food

Que tal?
A local restaurant, Que Tal?, closed yesterday. Maybe the day before. Doesn’t really matter, does it? Closed is closed.

Que Tal? was on Coventry since 1995. I was finishing up a functionally useless degree (for my career, not for The World) in engineering, nearby. I would go eat there with friends of mine who were equally poor students, like me. Que Tal? was the first burrito place in the area. On a “amount food per dollar” level, it was the perfect place to go…

…but that wasn’t all. The food was tasty, the portions were large and the staff were cool. I remember them being really friendly and enthusiastic. There were a bunch of reasons to go back.

Then there were more…
The idea was successful (Chipotle stands witness) and they started to open more stores. After I moved to a job in the eastern suburbs, I learned of a second store on S.O.M. Center Road and then of a third in Mentor.

Each store held true to the original idea at first, but the quality slowly started to slip. The food was good, but the rollers were sloppy and regularly broke the tortillas. Later, the food seemed to sit for too long…the rice was dry or the refried beans were stiff. It was never so bad that the entire experience was a waste…but as time went on, the number of reasons to go back decreased.

And then there was Chipotle…
Around 2000 or so, Chipotle practically opened stores everyplace a Que Tal? existed. S.O.M. Center? BAM. Coventry? BAM. Mentor? BAM.

When Que Tal? was good, it always beat Chipotle. But Que Tal? wasn’t always good. Chipotle was just consistent in the way anything created by The McDonald’s Corporation is consistent: never great, just good enough.

Folks who didn’t have the same long-term connection back to the first store weren’t as willing to forgive as people who had been going to the store for years. The newer stores closed. Only the Coventry location was left. And now, even that is gone.

Local doesn’t win by default
All other things being equal, I always choose local over corporate. I’ll even pay a little more if everything else is the same. Often, you can get that “special something” at a local business that the chains/corporations just can’t provide. Maybe it’s a specific dish or perhaps the service has the right level of familiarity because the staff doesn’t completely turn every six months (like at chains).

Still…things have to be equal or better for the local place to win. People need a reason to stay local. Que Tal? was an example. When it was unique and the service was great, it boomed. When competition showed, the weaknesses weren’t forgiven…and eventually the doors close.

Farewell Que Tal?

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