The Dream of Rich's Mighty Fine
January 19th, 2010
Insight into how corporate chains work under a common framework threaten to make ma and pa restaurants a thing of the past
by John Stafford
A sea of corporate restaurant chains characterizes the landscape of South Salt Lake -- TGI Friday's, Ruby Tuesday, Applebee's, Burger King, Subway, etc. -- their sprawl fueled by generous tax incentives for corporations in places like Sandy. Here, it appears that big name restaurants have made local eateries a thing of the past.
The area around downtown SLC is a different story. While big restaurant chains have established a foothold here, it's the locally-owned restaurants that make the area so unique. Places like Blueplate, Red Iguana and Moochie's have garnered a fair deal of national recognition and a great deal of local support. These are the one-of-a-kind places that have become identifiable to the point that they help make Utah -- Utah.
As downtown rises, the question becomes: Will the new downtown be the area's Mecca for local eateries, or will it become just another expanse of corporate chains reminiscent of Centerville? Enter Rich Shellene.
For Shellene, it all started with a dream.
He first got into the restaurant business at the age of 15. Twenty-nine years later, frustrated by the corporate world of restaurant conglomerates, Shellene ventured out on his own.
He began selling his gourmet hamburgers out of a food cart and now, two years later, he's in the process of expanding his dream. Shellene recently purchased some space on 30 E Broadway, giving Rich's Mighty Fine Burgers & Grub a new sense of permanency.
"I built some customers and a reputation [in the area]," he said. "I've been looking for real estate for about six months now and I finally found the spot I wanted, so I've taken the plunge."
Starting a business in today's economic climate is tough enough -- over 50 percent of small businesses fail before their first anniversary, according to a study by the Small Business Administration. Adding to the woes of small, local restaurants are large restaurant chains, which Shellene said snuff out smaller restaurants and stifle creativity.
He described himself as being anti corporate restaurant chains, and though he declined to name any of the specific restaurant conglomerates that had employed him in the past, he stressed their threat to local restaurants.
"Some of these chains come downtown and undercut prices at the local businesses. It's a known fact, and I used to be part of it in corporate America. The best place to open a big corporate chain is in the same neighborhood -- if not on the same block or right next door -- [as] a local business that's been there for 20 years. It's easy customers. And that whole mentality is something I'm completely against," he said.
As the ongoing City Creek construction project alters the makeup of downtown, it remains to be seen if small restaurants and larger chains can exist harmoniously in the area. Gauging the success of many large corporate restaurant chains, their further expansion into the downtown area in some form appears likely. However, the scope of this growth has yet to be determined.
"You can go anywhere in the U.S.A. now and every strip mall has the same chains -- fast food or otherwise -- and unfortunately the customer is being trained that that's where they're supposed to eat," Shellene said.
To Shellene, chains have basically consolidated their menus, creating a more insipid platter with fewer options.
"Applebee's, Chili's, Ruby Tuesday, [T.G.I] Friday's, it's all the same food really. You can go into any one of those places and get the same dish," he said.
According to Shellene, along with suppressing innovation, corporate restaurant chains often sacrifice hospitality and customer service.
"There are scripts in every restaurant chain [for] how long it should take to get your order...30 seconds for greetings, two minutes for appetizers, eight to 10 minutes for entrees, four minutes for desserts. All this stuff is mechanized and the hospitality is not genuine anymore, it's just all mechanics. And I think these big chains -- again we're back to the training mentality -- are training people that this is what you get when you go out to eat," he said.
This isn't the case at Rich's Mighty Fine. Shellene said that for him the keys to operating a successful restaurant are clear: good food and genuine hospitality that doesn't fall within the constraints of a time limit.
Only time will tell if the revitalized downtown area will become a hub for local businesses, or another example of the tumefaction of restaurant conglomerates. Citing the success of SLC's downtown farmer's market, Shellene said the downtown area of cities is often more resistant to chains because they have more loyal supporters willing to buy local.
"Buy local and support your local businesses. If we don't do that, we're going to wind up like all the strip malls out in the burbs," he said.
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