patterns. It's more old vs. new than north vs. south.
The single Ruby Tuesday is across from Lenox Mall in Buckhead for the tourists to enjoy.
For Applebees there is actually only one. The one in OTP Cascade Heights. The other has an Atlanta address but that is because it in an unincorporated area in Cobb County (common occurrence in unincorporated areas here.)
Of those 8 Chilis supposedly in Atlanta, only one is actually in the city of Atlanta (Lindbergh location), 6 in the Airport, two in a unincorporated suburban area just outside the city (Camp Creek and Toco Hills) with an Atlanta address because of the reason above.
For the Outback 2 are in Buckhead and one in Toco Hills (not Atlanta).
So out of all of those 3 in the actual city, 6 in the Airport, and the rest outside the city/on the edge....out of about 1000 restaurants in the city proper. Perspective
The single Ruby Tuesday is across from Lenox Mall in Buckhead for the tourists to enjoy.
For Applebees there is actually only one. The one in OTP Cascade Heights. The other has an Atlanta address but that is because it in an unincorporated area in Cobb County (common occurrence in unincorporated areas here.)
Of those 8 Chilis supposedly in Atlanta, only one is actually in the city of Atlanta (Lindbergh location), 6 in the Airport, two in a unincorporated suburban area just outside the city (Camp Creek and Toco Hills) with an Atlanta address because of the reason above.
For the Outback 2 are in Buckhead and one in Toco Hills (not Atlanta).
So out of all of those 3 in the actual city, 6 in the Airport, and the rest outside the city/on the edge....out of about 1000 restaurants in the city proper. Perspective
Now go back and apply that same logic to all of the other cities ad see what you come up with. That was the reason I went by Metro from the start vs. City limits because there is no way that it can be accurate. You can easily go back and say well this is for tourists and that doesn't count because.... for any city.
Even with that count, Boston would still have less then Atlanta and whatever the next closest older city to Atlanta after Boston could have less as well.
The tourists in NYC always crowd out the chain restaurants. Most of them are from the South. I think they are just too afraid to take a chance on the great food in all of NYC's small and locally owned restaurants; it's easier for them to get the Jack Daniel's Burger or whatever at a chain restaurant.
Yep, the tourists were just crowding out the locals in the Bronx.
Especially the southern tourists, they all head to the Bronx.
I just am thinking that any regional differences is related to ethnic makeup of an area combined with age of development in a particular place.
One other issue is local chains, meaning places that have more than one location but are more or less confined to one metro area. Another is that it looks like most restaurant chains are headquartered in the South or Midwest as well.
I am also wondering if when an area developed is a factor. It looks like local restaurants don't go into new areas but come in after a decade or two. Older suburbs seems to have more local restaurants than new suburbs.
A couple factors that could be in play is dealing with areas that don't have bans on smoking in restaurants. In those areas smoking tends to be more permitted and done in local places while chains tend to either severly restrict or ban smoking without a law in place.
Another could just be people in some parts of the country aren't willing to start a new restaurant. It could be weather or not it would succed or just lack of entrepeneurship that is in play.
I wanted to compare 2 random towns in the northeast, midwest, and south. These are suburbs right outside NYC, Chicago, and Houston. I counted the amount of national chains (not restaurants that have a few locations)--
I used this site: Restaurants in Elmont, NY on Yahoo! Local
NYC suburb (Elmont): 4/100 searched
Houston suburb (Pasadena): 26/100
Chicago suburb (Maywood): 4/100
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