Activities Food & Drink
Food & Drink
Food has always been a good excuse for going out to do a lot of social engagement. This is especially true when both members of the family work and there is precious little time to cook food at home. In addition going out to do something over food provides a god environment for business and pleasure. Coffee houses epitomized by Starbucks and Seattle’s Best Coffee provide a complex variety of ways to have your jolt of caffeine, whether as an espresso in a small cup or a late’ with frothy and sweet milk. Coffee for itself can be purchased at fast food houses such as McDonalds at substantial savings yet few people who frequent Starbucks go there to purchase cheap coffee. They go there to hang out with their friends and business relationships instead of the families and children at fast food. Following a niche tradition of the British and Asian communities (5% of people in USA are Asian) tea houses have started to become popular again following a socialization model of the popular coffee houses. Entertainment is often used as a draw for crowds at night and offers a distinctly non-alcoholic alternative to younger people less than 21 years old. Either Starbucks or some of the emerging tea houses invariably also offer a selection of French or Continental pastries to have with you drink. The overall cuisine is limited but distinctive and relatively expensive – but, after all, who goes to such places to just have tea, chai, or coffee?
For the more egalitarian person everyday business and details of the day such as the on-the-run 30 minute lunch break have been a huge boon to the fast food industry. Here you can basically buy and receive hot food in less than a few minutes – the food is usually full of fats and carbohydrates but is filling and full of energy to help you make it through the rest of the day. Most offerings include a soft drink (Coca Cola or Pepsi) and plenty of French Fries. Some Fast Food places such as Burger King have provided the marketplace successfully various alternative and wholesome salads and fish with less fat content. Fast food in the USA has enlarged to include many ethnic choices such as Taco Bell (Hispanic) and Jolly Bee (Asian) and Popeyes’ Chicken (Southern Afro-American). But if you like chicken it is never better than the Colonel’s Southern Fried chicken which is delivered in succulents crispy, crunchy, and BBQ.
In an interesting alternative pizza is available going out for a meal or is actually delivered to your place of business or your home. Pizza is available in thin and crispy and pan-sized and classic alternatives as well as in various sizes. All sorts of combinations of ingredients go into pizza including anchovies, mushrooms, cheeses, onions. Sausages, hamburger and even pineapple and Canadian bacon. Pizza places sometimes are nothing much more than a Pizza Factory that manufactures pizzas according to order – others are actual sit-down restaurants where you can get together with a family and have soft drinks and pizza with some additional variations of salads and even a glass of beer. If you ask to have the pizza delivered to your home or place of business it is proper to tip the delivery person maybe 15% of the price of the order.
Bakeries are coming back on the scene filling a niche for the morning crowd (quiches or bagels), the lunch crowd and providing pastries for restaurants. Some of these are syndicated chains such as Au Bonne Pain that offers several types of bread and soups and others are focused on the restaurant itself like the Amphora bakery in Vienna, VA – one of the best in the east coast USA that provides incredible pastries for the Amphora restaurant, a 24 hour Mediterranean cuisine restaurant found on RT 123. There are many variations of ethnic breads and these are blending with offerings of coffee houses, tea houses, fast food places, and restaurants throughout the USA. Some bakeries, for instance, are distinctly French and offer sit down places where you can listen to classical music, smell the good bread, and sip on espresso while you comment on the newspaper and make the best business deals of the day with you clients. But when it comes to serious business – restaurants are a necessity, where you are often greeted with specialties from the bakery immediately after you sit down. This is because restaurateurs know that the smell of bread stimulates the appetite.
Restaurants can be found in most urban areas yet many family restaurants are found in smaller villages. Typically a sit down meal provides an opportunity for easy and comfortable social conversation and conduct of business affairs. Many restaurants provide meeting places for community clubs such as Rotary International and Shriners. Some restaurants cater to the breakfast crowd and offer cut-rate breakfasts and lots of coffee early in the morning. Some specialize in eggs, bacon, hash-browns and waffles or pancakes. Other restaurants particularly in business districts make most of their profits from the lunch crowd and they specialize in sandwiches and soups and salads. Restaurants found in suburbs often focus on evening dining where families or business people can entertain and socialize. Segmentation of this market is complex but can be sorted into ethnic foods and specialization of certain types of cuisines such as The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth Chris Steaks, The Olive Garden, and signature restaurant chains that cluster near shopping malls and near major business travel hotels such as Hyatt, Hilton and Holiday Inn. Some recent additions combine an active sports bar theme with quiet booths and hideaways for comfortable dining. Steaks, salads and pasta often are complemented with luscious appetizers and desserts. Many good restaurants like Ruby Tuesdays and TGIF are found around shopping malls and offer specialty drinks and food choices in a dress down comfortable appeal to the traveler and younger crowds.
Any way you put it - when it comes to finding things to do, food, socialization and business is the best and most profitable things to do where you have wide and varied choices of coffee houses, tea houses, fast food, ice cream parlors, pizza places, bakeries, breweries and restaurants.