Webbready

I have visited more than my fair share of fast food restaurants in my life, and like many people, the locations of these franchises serve as both physical markers and culinary touchstones of memory. As a result, when a particular chain would no longer operate at a location, there was a sense of inexplicable loss. In my childhood, I could accept the loss of more important things such as life, happiness, and money as inevitabilities, but the demise of a local Burger King or Wendy’s confused me. I would always see people eating in those establishments, and I would eat out of those same establishments.

As I grew older, though, I began to understand my myopia regarding these places meant I was unaware of the decisions behind the reasons for a franchised store to close, but to this day I am still curious as to why this happens. For instance, Popeyes closed the remaining stores that were open in the Pittsburgh area to my dismay. Perhaps, if I had known Popeyes was closing all over the city at once, I would have been more prepared instead of waiting hopelessly on a store sporting a notice that it was closed for remodeling. If even now, I learned the reason behind the decision to close the stores, it would relieve my unease.

In a society that seeks and provides reasons for actions, the closing of a fast food restaurant in a local area is a mystery. Unlike the failure of a national chain, which is publicized in the mainstream media, the near simultaneous closing of multiple Burger Kings in the Pittsburgh area in the early 2000s was without fanfare. One day the store was operational and giving me a stray French fry in my onion rings, and the next moment it was gone. The same happened with Hardee’s and Snapps (which was bought by Rally’s) and now neither chain graces the Pittsburgh area.

In all fairness, new dining opportunities have risen in the years since my favorites have closed. Neither Five Guys nor Chipotle contained tastes from my childhood, but have impressed me nonetheless. Even one of the Popeyes locations I mourned had opened on the site of a closed Burger King. I just wish I knew why a franchise that’s successful nationwide seemed to have so much trouble within the confines of Allegheny County.