I’ve upcoming reviews next Wednesday and the week thereafter of the Black Sheep and Randy’s Restaurant & Fun Hunter’s Brewery. I’ve completed both, but still each leaves me with points to consider, of establishments that are different in just about every way.
For today though, two observations about what matters for a restaurant or restaurant culture.
First, the near-obvious: unlike other businesses, patrons will frequent a restaurant with a dilapidated exterior if they find a pleasant atmosphere and good food inside. One will hear, sometimes, that a place is a ‘hole in the wall,’ but is still worth visiting.
My point isn’t that an establishment should be dilapidated, or that it doesn’t matter – it’s that good inside will overcome bad outside more powerfully for a restaurant than for another merchant.
Why is that? I’d say that a (good) restaurant, by its nature, offers an escape from one environment, for a complete experience (food, atmosphere, service, etc.) of another. There are few merchants that offer experiences so comprehensive as that of a restaurateur. When an establishment is good, that’s the kind of experience it offers.
Second, more restaurants benefit existing establishments whether patrons are coming from town or from nearby cities. One restaurant will not a culture make, either for those in a city or for patrons within driving distance. It might be beneficial to be the only cobbler; it’s not beneficial to be the only chef.
My friends from school often said that the ‘more one does, the more on can do.’ It’s not always true, but often – productive people become more productive.
Restaurants in a town like Whitewater have to ask themselves: will your patronage come from within the city, from beyond it, or a measure of both?
Boosting the number of restaurants in the city assures a community that acclimates to dining out more often, and an attractive destination for visitors from beyond Whitewater.
Anyone relying exclusively on Whitewater’s current level of restaurant patronage is dangerously imperiling his or her establishment’s future.
More means better.