
As Goes the Middle Class, So Goes TGI Fridays - jpatokal
https://www.eater.com/2017/10/3/16395490/tgi-fridays-death-of-middle-class
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johnwheeler
i don’t think it’s because of millennials or income inequality...

it’s because the food has gone to shit to maximize shareholder value.
starboard value partners actually had to put together a strategy to make their
restaurants (olive garden, red lobster) stop serving shit food

[http://www.shareholderforum.com/dri/Library/20140911_Starboa...](http://www.shareholderforum.com/dri/Library/20140911_Starboard-
presentation.pdf)

i remember when both of those first opened 25 years or so ago. they were the
cheesecake factories of their day, and they served awesome meals. then, they
went to steam bags and microwaveables.

speaking of good restaurants that have gone downhill, i am so disappointed
with pf chang’s, it used to be delicious and now makes meals that taste like
salty tv dinners.

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whipoodle
> One thing about millennials is certain: Their habits are the straw man of
> choice for explaining anything in decline.

Jeez, ain't that the truth.

~~~
ezrast
I opened the article, read the first couple paragraphs, and immediately did
ctrl+F "millennials". Was pleasantly surprised.

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CM30
Nope, it's not because of the middle class or anything related. Simply because
the food is terrible and has gotten worse and worse in recent years. People
are realising there are better alternatives out there, not just ones that
reply on brand recognition with little else going for them.

Add the fact it's easier to find out how good or bad a restaurant is via
reviews, and you've got a situation where terrible chain restaurants are going
the way of the dodo as people chose alternatives with decent food.

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tosstossy
Good riddance.

My memories of tgi Fridays and Applebee's are those of mediocre fattening
foods, boredom, and frequent sickness.

If more people are cooking, good for you USA.

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rspeer
I doubt more people are cooking, it's just that the largest chain restaurants
have gradually let themselves go to shit and left themselves in a position
with no demand.

There are more options than ever for good, casual food. And there are as many
options as we've always had for not-so-good cheap food, like McDonald's.

The problem Friday's has isn't that everyone suddenly loves to cook. It's that
they suck, everyone now knows they suck, the prices are unreasonable for how
much they suck, and there are obvious choices that suck less.

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tosstossy
They've always been shit, are you saying they're worse now? Hard to believe.

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rspeer
You may find it hard to believe, but the only reason these chains were ever
viable businesses is that middle-class people would go there, by choice. Yes,
they got worse.

Sticking with the example of Friday's, it used to be a reasonable place to go
out with people. Not an amazing culinary experience, but comfort food of a
sort. Now there is nothing comforting about it. The last Friday's I was
unwittingly led to was more like Urban Decay: The Restaurant.

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Fjolsvith
My wife and I like to get wings at a downtown bar in Kearney, Nebraska. They
have 9 flavors that are out of this world. Their wings make Buffalo Wild
Wings' offerings seem like freezer bag junk. Also, the BWW wings are about
half the size of the bars' wings.

Our grown kids like to go hang out at BWW and probably don't notice the lack
of quality in the fare because of the alcohol they consume.

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johnvanommen
Millennials didn't kill TGIF; OK Cupid did. TGIF's heyday was in the 80s, when
people actually met in bars:

[https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-t-g-i-
fri...](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-t-g-i-fridays-
helped-invent-the-singles-bar)

It's hard to imagine a world where people would go to TGIF looking for love,
but this was actually a thing in the 80s.

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bobbygoodlatte
Surprisingly TGI Fridays is fairly popular in Norway and Sweden. I thought it
was a joke when my Norwegian friends suggested we meet up there

