Chipotle, Panda Express and other food chains are moving into rural America after Covid killed many independent restaurants.
Small-town residents are longing for new food options, and Chipotle's successful playbook is leading it and other other fast-casual restaurant chains, including Cava and Panda Express, to eye more stores in rural America.
"Most of the old family restaurants have gone away. They have aged out. Their kids don't want to do that kind of work," Hurd said, noting that downtown Bennington used to have three good family restaurants. "But they are gone, and that kind of restaurant doesn't seem to come back," he added.Like Bennington, Somerset, Pennsylvania, population 15,000, recently welcomed its first Chipotle to town with a ribbon cutting, balloons, and local dignitaries.
"The Chipotlane unlocks those small towns for them," Gonzalez said. He also says that cheaper land and labor in small towns mean lower expenses that often offset what may be lesser earnings than suburban counterparts. "We look for proximity to the interstate and whether it is a hub of commerce in the area," Brandt said, adding that there may be bigger towns nearby, but if they don't have a Walmart or a Target to coattail traffic off of, it's not as desirable. "We like to be in a town with all the stores." Bennington fits that bill with a Walmart Supercenter and Home Depot, to name a few of the retail giants in town.
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