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San Francisco has a dearth of new restaurant concepts because of the insane real estate market -- new restaurants stick to tried-and-true formulae (artisanal co
by cbhl 11y ago
San Francisco has a dearth of new restaurant concepts because of the insane real estate market -- new restaurants stick to tried-and-true formulae (artisanal coffee, artisanal toast, $10 ravioli) because they'll go bankrupt otherwise.
Local regulations also prevent foreign multinational chains from opening restaurants here, just as they prevent domestic multinationals like Wal-mart. (Din Tai Fung chose to open their new location in San Jose instead of SF.)
- mrgordon 11y agoI don't see how SF's anti-chain laws relate to a claimed dearth of new restaurant concepts. In fact, I feel strongly that they have the opposite effect. In fact, the overall assertion that there are a dearth of new restaurant concepts is highly suspect. I can think of recent restaurants that have opened in my immediate neighborhood that are Burmese, Indonesian vegan, Japanese, Southern, Mexican, French, Californian, Chinese / American Fusion, Thai, places where you buy tickets ahead of time versus taquerias, etc. Any city in the world dreams of this diversity in new restaurants. So while I agree that high rents are pushing up restaurant prices, I see it effecting prices rather than the types of restaurants for the most part (unless you simply mean that everything gets a bit more upscale as time goes on). I can't envision any foreign multinational chains opening up a Burmese or Indonesian vegan restaurant in northern California anytime soon regardless of anti-chain laws so we should focus on our local businesses if we want to increase diversity