Tulsa Billionaire Becomes Thunder co-owner

[thebigabd]

lol

Even the most cultured of cities have TONS of chain restaurants. Haha.....NYC has a Red Lobster in Times frickin' Square. Red Lobster. A seafood restaurant that even Oklahomans look down on. In today's world, regardless of how you feel about them, chain restaurants are a big part of society.

Even Paris France has a LONG list of what they consider chain restaurants.

Next?

There are 28 Chili's Restaurants in Oklahoma, compared to 31 in New York.

Population of Oklahoma: 3.815 million
Population of New York: 19.57 million

What does this tell us?

That I don't go to Chili's when I am in New York. I only eat at the following restaurants when in New York:

• Dorsia
• Texarkana
• Fluties
• Nell's
• Au Bar
• 150 Wooster
• Arcadia
• Espace

 

[WTSooner]

There are 28 Chili's Restaurants in Oklahoma, compared to 31 in New York.

Population of Oklahoma: 3.815 million
Population of New York: 19.57 million

What does this tell us?

That I don't go to Chili's when I am in New York. I only eat at the following restaurants when in New York:

• Dorsia
• Texarkana
• Fluties
• Nell's
• Au Bar
• 150 Wooster
• Arcadia
• Espace

Of course I wouldn't go to NYC, as an Oklahoman on vacation, and eat at Chili's. As much as my budget would allow, I'd find places to eat that I couldn't eat back home.

But not everybody that works in NYC wants to drop $20 on lunch every day. That is why there are Subways in NYC. That is why there is a Dominos pizza in NYC. And those Oklahomans that visit NYC and don't eat at Chili's, might eat at Chili's more if they lived in NYC.

NYC is a terrible city to make this comparison with, given how unique it is in so many ways. Make this comparison with Dallas. Or Houston. Or KC.

 

[WTSooner]

They are not a big part of the society that makes a city a high quality one.

That's just it, YOU are the one trying to judge the quality of a city by the food. I'm not. My comment about where chains end up first has been flipped around. I never said chains make a place great. I said chains TEND to start at the top of the food chain, and work their way down (as far as opening new locations). It's not an exact science. Tulsa isn't better than NYC b/c we have a Sonic, or a Quik Trip, and they don't. That is a regional issue. But you will almost never see Tulsa or OKC get a chain that is going to be present in the midwest, UNLESS it was developed here (ie, Sonic and QT). You can't laugh off this notion as being silly, when cities like Dallas and Houston, and KC, and Phoenix, get them before Tulsa and OKC, and whomever else.

 

[thebigabd]

Of course I wouldn't go to NYC, as an Oklahoman on vacation, and eat at Chili's. As much as my budget would allow, I'd find places to eat that I couldn't eat back home.

But not everybody that works in NYC wants to drop $20 on lunch every day. That is why there are Subways in NYC. That is why there is a Dominos pizza in NYC. And those Oklahomans that visit NYC and don't eat at Chili's, might eat at Chili's more if they lived in NYC.

NYC is a terrible city to make this comparison with, given how unique it is in so many ways. Make this comparison with Dallas. Or Houston. Or KC.

Those restaurants I listed are a list of places that Patrick Bateman eats at in the movie "American Psycho", lol.

As for this particular debate, I agree with WTsooner.

 

[campbest]

Applebee's is more popular up north, anyway.

 

[152219]

There are 28 Chili's Restaurants in Oklahoma, compared to 31 in New York.

Population of Oklahoma: 3.815 million
Population of New York: 19.57 million

What does this tell us?

That I don't go to Chili's when I am in New York. I only eat at the following restaurants when in New York:

• Dorsia
• Texarkana
• Fluties
• Nell's
• Au Bar
• 150 Wooster
• Arcadia
• Espace

Are there any Chili's in NYC? I think there is one in JFK, but have never seen one

 

[152219]

Chain restaurants = suburbia and small cities

 

[WTSooner]

Applebee's suck.

Surely we can agree on that?! lol

 

[campbest]

Chain restaurants = suburbia and small cities

Exactly.

Ask any analyst for Brinker International (owns Chili's, Macaroni Grill, etc) and they don't put new establishments in the heart of cities...margins aren't high enough.

There is a Chili's and OTB on Knox/Henderson in Uptown...those restaurants were able to negotiate a longer term lease before the upturn and will most likely close when it expires. In addition, have never met anyone in my 6 years of living in Dallas who has eaten there...generally tourists from outside Dallas or Oklahoma.

 

[sperry]

Of course I wouldn't go to NYC, as an Oklahoman on vacation, and eat at Chili's. As much as my budget would allow, I'd find places to eat that I couldn't eat back home.

But not everybody that works in NYC wants to drop $20 on lunch every day. That is why there are Subways in NYC. That is why there is a Dominos pizza in NYC. And those Oklahomans that visit NYC and don't eat at Chili's, might eat at Chili's more if they lived in NYC.

NYC is a terrible city to make this comparison with, given how unique it is in so many ways. Make this comparison with Dallas. Or Houston. Or KC.

No it's actually a pretty excellent comparison to make. Chain restaurants are neither particualrly desirable, nor any indication of the worth of a city. In fact, I would guess that in most people's objective rankings of cities, there is a negative correlation between percentage of restaurants that are national chains and desirability of the city to live in.

 

[IndySooner]

This crap about having to have anything and everything fun to do in a city crammed into downtown is just that.....crap. Dallas does just fine without having all of it's entertainment stuck downtown. DT Dallas is for tourist. The locals all go to scenes that are outside of DT Dallas.

This is how OKC has evolved the most, actually. I RARELY go to Bricktown unless I'm there to go to a baseball game. The Midtown area, Paseo, North Western and Classen Curve have made it so much better.

My perspective, doing lots of business in both companies is that OKC is evolving quicker. Tulsa sat on its ass for a couple of decades and is now catching up. I love South Tulsa. It's better 'burbs than anything OKC has. As a city, though, OKC has passed Tulsa. Almost no one outside of Tulsa would say anything different.

Oh, and Tulsa gets the concerts because of the arena. That's it. It's also starting to change. And, OKC has a MUCH better outdoor concert scene.

And, all I know about the restaurant arena in both cities is when I go out on business meetings in Tulsa, I go to chains. When I go out in OKC, it's to local restaurants. My clients pick the spots.

 

[152219]

Exactly.

Ask any analyst for Brinker International (owns Chili's, Macaroni Grill, etc) and they don't put new establishments in the heart of cities...margins aren't high enough.

There is a Chili's and OTB on Knox/Henderson in Uptown...those restaurants were able to negotiate a longer term lease before the upturn and will most likely close when it expires. In addition, have never met anyone in my 6 years of living in Dallas who has eaten there...generally tourists from outside Dallas or Oklahoma.

Both of those restaurants are generally empty. Once their lease is up they are gone.

I live in Lakewood in Dallas proper and they recently put a Chipotle in this neighborhood and there was a huge uproar.

 

[Max Power]

Tulsa got George Strait because OKC had to schedule around this thing called the NBA playoffs. They knew the weekend George wanted to be in Oklahoma that it would be the opening weekend of the NBA playoffs and OKC assumed correctly that they would be hosting a game on Saturday or Sunday. I have no real dog in the fight but if you are going to use the George Strait Concert as concrete evidence, you have to have the proper perspective.

 

[WTSooner]

Exactly.

Ask any analyst for Brinker International (owns Chili's, Macaroni Grill, etc) and they don't put new establishments in the heart of cities...margins aren't high enough.

There is a Chili's and OTB on Knox/Henderson in Uptown...those restaurants were able to negotiate a longer term lease before the upturn and will most likely close when it expires. In addition, have never met anyone in my 6 years of living in Dallas who has eaten there...generally tourists from outside Dallas or Oklahoma.

I just want to be clear that this is no different then what I've been saying.

I'm not comparing Tulsa to Dallas, but both treat chain restaurants the same. Tulsa has plenty of chain restaurants, but as I said earlier in this thread, outside of Spaghetti Warehouse, I can't really think of a non-fast food chain restaurant that is downtown. The "restaurants" are all pretty much local. But Tulsa has tons of chains in other parts of the city. Dallas is no different. Though, I'm guessing there is more than 1 chain restaurant downtown. They had a Hooters. A Joe's Crabshack I think. Dicky's. They also have a Spaghetti Warehouse DT, I think. I believe there is an OTB downtown. More than I would have thought. But my point is, Dallas has tons of chain restaurants in other parts of the cities, no different than a Tulsa, or wherever. That is why I hate the comparison to NYC. It doesn't have enough non-DT area to make this a fair comparison. Non-DT NYC isn't really NYC anymore.

 

[152219]

I have absolutely no dog in this fight as I have never lived in either place. But I do visit each every year and I would say OKC is slightly better but that isn't saying a lot.

 

[WTSooner]

And, all I know about the restaurant arena in both cities is when I go out on business meetings in Tulsa, I go to chains. When I go out in OKC, it's to local restaurants. My clients pick the spots.

Maybe it's location. But Tulsa has plenty of non-chain restaurants. Or maybe the Tulsa citizens aren't as uppity as some of the OKC-area posters in this thread would have you believe. Just curious what part of town you are in when your Tulsa clients are picking lunch spots?

 

[campbest]

I just want to be clear that this is no different then what I've been saying.

I'm not comparing Tulsa to Dallas, but both treat chain restaurants the same. Tulsa has plenty of chain restaurants, but as I said earlier in this thread, outside of Spaghetti Warehouse, I can't really think of a non-fast food chain restaurant that is downtown. The "restaurants" are all pretty much local. But Tulsa has tons of chains in other parts of the city. Dallas is no different. Though, I'm guessing there is more than 1 chain restaurant downtown. They had a Hooters. A Joe's Crabshack I think. Dicky's. They also have a Spaghetti Warehouse DT, I think. I believe there is an OTB downtown. More than I would have thought. But my point is, Dallas has tons of chain restaurants in other parts of the cities, no different than a Tulsa, or wherever. That is why I hate the comparison to NYC. It doesn't have enough non-DT area to make this a fair comparison. Non-DT NYC isn't really NYC anymore.

All will be leaving in the coming years as the West End-Victory Park renovations continue, the clientele these locations will attract aren't eating at Dick's Last resort. The OTB actually closed years ago. Parents aren't going to take their kids to Hooters after visiting the new Perot Museum. Once the leases are done, they will be out.

The difference is, as we have said, no one goes to these areas that live in Dallas. "DT" in Dallas is uptown, cedar springs, Knox/Henderson and more recently, Lower Greenville expansion. The restaurants you mentioned are all on the same block, walk any direction and you will find something completely different.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Mods need to re-name this thread. :facepalm

 

[IndySooner]

Maybe it's location. But Tulsa has plenty of non-chain restaurants. Or maybe the Tulsa citizens aren't as uppity as some of the OKC-area posters in this thread would have you believe. Just curious what part of town you are in when your Tulsa clients are picking lunch spots?

Pretty much always 61st and Yale, give or take a few miles any way.

 

[skyvue]

Those restaurants I listed are a list of places that Patrick Bateman eats at in the movie "American Psycho", lol.

As for this particular debate, I agree with WTsooner.

Ha. I was pondering whether or not to alert you that many of those places are no more, but now I see there's no need.