GetMunch.com

We want people to try new local restaurants with excitement. Our dream is for every GetMunch member to try a new local restaurant once a week. Our long term goal for dining-out is to create a paradigm shift in favor of the local restaurant and away from the mega-chain restaurant.

We appreciate the positives that the mega-chain restaurant brings to the table, however, we feel strongly that the community’s interests are better served when the community dines local. Three of the unexpected but super important reasons we push for people to dine local include, the environment, economy, and health, which are all further explained below.

Invest Local

Being a competitive buyer should be much more involved then the price you pay for an item upfront. If you purchase an item from a distant company online, then your community receives almost no economic impact. That means no money from the sale of the item is generated toward a job for a neighbor and the town/city receives no addition to its tax base from workers wages, sales tax, and so on and so forth. The same can be said for an item purchased at a mega-chain establishment.

San Francisco has an unusual ratio of locally owned establishments. As big box chain stores and mega-chain restaurants began to move into the inner city districts of San Francisco the Locally Owned Merchant Alliance, or SFLOMA, funded a research project. The research project, conducted by Civic Economics, studied San Francisco and a section of the more diverse city of Chicago. The goal was to determine the economic impact a local establishment had on the community in comparison to a non-local establishment.

The study found that for every million dollars of revenue garnered by a local restaurant in San Francisco 3.74 jobs were created. For the same million in revenue earned at a chain restaurant only 2.79 jobs were created. In Chicago it was found that Local restaurants contributed 27% more per one hundred dollars of revenue earned and 22% more when broken down by square footage then a chain restaurant (as demonstrated in the graph to the left).

The study conclusion suggests that the San Francisco community divert their spending to local establishments. Their reasoning, an increase of 10% of the market share for local establishments would result in the addition of nearly $200 million and 1,300 jobs for the local community. On the other hand, a 10% increase in the market share for chains would cause a loss of nearly $200 million and 1.300 jobs to the local economy. It is important to remember that San Francisco is unique, in that, it has an unusual ratio of local merchants to chain establishments. However, such strong findings in San Francisco and Chicago radiate the importance of shopping local for all communities.

Hold the Fries

Eating healthy is a struggle for many people. The GetMunch “Hold the Fries” campaign seeks to emphasize the health rewards to eating local.

Obesity is directly connected to eating fast food according to a US Department of Agriculture study. Since the 1970’s fast food establishments have become far more prevalent and frequented by people of all walks of life.

As work-week hours have grown the fast food restaurant industry has ballooned to over 250,000 locations in the US. A result largely attributed to the temptation to grab a quick bite to eat for lack of time and poor scheduling on the part of consumers according to researchers.

Fast food eaters were found to have higher intakes of carbohydrates, saturated fat and sugar, amongst others. The same fast food eaters consumed low amounts of nutritious foods such as fruits and non-starchy vegetables.

The study found that for some of those surveyed fast food accounted for one-third of their caloric intake while containing almost no milk or fruit; two vital sources of nutrients in key food groups.

Green Our Planet

There is no doubt that the fast food chain restaurant has become a large part of the American experience. A watchdog group called No Free Refills reports on the untold costs of fast food. Deforestation, excessive waste in our community's landfills, and the release of greenhouse gas caused by the decomposing paper are all symptomatic results of irresponsible food and condiment packaging by the fast food chain restaurant industry.¹

A convention was held by the American Dietetic Association in which many of the top restaurant chains and
fast food purveyors were present; including McDonalds, PepsiCo, Taco Bell, Hershey’s and so on. The following exert is about that convention and was written by Jacob Wheeler, an assistant editor at the
publication In These Times.