the chains are eating tampa bay
July 26th, 2007
Several weeks ago I took a vacation to San Francisco and for a whole week I consumed some of the best food and wine in my life. Needless to say, returning to the reality of everyday life has been especially hard and I’ve done my best to come down from the vacation bliss. Imagine my shock yesterday morning when I opened up the local paper online and was met with a picture of a former Tampa chef, in San Francisco!
According to the article by Chris Sherman, Chef Scott Howard cut his culinary teeth in Tampa at top-notch restaurants such as rg’s, Capriccio and Mis en Place. Unfortunately for Tampa, Chef Howard felt that in order to make it big, he had to leave the area for a city more serious about food. So he moved to San Francisco and is now doing things with food that Tampa won’t see for a long, long time. I am ecstatic that a Tampa Bay chef has moved on to find great success, but in the same note I find it disheartening to learn of such a talented chef who felt the need to leave the area in order to succeed.
Sherman interviewed Chef Howard about his “move to California, his cooking philosophy and how the chains are eating Tampa Bay.” One of those topics struck me particularly close to home, especially since I have done quite a bit of writing on the subject:
On what Tampa Bay needs to become a “food town”:
“…I talk to my friends every week on the phone. When I speak to Marty (Blitz) and B.T. (Nguyen of Cafe BT in Tampa’s Hyde Park), they say it’s become so saturated with chains. That’s the big difference. Chains don’t survive here. Or maybe, they don’t thrive. There may be an Outback around, but I don’t know where.
People here support individual restaurants and chefs; they really demand quality.
Of course you’ve got some really great restaurants (in the Tampa Bay area), but the competition from the chains is really strong, especially in the casual restaurant segment. You (Tampa Bay diners) just can’t support many good independents.
How do you feel about this statement? I do my best to promote independent restaurants but I’ll admit that I have an occasional meal at Bonefish or Fleming’s. Are we doing our best as a city? If you are a frequenter of chain restaurants, what makes you gravitate toward them? What would you like to see from independent restaurants to win your business? I have my own opinions about these questions and freely admit that the some of the chains do a great job with customer service and marketing. But is the food really better?
Local restaurants mentioned:
Restaurant BT
www.restaurantbt.com
Mis en Place
www.miseonline.com
4 Responses to “the chains are eating tampa bay”
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July 27th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I’m self-employed and a lot of my customers are local businesspeople so I try to stick to locally owned restaurants. Mostly I like ethnic food so that isn’t difficult.
I do eat at Five Guys once in a while, but I used to eat at the original one in Arlington back in the first half of the 90’s so it’s kind of special for me.
The chains have economies of scale on their side and buying power so they are in a better position to compete, and given that this area has low wages and salaries compared to most cities, that is probably why they do well here, they can offer lower prices.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:51 am
Hving lived in Tampa for some time and now Orlando, I’ve only just begu to appreciate the non-chains. However, I find them to be very hit or miss and so I tend to avoid them if I haven’t heard about them. I think that blogs and/or reviewers that talk about them are their biggest advocate and resource to get people like me in their door.
October 2nd, 2007 at 12:23 pm
I own a small BBQ takeout/catering business in Riverview. Here in the Brandon/Riverview/Southshore area the chains are like an infestation. It is very difficult for us small independents to survive. And if you visit this area you’ll see right away that there is only a handful of independent restaurants around here. Why? A combination of reasons: the pedestrian level of taste in the area, the lack of “old money” and well established food culture, and the enormous influx of snowbirds who seek “safety” in all aspects of their lives, including meals. Add to that the soaring property values in this area over the last 5 or 6 years - small operators like me cannot afford even a tumbledown shack in which to locate (this is NOT an exaggeration. I tried to buy tumbledown shacks in both Ruskin and Wimauma and could not afford either).
I will tough it out a bit longer, but ultimately I do not think the Southshore area is a good place for a chef or even a duffer like me to start his own restaurant. I doubt it ever will.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:12 am
I moved to the St.Petersburg area from New Orleans about 6 months ago. I was searching for a recipe for Superior Grill’s Queso and I was pleasantly surprised to find your website as well as the Queso recipe. Most of the food in the restaurants here are bland and non-descript. At first I thought it was just my taste buds and that I was too picky about my food. Now, after trying several different non-chain restaurants in various areas, I’m convinced that it is just a lack of a food culture in this area.
I feel that this has to be because there are so many people here from all over the US. There are no common cultures on which to build upon. I can’t even find a decent bakery! Don’t these people eat around here?!:) On the lighter side, I have lost 55lbs since I moved here, which I was never able to do in New Orleans. Now that I have found this site, I will become a frequent flyer. Thanks for the time and effort you put into this website.