The most common restaurant cuisine in every state, and a chain-restaurant mystery

[mahatmakanejeeves]

DEPARTMENT OF DATA

The most common restaurant cuisine in every state, and a chain-restaurant mystery

Analysis by Andrew Van Dam
Staff writer

Updated October 1, 2022 at 11:41 a.m. EDT | Published September 29, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

When Clio Andris and Xiaofan Liang gave us early access to the latest update of their delightful data on chain restaurants, they already had identified its most compelling mystery: Places that support Donald Trump also tend to have the most franchise foods. But why? ... It turns out “the foodscape is very political,” said Liang, a PhD candidate at Georgia Tech’s School of City & Regional Planning. “Places with a high percentage of Trump voters have a higher percentage of chains. We didn’t expect it.”

Chain restaurants — those ubiquitous monuments to corporate consistency, from Applebee’s to Arby’s, Olive Garden to Pizza Hut — are most common in Kentucky, West Virginia and Alabama. They’re rarest in Vermont, Alaska and Hawaii. Maine, New York and D.C. also tend to have fewer chains.

The chain restaurant capital of the country is the metro area around Anniston, Ala., home to the Talladega Superspeedway. Nearly 3 in 5 restaurants there are chains. ... Nestled in the southern reaches of Appalachia, off the interstate between Birmingham, Ala., and Atlanta, Anniston is accustomed to life as a national punching bag. It has been named among the “most dangerous” and “fastest shrinking” cities and appears on lists of the worst places to live and the places where workers are most likely to be replaced by robots. In 2019, local reporter and author Tim Lockette wrote a helpful guide for residents titled, “FIVE THINGS to know when Anniston lands on a ‘10 worst’ list again.”

Anniston lies in Calhoun County, which Trump won in 2020 with 73 percent of the two-party vote, which excludes votes cast for third-party candidates. That makes it an exemplar of the Trump-chain restaurant nexus. In the Trumpiest fifth of the United States, counties where Trump received at least 63.3 percent of the two-party vote in the past presidential election, 37 percent of the restaurants are chains. In the least Trumpy fifth, where Trump received less than 32.1 percent of the vote, it’s 23 percent.

{snip}

By Andrew Van Dam
Andrew Van Dam writes the Department of Data column each week for The Washington Post. He has covered economics and wrangled data and graphics for The Post and the Wall Street Journal. Twitter https://twitter.com/andrewvandam

[Meadowoak]

1. Most of the democrats I know are not fans of chain restaurants.

I personally don't go out to restaurants often, (I like to cook at home). But on occasion, I will find a nice mom and pop place, they always have the best food.

[Farmer-Rick]

2. Ohh, well that makes sense

I cook most of my own food ...grow it too. I just don't like the restaurants around here in east TN. Mostly fast food and very fattening foods. The most popular restaurant in town is actually called Fatz, it's a chain too. Most things are fried. I have to travel about an hour to get to a decent restaurant, to even just get good bar-b-que.

So, this chain restaurants everywhere (Cracker Barrel literally made me sick, Waffle House always has human hair in the food, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Arby's taste like fake meat.) Is an actual strategy. It's what Trump humpers love. No wonder I can't find a good place to eat. It makes sense now.

But when I go to LA to visit my daughter, the food is just so great. Even little restaurants in strip malls have wonderful food. Now, I know why.

[Srkdqltr]

3. I have always been a Democrat. I would have voted for Kennedy if I had been a little older.

I was an election worker for that one.
Having said that, I like a lot of franchise food. I also like smaller restaurants. As I age I like being waited on or picking up food and bringing it home.
I also find that there are a lot on DU who are slightly....shall we say .... somewhat ... what is the best word ... snobbish.

[Effete Snob]

5. There aren't that many snobs on DU

[Srkdqltr]

6. Not you, of course 🤣🤣🤣

[BComplex]

8. I don't think democrats are "snobbish". I think they're just INFORMED.

Chain restaurants use more processed foods, which have every type of disease causing problems in our country, from heart disease to diabetes to cancer. Democrats are smarter, and if that's "snobbish", I say stay smart anyway.

[Elessar Zappa]

11. I like some chain restaurants.

It’s not something to get snobby about. Same goes for beer preference, coffee preference, etc.

[Genki Hikari]

13. Oh come on

Know why I don't eat at chain restaurants?

Because my husband and I can't afford them. On average, they're more expensive than comparable mom&pop restaurants where I am. They're certainly more expensive than food trucks.

Not that we eat out all that often. Because we can't afford to do it very often.

My husband and I must be the poorest snobs in the world!

[GenThePerservering]

16. I'm a complete and total snob

the snobbiest of snobs.

I eat at food trucks and Pho shacks.

[msongs]

4. sign in required to read article nt

[Genki Hikari]

14. If you go here:

https://archive.ph/

And plug in the article URL, you'll get a no-paywall article.

Like this:

https://archive.ph/AUS8B

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. Been looking for something like this for years!!!!

Thank you!!! times a zillion.

[DBoon]

7. If I want a quick cheap bite, I find a taco truck

Apparently Trump supporters are terrified of taco trucks, so they go to Applebee’s

[Aristus]

10. The American Restaurant Association is also terrified of taco trucks.

Terrified of the competition, that is. The ARA lobbied Congress to pass cripplingly strict sanitary laws regarding taco trucks, in an attempt to put them out of business. Know what? The food trucks just comply with the regulations, that's all. Not only do they stay in business, but the sanitary laws ensure that food you get from a food truck with be fresh, appetizing, and prepared under the strictest sanitary laws imaginable.

The ARA kind of fucked themselves on that one...

[DBoon]

9. here is the conclusion - both have to do with driving a car to work

The places that drive the most tend to have the same high share of chain restaurants regardless of whether they voted for Trump or Biden. As car commuting decreases, chain restaurants decrease at roughly the same rate, no matter which candidate most residents supported.

If the link between cars and chains transcends partisanship, why does it look like Trump counties have more chain restaurants? It’s at least in part because he won more of the places with the most car commuters!

About 83 percent of workers commute by car nationally, but only 80 percent of folks in Biden counties do so, compared with 90 percent of workers in Trump counties. The share of car commuters ranges from 55 percent in the deep-blue New York City metro area to 96 percent around bright red Decatur, Ala.

[Genki Hikari]

12. ?

You can't do anything without a car in Texas border counties. They don't have public transit, but they have a ton of mom and pop restaurants. Or that's how it was when I visited my mom when she lived there.

So I don't think it's cars. It's something else, probably more of a home cooking tradition/habit, as others have pointed out in this thread. If you eat a great deal of home cooking, and Hispanics still have a big tradition of home cooking, then you're less likely to find chains appealing.

People who do home cooking tend to buy ingredients, not "meals." We don't buy that pre-done meal in a bag and heat it up--I can guarantee the people buying those are people who eat at chain restaurants. Traditional home cooks know that it's far cheaper and healthier to buy your own meat, veggies, grains, and so on. I mean, I tried one, because there was a decent coupon that made giving it a try worth a go.

I didn't make that mistake again. The salt content alone was gag-inducing.

Home cooking makes a huge difference in flavor and quality of the food. The last time I ate at a chain, because my mother was paying and insisted on it while we were traveling together, the food tasted like something heated up from frozen. There was too much processed crap, too much salt and grease, and, worst of all, too little flavor. It doesn't taste like the same dishes made from the fresher ingredients home cooks or mom&pops use.

Chain food tastes, well, like that meal in a bag that I stupidly tried, long ago.

[yellowdogintexas]

17. DFW is an interesting mix of chain/franchise and mom& pop places

There are scads of local "chains" though and they are generally fairly good. We have a bunch of "Joe's" Pizza/Pasta places. Independent but connected and most of the owners are Albanian. Great food at reasonable prices and you can buy a slice.

Most of the best places have locations in each of the cities in the Metroplex.

Braum's, La Playa Maya, Benito's, Tommy's Burgers, are a few that come to mind.

Throw a rock and you will hit a family owned Mexican place.

Eating out here is never dull!!

[electric_blue68]

18. Occasionally to rare through several decades I've eaten at...

Wendy's, Micky D's (leas so), Applebee's, +?

Much of the time I either home cooked, or assembled w room temp cans and cold stuff.

Usually I have several (5?) hamburgers in a whole year,
I eat way more ethnic cuisines:
Chinese take out, Chinese buffet take out (eat in cold weather pre-covid), Indian (eat in or take out), Pizza, Greek (eat in), Middle Eastern, Mex, , or Soul Food.

[pfitz59]

19. I live in Downtown Seattle

Dozens of restaurants within walking distance. No 'chains', but many part of local restaurant 'groups'. Still more stand-alone ventures. I love the variety.