Casual Decline

Anyone with a hand on the pulse of working class economics should have seen this coming.

Lo and behold, $4 per gallon gasoline has actually brought some benefits to this country, among them the realization that $10-$20 for mediocre food and crappy service at a “casual dining” chain is no longer trendy, fun or anything approaching palatable. So it was with little shock and surprise on my part to learn Tuesday that Plano, Texas-based Bennigan’s had gathered up all its corporate-owned locations and somberly walked away from the hostess station. The parent company also shuttered its Steak and Ale and The Tavern locations nationwide.

Take a look at the public comments posted here and you will get the impression that the decline of Bennigan’s is representative of a food business sector that desperately needs to reinvent itself many years after its collective heyday in the 1980s. Back then, the idea of presenting an Americanized version of the European “local pub” concept caught on rapidly, giving birth not only to Bennigan’s but TGI Friday’s, Chili’s, Applebee’s and a host of other national or regional chains.

Eventually, other cuisine-specific restaurant chains – Olive Garden, On the Border, Black-Eyed Pea, to name a few – sprang up with essentially the same framework. They were all places that could appeal to middle class families looking to have a “nice meal out,” white-collar office workers seeking a good place to gather for lunch, and young singles scoping out a potential hot date in a casual bar setting.

Everything seemed to be cruising along profitably until the last few years, and suddenly a lot of these chains were found to be hurting worse than a waitress who sprained her wrist picking up an oversized burger platter.

What has transpired in the American economy in the past four years was bound to take a bite out of the casual dining chains’ happy existence, but they have no one to blame but themselves in a couple of other areas. In many cases (and certainly with Bennigan’s as the aforementioned comment posts indicate), changes were made to menus so often that one never knew if the entrée so loved would still be around six months later. There seems to have been a corresponding slide in overall food quality and service as well, and this became a liability as the casual dining chain scene grew ever more crowded during the 1990s.

The thing that may not be quite as obvious is how little the actual restaurants have changed, or a better way to put it might be “evolved,” with the passing years. Frankly, the Bennigan’s restaurants, what few times I had visited one in recent years, looked basically the same as they did 20 years ago. The same statement holds true for most of its casual chain brethren.

One step in the right direction might lie within the realm of entertainment technology, and, no, I’m not talking about the big game displayed on a 50-inch flatscreen. The Cozymel’s Mexican restaurant in Grapevine, Texas, earlier this year installed devices that let you pay electronically at the table, as well as providing new movie trailers and local showtime listings, games for the kids and updated sports scores.

And just why, for a business sector that has long depended on the patronage of the nearby office worker, free WiFi is not commonplace in their locations is nothing short of bewildering.

Maybe the managers would rather not see tables tied up for long periods with people on laptops. The way things are going for casual dining chains, they may not have to worry about it much longer.

TGI Friday’s, Chili’s and all the rest had better take heed, though. If you’re going to continue to sell $7 hamburgers, you better have something more to offer than a trip back to the ’80s.

Terry Britt greatly prefers to go out to a real pub – chips, Guinness and Trivia Night. You can reach him at terrybritt@hotmail.com.