Breakin’ the Chains

A few months ago, the local paper ran a series of stories about the state of locally owned restaurants in Cedar Rapids. With the downtown area being a ghost of its former self, the threat was imminent that locally owned restaurants were in danger of closing down. The lack of traffic and advertising crunches put these businesses at serious risk.

However, the articles also chimed in on how the national chain restaurants were thriving and continuing to do good business. Was this due to the economies of scale, in which product was purchased for cheap in throngs? Was it because most chains have prime locations and national advertising dollars to market the business? Or is it because the food and service are actually superior?




I have been to most chain and local restaurants in the Cedar Rapids area and I can say that my experiences have been all over the map in each venue. There are chains I will not set foot in, and there are local restaurants that have lost my interest as well. I consider only two criteria when I ask myself, “Would I go back to this place?”

Food and Service

Simple as that, really. If a restaurant consistently serves a quality product that tastes great and is prepared as the customer expects, that restaurant will keep customers and gain new ones. That is, provided that the SERVICE that goes along with it is better than average. Most chains have decent food at decent prices, and sometimes, their service is pretty darn good. There are some chains, however, that have horrible service, despite their delusions in thinking they offer a “WOW” experience.




For a local restaurant owner to thrive, they must embrace the highest quality service possible and instill this into each person on staff. From the Assistant Manager to the busboy. Complacency will lose you more customers than you can imagine as bad word of mouth far exceeds good. It is very difficult to rebound in this poisoned environment as advertising dollars just aren’t in the cards.

The bottom line is that I believe local residents would LOVE to support local restaurants and would do so enthusiastically if their experiences were consistently a cut above the chains. I will pay an extra few dollars for a real “wow” experience and not some gimmicky, commercialized funhouse with average food and servers that would rather be on smoke break then serve customers.

For local businesses to thrive, we all have to do our part. If you give us a reason to come, we will be there.