Restaurant Business Markets Report

[MikeJ]

Well hello everyone it's been a while since I've started a thread on some economic subject and this one is as good as any as it affects refer OTR drivers and food service truckers and warehouse workers.

Well because I used to be in the pizza shop and at one point in time almost owned my own pizza shop on Pleasant Valley Drive in Parma, Ohio I get PMQ which is Pizza Monthly and Quarterly magazine piped in. Well they blast my inbox with stuff and usually I ignore them, but they had an article about restaurant chains in a shake out.

They said the outlook for Chain Restaurants and IFS's (Independent Food Service Providers) (That's cool industry lingo) has been on the decline.

They said and this affects all you Sygma drivers out there, that Ruby Tuesday's is slated to shut down 100 restaurants, I know Bennegan's went under sometime ago.

Bob Evan's (GFS's largest customer on the chain side) closed down 27 restaurants in April and 20 last year. So there up to 47 restaurants shut down. I guess you figure you get into any organization as big as Bob Evan's or Ruby Tuesday's your going to have a couple places that don't pan out.

However the market is sighting that, it's not just a matter of places not panning out it's a matter of this darn obnoxious millennial generation which has been a huge problem there's a bunch of them, but there awful fickle one minute they say they want carbon free tofu and that's what they care about, but seem to never order the carbon free tofu.

Anyhow the report has said that to summarize there has been an out pace meaning there are more restaurants then there is a demand for.Plus millennial's like my self like to cook (I have a good example of that)
Anyhow they said grocery store food is fairly cheap in comparison to eating at restaurants so what's happening is people are opting to stay home and cook.

The article sighted that basically the landscape is over saturated with chain restaurants and independents have also had kind of a difficult time as well because of changing demographics so laws of supply and demand say there's to much supply and not enough demand restaurant chains actually out paced US population growth and now there's an over saturation in the market so a correction is now taking place.

 

[Lazlo]

I like the idea of chains. I mean, I like supporting local restaurants BUT that's only really practical when you're close to home and know the place.I can eat in an Olive Garden in KC, NY, Chicago, anywhere and it's consistent from one location to another. Especially if I'm out of town with kids Im usually not in the mood to take a chance on a new place. I'm a boring guy who likes to know what he's going to get. That, and I figure a big chain has more to lose in a lawsuit so the suits in charge are more focused on food safety than what an individual would be.
That said, I rarely eat out at all anymore unless traveling and unable to cook.
One thing your article left out, and I know I can't be alone in thinking this, is the quality and ESPECIALLY the portion sizes at the chains has gone way downhill. Last time I went into an Applebee's I can't remember what I ordered but I do remember looking at my wife in disbelief at how little was in front of me. Same with Olive Garden. If I'm paying $15 for some chicken Alfredo I better be getting more than a saucer sized plate. I don't mind paying a little bit more, I don't want to still be hungry when I'm done. I think they've become so focused on keeping the price point (and calorie content for the chains that list it in their menus) low that they've sacrificed portion size.
And quit hiding the cost of drinks. If the damn Coke is gonna cost me $2.95 I'll drink water. Like to know that upfront though.

 

[MikeJ]

I like the idea of chains. I mean, I like supporting local restaurants BUT that's only really practical when you're close to home and know the place.I can eat in an Olive Garden in KC, NY, Chicago, anywhere and it's consistent from one location to another. Especially if I'm out of town with kids Im usually not in the mood to take a chance on a new place. I'm a boring guy who likes to know what he's going to get. That, and I figure a big chain has more to lose in a lawsuit so the suits in charge are more focused on food safety than what an individual would be.
That said, I rarely eat out at all anymore unless traveling and unable to cook.
One thing your article left out, and I know I can't be alone in thinking this, is the quality and ESPECIALLY the portion sizes at the chains has gone way downhill. Last time I went into an Applebee's I can't remember what I ordered but I do remember looking at my wife in disbelief at how little was in front of me. Same with Olive Garden. If I'm paying $15 for some chicken Alfredo I better be getting more than a saucer sized plate. I don't mind paying a little bit more, I don't want to still be hungry when I'm done. I think they've become so focused on keeping the price point (and calorie content for the chains that list it in their menus) low that they've sacrificed portion size.
And quit hiding the cost of drinks. If the damn Coke is gonna cost me $2.95 I'll drink water. Like to know that upfront though.

I agree out of town I'm the same way, unless I know the joint or have heard of it before I generally stick to what I know as well. Domino's Pizza usually works for me. I also agree eating out while it's alright plent of places are of no value. Pizza shops some of them are very expensive and anymore while I'm not sure it's much cheaper I've been making my own pizza at home and it's been coming out pretty well, I've recently made pizza shop quality strombolies at home cost me $1.56 to make vs buying one for $5-$6 from a pizza shop.

 

[MikeJ]

I like the idea of chains. I mean, I like supporting local restaurants BUT that's only really practical when you're close to home and know the place.I can eat in an Olive Garden in KC, NY, Chicago, anywhere and it's consistent from one location to another. Especially if I'm out of town with kids Im usually not in the mood to take a chance on a new place. I'm a boring guy who likes to know what he's going to get. That, and I figure a big chain has more to lose in a lawsuit so the suits in charge are more focused on food safety than what an individual would be.
That said, I rarely eat out at all anymore unless traveling and unable to cook.
One thing your article left out, and I know I can't be alone in thinking this, is the quality and ESPECIALLY the portion sizes at the chains has gone way downhill. Last time I went into an Applebee's I can't remember what I ordered but I do remember looking at my wife in disbelief at how little was in front of me. Same with Olive Garden. If I'm paying $15 for some chicken Alfredo I better be getting more than a saucer sized plate. I don't mind paying a little bit more, I don't want to still be hungry when I'm done. I think they've become so focused on keeping the price point (and calorie content for the chains that list it in their menus) low that they've sacrificed portion size.
And quit hiding the cost of drinks. If the damn Coke is gonna cost me $2.95 I'll drink water. Like to know that upfront though.

When I worked at the pizza shop one of the other guys there said to me "You know Tornado the trick with McDonald's is how do they give you less and charge you more for it."

Look at potato chips the bag is 50% air and the weights are always some weird 7.65oz kind of crap.