A Tale of Two Restaurants

FOOD FIGHT

I see there's a new enterprise in my old stamping grounds, as Jon

Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, opened the doors to what he hopes might be the first of several Soul Kitchens [in Red Bank, NJ].

The idea is this: There are no prices on the menu, which features such items as Garden State Gumbo, with chicken, pork sausage and Jersey fresh kale and a BBQ grilled salmon filet with soul seasonings, sweet potato mash and sautéed greens. Diners who are able to pay should leave more than the suggested minimum donation; Diners who can't afford to pay can volunteer to work at the Soul Kitchen to cover their meals. The restaurant will be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and for Sunday brunch.

I certainly wish the erstwhile Mr. Bongiovi all the best in this benevolent project. Unfortunately, however, it certainly looks like eateries like The Soul Kitchen will become more and more necessary as

Friendly’s, the fast-casual dining chain that was home to so many post-little league sundaes and clamorous birthday parties, is filing for bankruptcy.

But Josh Ozersky of Time avers that Friendly's situation is hardly unique:

Every day seems to reveal another national chain, which had weathered everything from the OPEC boycott to the Bush recession, to be on the brink of extinction. Fuddruckers, Sbarro and the owner of the biggest Mexican restaurant chains in the U.S. (El Torito, Chevys Fresh Mex and Acapulco Mexican Restaurant) just declared bankruptcy as well, joining the ranks of Bennigan’s (2008), Don Pablo’s (2007), and Black Angus Steakhouse (twice, in 2004 and 2009). The incredible shrinking Tony Roma’s is down to just 45 units, and the Ground Round to 25, which I think officially qualifies it as an endangered species. There are only 141 Big Boys. Big Boys! Almost everywhere you look in chain restaurant land, the news is grim. Even the once omnipotent Olive Garden is struggling ...

[And] the reason the chains are shrinking is that they were the great commissary of the American middle class, and the middle class is itself a besieged and crippled entity. There are more proximate causes: high food prices, for example. But in the natural order of things, the chains would just respond by raising prices or shrinking portions. They can’t really do the latter because big portions are to chain restaurants what drunken co-eds are to the nation’s pay-per-view industry. The economy is hurting generally, that’s true. But the QSR sector, as it’s called by the industry (quick service restaurants, or fast food to you) is doing great. And the reason it’s doing great is because families that were eating fajita quesadilla platters for dinner are now eating less expensive fare like Hardee’s Thickburgers instead.

Needless to say, the US probably had too many of these casual refectories for a while, but it's still sad to see so many of them go belly up—especially in the case of Friendly's, which managed to weather the Great Depression in its 76-year history.

But all this is just symptomatic of a society that has become so diverse that the only restaurant choices are becoming The Four Seasons or McDonald's.