Independent restaurateurs Banding Together
Independent restaurateurs across the United States increasingly are banding together to fight competition from ever-expanding chain operations.
link: http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20031111-110848-9166r.htm
Chain restaurants give fierce competition
CLEVELAND, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Independent restaurateurs across the United States increasingly are banding together to fight competition from ever-expanding chain operations.
Independents like Sergio Abramof, the owner of a Brazilian restaurant in Cleveland, are forming local chapters of the Council of Independent Restaurants of America, a Louisville, Ky., trade group that helps single-unit operations to fight for survival, ABC News reported.
"We have been painfully aware of what's been happening in other industries such as the drugstores, the hardware stores and the coffee shops," said Abramof.
"Many have just become extinct and they're all replaced by chains. It seems like if the restaurants don't do anything about it, we're next."
The National Restaurant Association said more than seven out of 10 eating-and-drinking establishments are single-unit, or independent operations.
But according to industry analysts the chain restaurants are growing more popular and giving fierce competition to mid-priced independent restaurants.
Posted by Craig at November 12, 2003 08:45 PM