Restuarants Falling Like Dominos

This observation is worth noting on the Downtown blog, even though the area of East Colonial Drive near Herndon Executive Airport is on the fringe. It's worth noting because it is downtown's closest location to find all the chain restaurants, and they have been closing down on a daily basis this year. They will blame it on the current economic climate, which is the straw that broke the chain's back, but it was horrible customer service, high prices, and mediocre food that truly was the reason behind the failure of these restaurants.

The latest victim, and the one that made me go wow, was Denny's. Yes, that is what I said. Denny's has been at that E. Colonial Drive location longer than my 30 years in Orlando. There used to be a Krispy Kreme donuts next door. It went out of business, and then 10 years later, the donut chain that nobody cared for is resurrected as donut saviors. Go figure.

I remember this Denny's in its heyday, when it was packed every weekend by sailors from the long gone Orlando Naval Training Center. There was often a long wait on the weekends to get in, and as they say, all good things must come to an end. The turmoil that went on in this Denny's was a regular event. I often sat at the counter and was amazed by the angry disposition, and pure laziness of the staff there. Someone was always arguring with someone, and they seemed oblivious to the fact that these petty spats with each other only caused them to lose focus of their customers, and their tips.

Denny's joins the following who have closed up shop all within a mile stretch of each other in a matter of months.

Bennigans
TGI Fridays
CiCi's Pizza
Uno Chicago Grill
Longhorn Steakhouse
Fazolis (They stopped serving their complimentary bread sticks)
Straubs (Not a chain but all the same, and institution)
Barney's (Ditto)

My bet is Burger King will be the next victim. Their addition of Ribs to the menu, and the fact that they ruined their French Fries years ago by changing them to some sort of chemical glob, shows that they are desparate. If they would just stop their inane practice of nuking their burgers in the microwave, it would go a long way to increasing sales. That will be followed by Boston Market, and then finally, by the death of the Pizza Hut on Maguire, another bastion of customer service neglect.

I say take them all off of life support, and let them go, they all died long ago, just that nobody noticed,