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The huge chain restaurants exist for people traveling for work with only an AMEX card to put expenses on have a place to eat, as funky little local places never take that piece of poo poo. I used to work for a guy who refuse to pay per diem but would give me a corporate AMEX and told me to "buy yourself and the crew whatever the gently caress they want". I have no idea what he was thinking as it was certainly costing him more than $50 per person per day, but it did condemn us to weeks of nothing but chain restaurant dining. It got to the point where if we had two of them in the same hotel parking lot we would go to one for cocktails, then cross the street and have dinner at the other just for a change of pace.
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Aug 21, 2017 19:41
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Haifisch posted:I wonder if/when we'll see a chain restaurant collapse like the current retail chain/mall collapse.
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Aug 21, 2017 19:51
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bongwizzard posted:The huge chain restaurants exist for people traveling for work with only an AMEX card to put expenses on have a place to eat, as funky little local places never take that piece of poo poo. Yeah, but what tiny fraction of the population is that? 3%? 5%? A corporate Amex is also all-but-useless in Europe, especially Germany.
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Aug 21, 2017 19:58
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I have a friend who went on a date a couple weeks ago. He took her to Olive Garden, I had to feign appreciation when she said that, they're in the later half of their 50's.
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Aug 21, 2017 20:08
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Barudak posted:There are millennials with tons of money and I've sold thm train tours through south east asia that cost upwards of 5k a night to prove it. They are not most millennials, and surprise surprise applebees core demo exists within the Millennial populace where applebees is located: not cities This is true, but the rich ones are going to high end places that do everything organic and artisanal and bespoke and all those other words that Millennials love so much, they're not going to loving Applebee's.
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Aug 21, 2017 21:50
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WampaLord posted:This is true, but the rich ones are going to high end places that do everything organic and artisanal and bespoke and all those other words that Millennials love so much, they're not going to loving Applebee's. Yeah I think even if you're somebody completely alien to us coastal go-getters and have the most midwestern tastes imaginable, if you have money in flyover and you're under 40 you're eating your burgers and macaroni at local brewpubs and the nearest location that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives, not bothering with microwaved chain garbage.
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Aug 21, 2017 22:03
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Tiny Brontosaurus posted:Yeah I think even if you're somebody completely alien to us coastal go-getters and have the most midwestern tastes imaginable, if you have money in flyover and you're under 40 you're eating your burgers and macaroni at local brewpubs and the nearest location that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives, not bothering with microwaved chain garbage. And like you said, the poor ones like me would rather do a fast casual thing. which is why those places are exploding right now. Although honestly some of these fast casual prices are getting insane. Five Guys, what the gently caress do you think you're selling that you can charge that much? You have a mediocre burg at best.
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Aug 21, 2017 22:09
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Even when I'm visiting my 40s-and-older whitebread midwestern suburbia family(which is The Target Market for bland chain restaurants), we almost always go to local places. Even they have cottoned on to the fact that you get better and/or cheaper food in those places. Like, the one time we went to a Ruby Tuesday actually stuck out because of that, and we only went there because we had an ancient aunt along for the ride. Barudak posted:There are millennials with tons of money and I've sold thm train tours through south east asia that cost upwards of 5k a night to prove it. They are not most millennials, and surprise surprise applebees core demo exists within the Millennial populace where applebees is located: not cities Unfortunately, it seems like every sit down, fast food, and fast casual chain would rather chase the unicorn of the millennial with money.
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Aug 21, 2017 22:12
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WampaLord posted:And like you said, the poor ones like me would rather do a fast casual thing. which is why those places are exploding right now. Right? I tried them once and their combo was sixteen goddamn dollars and everything was soggy. Haifisch posted:Even when I'm visiting my 40s-and-older whitebread midwestern suburbia family(which is The Target Market for bland chain restaurants), we almost always go to local places. Even they have cottoned on to the fact that you get better and/or cheaper food in those places. It's so weird, because I really don't think there's any reason for them to be messing up as badly as they are. Most millennials are just as fat and boring as their parents, just influenced by different trends, and limited by a much lower income. I mean, speaking in the broadest strokes imaginable, a restaurant can appeal to customers by being cheap, convenient, healthy, tasty, or novel. Few restaurants can hit all of those targets but at least try for one. Instead they take this schizophrenic approach where four wan "heart-healthy" dishes will be buried in the menu next to Lucky-Charms-Crusted Chk'n Dipperz and a rubbery sirloin dinner that costs more than the one at the nearest good local steakhouse. Like the most logical direction for a place like Applebee's to go in is the Guy Fieri nutritional-assault style cuisine, which could easily be spun in a millennial direction by tapping into the vibe of all those lovely bacon-orgy youtube cooking shows. But they're not even doing that, they're just whining that Millennials Are Killing the Shitfood Industry.
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Aug 21, 2017 22:30
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Tiny Brontosaurus posted:Few restaurants can hit all of those targets but at least try for one. Instead they take this schizophrenic approach where four wan "heart-healthy" dishes will be buried in the menu next to Lucky-Charms-Crusted Chk'n Dipperz and a rubbery sirloin dinner that costs more than the one at the nearest good local steakhouse. 
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Aug 21, 2017 23:08
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Holy poo poo Ruby Tuesday's still exists? Honestly the last one I can remember seeing was at the emptiest end of a mostly-empty mall and I don't think I saw a soul in there, not even an employee. This must've been ten years ago. I thought they were done.
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Aug 21, 2017 23:22
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For anyone who hasn't seen it, this point-by-point breakdown of why Olive Garden sucks is a masterpiece: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-hedge-fund-presentation-on-olive-garden-is-a-masterpiece-2014-9
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Aug 21, 2017 23:37
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Aug 21, 2017 23:51
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Tiny Brontosaurus posted:For anyone who hasn't seen it, this point-by-point breakdown of why Olive Garden sucks is a masterpiece: I've been going through this and can't stop laughing.
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Aug 22, 2017 00:06
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 It'll be okay, just quit serving unsalted pasta like some kind of sociopath
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Aug 22, 2017 00:59
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Tiny Brontosaurus posted:Right? I tried them once and their combo was sixteen goddamn dollars and everything was soggy. This is totally true. When I was in my early twenties, there were cheap, local places when I was going to community college. Now, I'm not sure where there are the equivalent; certainly not Applebees. It reminds me of the dillemma Red Lobster currently faces- its too expensive for the type of people that like Red Lobster, and too crappy for the type of people willing to pay that much at a seafood restaurant.
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Aug 22, 2017 04:41
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Depressio111117 posted:Holy poo poo Ruby Tuesday's still exists? The last time I went to a Ruby Tuesday was in 2002 right after I got an ingrown toenail surgically removed and my childhood dog died in the same day. It did nothing to improve things and I don't think I've seen one since.
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Aug 22, 2017 04:52
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Instant Jellyfish posted:The last time I went to a Ruby Tuesday was in 2002 right after I got an ingrown toenail surgically removed and my childhood dog died in the same day. It did nothing to improve things and I don't think I've seen one since. Did your dog grow back? 
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Aug 22, 2017 05:12
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Panfilo posted:It reminds me of the dillemma Red Lobster currently faces- its too expensive for the type of people that like Red Lobster, and too crappy for the type of people willing to pay that much at a seafood restaurant. I'm that type of person. Red lobster why do you have to so expensive, I just want your biscuits.
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Aug 22, 2017 05:48
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ilmucche posted:I'm that type of person. Red lobster why do you have to so expensive, I just want your biscuits. Just google the recipe, it's pretty easy to replicate at home, the secret is just brushing on melted butter (mixed with garlic, if you're like me) while they're right out of the oven.
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Aug 22, 2017 05:49
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ilmucche posted:I'm that type of person. Red lobster why do you have to so expensive, I just want your biscuits. Those biscuits are stupid easy to make. And you know, considering the climates both political and meteorological, why eat healthy anymore? It'll only make you live longer. Death Note WampaLord posted:Just google the recipe, it's pretty easy to replicate at home, the secret is just brushing on melted butter (mixed with garlic, if you're like me) while they're right out of the oven. Garlic and paprika 
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Aug 22, 2017 05:51
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ilmucche posted:I'm that type of person. Red lobster why do you have to so expensive, I just want your biscuits. Red Lobster also sells a box kit to make them. You have to bring your own cheddar and butter, and they turn out pretty well. I’m also fairly certain that it’s just $.25 of restaurant supply Bisquick and generic garlic spice mix.
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Aug 22, 2017 06:48
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Blue Moonlight posted:Red Lobster also sells a box kit to make them. You have to bring your own cheddar and butter, and they turn out pretty well. It is, and honestly you don't really need a recipe. Just mix bisquick with water until it looks sticky, throw in the cheese and spices, and then bake at a medium sort of heat, basting with melted butter when they're almost but not quite done. A dusting of kosher salt on top is nice too.
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Aug 22, 2017 06:51
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My grandpa loves red lobster 
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Aug 22, 2017 06:53
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Sizzler's cheese toast is where it's at. gently caress everything else on their menu though.
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Aug 22, 2017 06:58
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Tiny Brontosaurus posted:Garlic and paprika Paprika is vastly underrated as a spice. it's not just for goulash people !
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Aug 22, 2017 07:23
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mllaneza posted:Paprika is vastly underrated as a spice. it's not just for goulash people ! Can we not do this here? The correct term is Hungarians.
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Aug 22, 2017 08:54
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QUACKTASTIC posted:Can we not do this here? The correct term is Hungarians. Hungary turned out to be not as easy a market for restaurants as they thought.
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Aug 22, 2017 09:10
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mllaneza posted:Paprika is vastly underrated as a spice. it's not just for goulash people ! Mix some paprika with some oil and salt and any other herbs and spices you feel appropriate, like maybe some garlic powder or something. Cut up a sweet potato into wedges. Brush with the oil mix, bake in the oven until soft and fluffy inside. Eat. paprika owns
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Aug 22, 2017 09:52
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mllaneza posted:Paprika is vastly underrated as a spice. it's not just for goulash people ! I think paprika can gets a bad rap because of how quickly it goes stale and loses its flavor. When I first got in the cooking in my mid 20s I went to some fancy spice shop and bought a bunch of staples. When I got home I started trying a little taste of everything and the paprika knocked my socks off. It was so much better then the random jar we had before. I think I have like four different ones now, it is so useful in so many different things.
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Aug 22, 2017 13:33
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Tiny Brontosaurus posted:Right? I tried them once and their combo was sixteen goddamn dollars and everything was soggy. Speaking as one of those mythological millennials that old people keep thinking are enigmas, the big thing we want is the same thing everyone else wants: good food that's worth what we actually pay for it. Parking lot chains like Applebee's and Olive Garden serve food that's typically 7/10 or even as high as 8/10, but charge as much as local restaurants with much better meals. The steak is worth maybe $10 but you end up paying $25 for it, and that's before drinks and appetizers. Especially since cheap tasty food exists anywhere. Black Bean Deli in Orlando sells big $8 sandwiches that taste worlds better than anything Red Lobster has put out, and you get the satisfaction of supporting a local business instead of a gigantic chain. One thing I'm definitely happy for is stuff like Eat24 and Grubhub, because they help local restaurants get a leg up. You can just get food delivered without needing to get in your car and drive for dinner, but they also let you find restaurants that are ordinarily impossible to notice because they're tucked into the elbow of a plaza that rarely sees sunlight and you never even walk past it on accident. There's a Colombian restaurant nearby that sells great food and huge platters, but you have to go around a corner in a strip mall to even find it and nothing back there is worth going to for random people. I don't doubt they would be on their last legs if they didn't put themselves down for pickup and delivery on food apps.
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Aug 22, 2017 17:42
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The closest anybody I've known has come to actually wanting to go to Applebee's is when they were doing 2-for-1 appetizers one night a week. They'd go that one night, have a bunch of appetizers and nothing else, and that was that. But now they're back to full price, and that full prices is nearly twice what you'd pay at one of the places you'd drive by just to get to Applebee's in the first place. That's the millennial they need to aim for, I think. Not the well-to-do hedge fund millennial, but the more ubiquitous millennial who is broke and will eat just about anything if they don't have to travel very far.
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Aug 22, 2017 18:20
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chitoryu12 posted:Speaking as one of those mythological millennials that old people keep thinking are enigmas, the big thing we want is the same thing everyone else wants: good food that's worth what we actually pay for it. Parking lot chains like Applebee's and Olive Garden serve food that's typically 7/10 or even as high as 8/10, but charge as much as local restaurants with much better meals. The steak is worth maybe $10 but you end up paying $25 for it, and that's before drinks and appetizers. As a poor rear end millennial I'm confused by your post. Two steaks with sides and an appetizer comes up to $25 at Applebee's. However you're ordering one for $25 you're doing it wrong.
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Aug 22, 2017 18:47
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Len posted:As a poor rear end millennial I'm confused by your post. Two steaks with sides and an appetizer comes up to $25 at Applebee's. However you're ordering one for $25 you're doing it wrong. I wasn't specifically talking about Applebee's prices in there. For example, Outback Steakhouse has pretty mediocre steaks (they actually come out better well-done) with prices going from $12 for a 6 oz. to $28 for a 22 oz. You get sides, sure, but it's still not a really awesome steak. I can instead go to a local Thai restaurant and get the same amount of food at a higher quality for the same or a lower price. I've been to a lot of restaurants and tried a ton of different world cuisines, and I've gotten to eat at Victoria & Albert's once. The big mid-price chain restaurants like the ones we're talking about are almost unanimously worse than most of their cheaper competition, while the locally owned restaurants at a similar price point have better food (and they do cool things like use sustainable local ingredients or try new things instead of making generic "American" food). Unless they're the only game in town, you almost always have better options everywhere you look.
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Aug 22, 2017 20:04
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I hate the Outback, and I specifically hate the Bloomin' Onion 
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Aug 22, 2017 20:10
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Iron Crowned posted:I hate the Outback, and I specifically hate the Bloomin' Onion Don't be alarmed. This indicates only that you are still sane.
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Aug 22, 2017 20:13
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The only way casual dining can win is to stop being casual dining or shrink the supply enough to compensate with the new demand because Millennials hate success and want to kill all of our beloved brands. Ironically those same Millennials worked menial jobs at these brands and are now unemployed.
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Aug 22, 2017 20:21
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Speaking of Outback, I wonder how much longer my local one will last. About a year ago, a Texas Roadhouse moved in across the street. TR is about the only chain restaurant I still look forward to trips to--they don't have any nonsense hip flavors or "chef-inspired dishes" on their menu, just like, steak, burgers, and ribs and other straightforward stuff, and they seem to be the only chain not going overboard on their pricepoints. Like, sure the steak is only average-to-good level depending on what you order, but they cost like, half as much as Outback across the street, who have much lower quality in my opinion. Like, I don't even mind the country music and football motif, just because it means I'm not paying $18+ for a 6oz rubbery under-flavored hunk of meat cooked wrong.
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Aug 22, 2017 20:25
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What's strange is that back when I was in High School, there was a chinese fast food chain called Mr. Chau's that was hugely popular with the local High School and community college crowd. I don't know if they were still around, but the main draw was that they were the cheapest place around. When I see places like Panda Express I wonder who in their early twenties can really afford to go to these types of places regularly (I'm guessing not many, as most of the people at Panda Express tend to be older families these days). I guess it is true that people assume Millenials have much more discretionary spending than they really do. Food quality in many chains is essentially 'economy' but the pricing is far from it, which is absolutely  . Especially with the existence of the internet and restaurant apps where people have a lot more tools to find actually good places to eat.
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Aug 22, 2017 20:26
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Chain restaurants are fine. You don't have to like everything for it to be of value to others. Many people value predictability over novelty. This is also fine.
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Aug 22, 2017 20:28
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