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user-inactivated  ·  2489 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pesky whippersnappers are now destroying Applebees, apparently.

    Fast Casual was shutting down and dying in 2006, back when I had to design the AV systems for Hooters and Maggiano's and the fact that they lasted this long says more about the dead tastebuds of baby boomers than the fickle tastes of millennials.

My parents have pure shit taste in restaurants. Bob Evan's out here is a Denny's without the charm of a Cracker Barrel and a lower food quality than a Shoney's. Mom and dad love the place though and I ate at a Bob Evan's in four states when they came out here last year.

Want to know what food is good and making money hand over fist out here? Fried Chicken places. There are small independent places all over, a few local chains that always have lines of people and then you have KFC (always empty) and Lee's (for when you hate your food to have flavor and nutrition). The one chicken place I go to is in the edge of the bad part of town and I am often the only while guy in the place. I've been there enough times that they people there recognize me.

I do not give a flying fuck about the 'experience' of dining. The shit on the walls does not add to the food, and ambiance does not really do anything for me. I've eaten some damn good meals in places that maybe should have had a health inspector take a closer look. A few weekends ago I had a damn good meal in a bar that served 20 different beers on tap but had a food service attached. I want a hamburger cooked medium, and not burnt into a hockey puck. I want to be able to order a steak and have a few good sides. I want to be able to order a main dish that tastes good. Coincidentally, one of the absolutely worst pieces of meat I have every had was at a Ruth's Criss. How can a steak house fuck up a steak?

Chain restaurants have a Fox News level problem. The demographic is dying and the people who partake have driven off the GenX and Millenials to the point where no amount of re-branding is going to work. The kids that came in right after me were shooed out of the malls and now they don't bother; malls are dying. Who's fault is that? Definitely not the people that kicked the kids out, nope, not them. Applebee's etc are going to be gone in 10 years when the Boomers finally get around to dying in large numbers. Can't come soon enough.