Giant Chain Restaurant Devours Cherry Hill

Do you like chain restaurants? Well, then do I have a story for you: Houlihan’s has relocated from its mall location and now has a 10,000-square foot restaurant in Cherry Hill somewhere along Route 70. (I assume it hasn’t demolished the turnpike like in my example map, but who knows?)

The Camden Courier-Post’s article about the new Houlihan’s clocks in at a robust 935 words — and it does note the 460-seat location (the largest Houlihan’s in the country!) serves Flying Fish. And guess what else there is? Downright wacky memorabilia!

The decor is heavy on dark woods and comfy upholstered booths. Accessories, many brought over from the mall location, include such nostalgia staples as vintage signs, a Taittinger poster featuring a luminous Grace Kelly and a wall devoted to Marilyn Monroe memorabilia.

“All our stores have a wall like that, even though Houlihan’s was after Marilyn Monroe’s time,” Stennie said. [...] With the acquisition of the Cherry Hill operation, ACE now owns all the Houlihan’s on Long Island and in New Jersey, fulfilling what franchise president Arnie Runestad said was a five-year quest.

I cannot wait ’til the movie version of this five-year quest makes it to the big screen.

Houlihan’s serves up new site [Courier-Post]

Actually Eating Good In The Neighborhood

The Illadelph points to a Philadelphia Business Journal story last week that should let all Philadelphians breathe a sigh of relief: Chain restaurants are largely avoiding Center City.

While Center City does have some chain restaurants, particularly steak houses, most of the big casual dining chains have swarmed to the suburbs. To the point, the nation’s two largest owners of casual dining restaurants — Darden Restaurants Inc. of Orlando and OSI Restaurant Partners LLC of Tampa, Fla. — have a combined 48 restaurants in the eight-county Philadelphia market, but only three are in Center City.

Yeah, there are some chains, but there is a difference between, say, Morton’s and the Olive Garden. Even Fado and Fox & Hound are on a different level than the Big Four (Applebee’s, the Olive Garden, T.G.I. Friday’s and Chili’s — did I miss anything?).

Anyway, apparently we have old people (who have enough money to eat at nice places or are grizzled enough to hate chain restaurants) and young people (who would rather drink at McGlinchey’s on the cheap) but not enough suburbanites. Imagine that, not enough suburbanites in the city! (But who’s living in all these condos?)

“Center City has a strong residential population,” some consulting firm president told the PBJ. “It’s mostly young and old, but not the middle, which is the market for casual dining.”

Somebody remind me when I’m 40 if I want to go to Applebee’s all the time that I’m a big sellout or whatever.

Tastes of Center City denizens prove, thankfully, to be far too refined for the likes of artless national chain restaurants [The Illadelph]
Chain restaurants expand in the suburbs, not in city [PBJ]