Is it just me, or are the portions getting smaller in a lot of the chain restaurants where we used to be able to expect to get a decent amount of food for the money that we are paying? I think that the prices are going up too. Maybe it's both! Whatever is actually the real case here, I can imagine that it's going to start stinging in the wallets and pocketbooks of many Americans in the not-too-distant future. It's really becoming more of a common occurence that I head out by myself or with friends for a meal and I find myself leaving the restaurant after a relatively unsatisfying meal that ended up costing too much money...and then in an hour, I'm in the refridgerator or the cupboards looking for something to snack on.

Since I'm not really one to ever eat fast food, with the exception of the occasional run to the local Taco Bell, I'm not really sure if this trend extends itself to the fast food businesses. I'm sure that the food from McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy's is of the same quality (ha!) and of the same portions that it has always been. I don't think that it's the usual sit-down family style places either that are raising costs and cutting portions. The culprits seem to be those "in between" restaurants that specialize in relatively quick sit down meals a la Applebee's, Steak & Shake,...you know the kind that I'm talking about. My concern about this stems from a rather unpleasant meal that I had just this evening for dinner. My roommate and I decided that we were both feeling a little bit too lazy to make up something for dinner, so we headed out and braved the Indiana tundra for a quick but inexpensive dinner. It was his turn to choose where we were going to eat, so he chose the Steak & Shake. Not my favorite establishment, but after tonight, I doubt that I'll ever go back. The service was lousy, the food was nasty, and the price for the portion was ridiculous. I'm personally a fan of the food looking like it does in the menu pictures, but the food this evening couldn't have been anything further away from that. I ordered the turkey club platter with fries and a side salad...about nine dollars worth of food. When the food came, the quality was so bad and the portions were so small that the amount of food that I actually ate was ridiculously small. Just a few bites of food for nine bucks.

Being a graduate student operating on limited means, I have to say that I was pretty disappointed. I almost wanted to get in the car and head somewhere else to try dinner number two and hope for the best. Realizing that that was just unacceptable, I decided that I would come home and try to write and think about what the problem might be here. Why are the fast food and "decent" cuisine places able to keep the prices steady and the quality consistent, and then the middle guys just can't seem to do the same? What is it about the middle of the line economics in the restaurant business that is causing this low quality trend to increase? Surely there is no shortage of cooks to make the food in these restaurants. My brother, a trained chef, told me that cooks in these chains often fare better in the money area than line chefs and sous chefs at fancy restaurants. A lot of trained chefs end up working in these types of places, depending on the availability of other types of restaurant jobs in a given area. Is it the management? I suppose that the restaurant chain business can't be all that exciting, and it probably ends up being monotonous doing the exact same thing from day to day. Are they getting lazy and therefore causing their restaurants to become lazy?

Aha!...I have the answer. We've got Christian businesses everywhere, right? Why not Christian restaurants?! I think it sounds like a fabulous idea. Christian restaurants will be run by moral and honest individuals and they will likely hire Christian workers who are happy to serve the customers. Christian restauranteers won't cheat you on portions or raise the prices without reason. Wow...I wonder if there are any Christian restaurants in my area. And wow...what if they serve the kinds of foods that we always get at the church supper nights? Chicken and biscuits, beef stew, and my oh my, those desserts from the bake sales. If I had the time and the means, I know that that would be a great thing to do...starting a Christian restaurant business. Yee haw!