Little to say about new Clarksville restaurants

It seems to be that Veteran's Parkway is southern Indiana's version of Hurstbourne Parkway. A significant thoroughfare with lots of easy access chain restaurants and name retail. Lots of traffic and new development that appears to appeal to what I call the "Holiday Inn" need. Remember their "no surprises" ads from a few years ago? How they promised that no matter where you stayed, your Holiday Inn would always be the same? A lot of folks seem to like that safety factor. No weird food or spices, everything just like it always was.

OK, that's not me,nor the majority of the folks on this board, but safety has a certain appeal. Just sayin'. An observation only. Don't flame me.

Speaking only for myself, the more the world turns into one big chain, the better to serve the needs of the contrarians and eccentrics who see things my way. A few years back I attended a seminar on a whim, the topic of which was branded destination marketing - do something special and different, serve specific needs, and have the type of business where your type of consumer comses to you. It was an immense vindication for me to realize that the way I've always felt is now perceived as something worth teaching others. I just which I'd have turned over those dollars first ...

The bigger and dumber Veterans Parkway gets, the better opportunity exists in places like downtown New Albany to contrast and serve the niches. Success isn't mutually exclusive -- it just depends on how and where you define it.

"no surprises"

There are a number of reasons that chains are thriving, and this is certainly one of them. It is one of the reasons I am much more likely to eat at a chain on the road. I much prefer independents when I have the chance, but on I-64 to Virginia, I just don't know if I stop at a local restaurant whether the food will be good, the service acceptable, and the time dining fairly brief. I can guarantee all of those (including my kids liking it) if we stop at Panera Bread. So we stop at Panera Bread.

But for my birthday dinner(s) this week, I am being taken to Mojitos and Bistro New Albany (gotta find out if Robin is right about the steak).

Chains also have large marketing budgets, not only including advertising, but also market research. They make their restaurants look like eye candy as well. They virtually jump up and yell "Hey look at me!"

The bottom line is that chains will always have things going for them that independents don't. Independents counteract this by serving niche customers, providing great service, and spreading good word-of-mouth.

Has anyone realized that popular independents have memes spreading about them? BNA has the meme "best steak ever" (I'm sure well-deserved), for instance. Just some food for thought.

My dad used to day, if you can't say something nice, say nothing at all. I'm thinking there are some folks here who could take his advice.

[/quote]carla griffin wrote:
What is it with Southern Indiana and the lack of independent restaurants? Is the overhead just so high that only corp chains can afford to go in or what? It seems that with such an obvious absence of mom & pop restaurants that someone would want to fill that need. There used to be a good mexican/latin restaurant in front of Value City - near Apple Annie's- but that's gone; everything else is a chain. WUWT?


Sorry, but this isn't true. RockWall, Bistro New Albany, La Rosita's, Federal Hill Cafe, Onion, Comeback Inn, Mai's Thai ... these are just the places that I drop most of my paycheck monthly. Another, Connor's Place in New Albany, is opening this Friday. Time to get a second job.
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Perhaps what I should have said was there weren't many independents , not any independents. When you look at the %s of chains it seems to be disproportionately high in Southern Indiana. I 've had great meals in most of the restaurants you listed above but since I usually find myself on Veterans Highway while in the middle of running errands, I don't always have time to skip up to Rockwall or over to MaiTai's or Comeback.

Carla,The next time you're shopping on Vetran's just skip over to Lewis
and Clark and come see us at Stratto's.We're still here, trying to compete
with the chains on a daily basis.

Linda -- geez, I'm embarrassed not including you in the preceding -- and after we just talked.

I feel stupid. Some would say it's congenital ... but know that we've had great food and service each time we've been to Stratto's, and there are discussions afoot for a summer portfolio beer dinner on the patio once the weather settles.

Thanks Roger-Hope to see you soon.

Linda I will certainly do that! Can I get an address/hrs?
I look forwrd to a menu that's not corp dictated!

Carla, We are open for lunch and dinner tue-wed-thu, fri 11-10, sat
4-10 (dinner only) sun 11-3 (brunch buffet). We hope to launch our new
spring menu next week with lots of new and exciting items . The patio is
officially open now(when the weather cooperates that is!) Please introduce
yourself if you come in I would love to meet you.
We have all the Italian favorites-pastas-grilled pizzas-steaks and seafood
as well as some delicous specialties created by chef Tony.