Blog Thu May 08 2008
More Grumbling about the Check Please Effect
The Check Please Effect gets national attention today at Gourmet.com. David Tamarkin laments the fact that the Chicago public television show drains business away from lesser known restaurants and funnels it into the spots featured on the show. He concludes it's not so bad, though, to discover one's own favorites.
- Dana Currier
Lee Fri May 09 2008, 1:25PM +
I'm not following the logic of the grumble. It's not as if those crowds are people who would just take a stroll down Kedzie like David and randomly pick a middle eastern restaurant. I'm guessing many of them probably never would go to Kedzie at all if it weren't for a specific recommendation. So I seriously doubt the influx of new customers is *draining* business from neighbors. Maybe the overlooked neighbors aren't sharing much in the same success, but that's hardly a valid complaint. Isn't it better for at least one of them to do great business than neither?