I agree that the infective aimed at chains on this site borders on ridiculous. And what really makes me perplexed is the most vehement chain-haters always post on the threads about chains! Somewhat counter-intuitive, but I guess they have a lot of free time on their hands.

Here in Columbia, the land of big-box stores and numerous chain restaurants, there’s a real dearth of good mom and pop places. (I’ve lamented about this on other threads so I won’t belabor the point here.) And, between having kids, and a real lack of time to search out far-flung alternatives, we end up eating at franchise restaurants more often than I’d like. But, really…the service is usually excellent, the stores are clean — cleaner than most privately owned restaurants I’ve been in — and although the selections may be mediocre, there is something for everyone. I just can’t bring myself to get worked up about this. There are so many other things that get me pi$$ed off that I can’t waste my time worrying about — gasp! — franchises!

It seems that the logical solution would be for those who hate the idea of franchising and having more than one restaurant with the same name (the horror!) should stick with the appropriate threads. But whatever…I’ve got bigger things to worry about! [;)]