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There is a diner a few miles down the road from me. Popular place, good food. I went there the other night and ordered a meal. When I got the check, it showed $1 for mashed potatoes and gravy. What?????
Easier, cheaper and better for you to just eat at home. Not that much trouble to make something tasty for yourselves. The value vs cost in going to a restaurant just isn't there.
I used to go to Cracker Barrel for the country fried steak, then I met my wife. She said 'I can make this!'
So now I get some nice cubed steak from the supermarket, Louisiana brand fried chicken batter and I whip up the Pioneer country sausage gravy mix, she deep fries it in the skillet and it's friggin' delicious! And at a fraction of the cost of going out.
Had no idea either restaurant was a big thing with senior citizens, but apparently that demographic made up a good share of customer base pre-pandemic. Post covid they just don't seem interested any longer.
That's a weird article to me, because the headline implies it's specific to those 2 restaurants seniors are skipping, but in the body of the article it states seniors are staying away due to inflation and Covid. So it sounds to me like seniors are just eating out less everywhere, but that maybe it affects those 2 chains more than others. Although I see lots of younger families at Olive Garden especially. Cracker Barrel has always been a traveler's restaurant, they are almost exclusively right off major interstates, Turnpike, etc. I would assume seniors are traveling less than they did before Covid and inflation, too.
There's nothing in that article that suggests seniors are choosing other places over these two.
"No amount of biscuits and gravy or unlimited pasta refills seems to be enough to entice the 65-and-older crowd as they continue to pinch pennies amid high inflation and duck the coronavirus, according to Rick Cardenas, chief executive of Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden.
“I do believe that they were a little bit more spooked on the COVID side,” Cardenas told analysts on a Thursday conference call."
I understand that you have an affinity for a specific Olive Garden in one particular location who performed good deeds for those 9/11 helpers. I give them a lot of credit for that. I do remember 9/11 very well and would be very grateful and supportive to the altruistic staff at that particular Olive Garden restaurant. But I wasn't writing about a specific location. I live in the NYC metro area, not in NYC at present. We have so many Italian restaurants within a 50 mile area, there's no need to eat at an Olive Garden if you get a craving for pasta. I'm sure people in Texas or CA would say the same about Taco Bell because Tex Mex restaurants are very abundant in those areas with better quality and cheaper prices.
If you live in an Italian food dessert, then Olive Garden might fulfill your needs. I'm just saying that there are better options in areas, such as Boston, or Providence, or NYC with large Italian-American populations. In my area, specifically, there are numerous Italian supermarket chains (Uncle Giuseppe, Iavarone Brothers, A&S Foods, etc.) that sell both in-house prepared Italian food or imported Italian food. Even these, taste much better than OG
As a former NYC resident now p/t upstate NY resident, I AGREE with you. I'm not crazy about Italian food at all. It's never on my list of restaurants to go to but I've been to lunch or dinner with friends and coworkers who love Italian restaurants. You're right, Italian restaurants all over the NYC/NJ metro area and all over the state itself (many of them are mom & pop types). There is NO reason for people who live in the area to go to Olive Garden restaurants. I'm baffled that some people do so.
We are finally getting a CB and I haven’t eaten in one in years. I prefer good Italian food but will go to Olive Garden during the week with friends as their lunch specials are cheap. I don’t eat out as much mainly because of the cost.
Isn't it true there's also a lot of bad Italian food in Italy?
Why would it be any different here?
I've never had a bad meal in Italy no matter what I paid - Italians love their food and it shows. After having pizza in Naples or Rome you're ruined for it when you come home...and they actually have published rules for pizza.
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