Congrats. Fast food chains love us. :-\
QuoteMen’s Health magazine has ranked Jacksonville as the eighth worst city in the country when it comes to the sheer number of fast food restaurants and the number of people who frequent them more than seven times a month.
On the magazine’s chart, the top 10 actually is the bottom 10. And Arlington, Texas grabbed the No. 1 spot for the city with the most McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell and similar eateries and the percentage of people in its population who eat there. At the other end of the spectrum, the city that ranked 100th, or did best on the chart, was Buffalo, N.Y.
Quote1) Arlington, Texas
2) Anchorage, Alaska
3) Charlotte, N.C.
4) Sioux Falls, S.D.
5) Raleigh, N.C.
6) Indianapolis
7) Fremont, Calif.
8) Jacksonville, Fla.
9) Lexington, Ky.
10) Wichita, Kan.
11) Aurora, Colo.
12) Boise, Idaho
13) Colorado Springs, Colo.
14) Bakersfield, Calif.
15) San Jose, Calif.
16) San Antonio
17) Fort Worth, Texas
18) Phoenix
19) Columbus, Ohio
20) Durham, N.C.
21) Anaheim, Calif.
22) Houston
23) Greensboro, N.C.
24) Montgomery, Ala.
25) Lincoln, Neb.
26) Kansas City, Mo.
27) Riverside, Calif.
28) Las Vegas
29) Nashville, Tenn.
30) Corpus Christi, Texas
31) Fort Wayne, IN
32) Omaha, Neb.
33) Des Moines, Iowa
34) Oklahoma City
35) Modesto, Calif.
36) St. Paul, Minn.
37) Dallas
38) Grand Rapids, Mich.
39) El Paso, Texas
40) San Diego
41) Fargo, N.D.
42) Little Rock, Ark.
43) Madison, Wis.
44) Jackson, Miss.
45) Fresno, Calif.
46) Manchester, H.H.
47) Albuquerque, N.M.
48) Jersey City, N.J.
49) Chicago
50) Austin, Texas
51) Memphis, Tenn.
52) Billings, Mont.
53) Tulsa, Ohio
54) Cheyenne, Wyo.
55) Toledo, Ohio
56) Los Angeles
57) Lubbock, Texas
58) Salt Lake City
59) Sacramento, Calif.
60) Portland, Ore.
61) Detroit
62) Minneapolis
63) Seattle
64) Oakland, Calif.
65) Denver
66) Columbia, S.C.
67) Milwaukee
68) Boston
69) Honolulu
70) Norfolk, Va.
71) Charleston, W. Va.
72) Baton Rouge, La.
73) Yonkers, N.Y.
74) San Francisco
75) Birmingham, Ala.
76) Atlanta
77) New York
78) Wilmington, Del.
79) Spokane, Wash.
80) Orlando, Fla.
81) Burlington, Vt.
82) St. Petersburg, Fla.
83) Philadelphia
84) Tampa, Fla.
85) Baltimore
86) Newark, N.J.
87) St. Louis
88) Cincinnati
89) Washington, DC
90) Tucson, Ariz.
91) Cleveland
92) Louisville, Ky.
93) Bangor, Maine
94) Richmond, Va.
95) Providence, R.I.
96) Rochester, N.Y.
97) Miami
98) Pittsburgh
99) Hartford, Conn.
100) Buffalo, N.Y.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/2009-08-19/story/magazine_declares_jacksonville_8th_worst_city_for_number_of_fast_food_restaura
Orlando, 80th?! Could have fooled me.
Get away from the tourist traps and Orlando is loaded with none fast food establishments. The same goes for Tampa and Miami. I guess the good part of the story for a list like this is that we have room to grow in the area of "quality".
Orlando's #s are skewed, or so the appear. Due to the incredibly messed up city limit boundaries, most of the FF joints are technically in unincorporated Orange County.
This poll makes since due to the fact that our city boundaries go way out into suburbia being it is one of largest cities landmass wise in the country. If our city boundaries were more compact then I am sure we would not be so high on the list.
So what does this say about other spread out or consolidated cities like Nashville, Louisville, San Diego and Oklahoma City? What is going on in these places that isn't having much of an impact here?
We could be known for worse.
I'm sure our size is part of the problem in a poll like this. Total number of fast food restaurants is a pretty bad measure of their penetration in a market. Kind of a sloppy ranking on Men's Health part. It wouldn't have taken much math to get a ratio of the number to total population. That would be a far better measure and may have significantly changed our ranking (depending on the weight they assigned to the two variables). Of course improving our ranking in a survey like this starts with the people. I personally only eat fast food once a week, sometimes not even at all.
They missed one key component...the SIZE of the people. Arlington may have ranked as number 1, but if you've ever been to Arlington, which is home of Six Flags over Texas, the new Dallas Stadium, and the Texas Rangers Ballpark, it makes sense to have all the fast food places for the visitors. The residents themselves (and this is North TX in general) while they may frequent these places, are not morbidly obese.
Jacksonville is ridiculously overweight. The worst part about it is, it has become normal to the point that those that aren't overweight, still manage to make themselves look that way by squeezing into clothes 2 sizes to small in order to acheive that ubiquitous 'muffin-top'. I don't think the number of fast-food restaurants has caused this syndrome so much as the restaurants are there BECAUSE of it. There was obviously a demand to have a McDonald's, or the like, on every street corner in the city, and so it is.
Two of the greatest players in Jaguars history, Brunell and Boselli, went into business together and opened up Whataburger franchises. How Jacksonville.
God knows this fat old fart loves it! Hell how can we rank like that and not even have a "Jack-in-the-Box," or “Der Wienerschnitzel.â€
By the way, Whataburger has some excellent fast food! Hey does Waffle House count?
OCKLAWAHA
I think in addition to our city size, the high concentration of fast food joints can be attributed to the huge interstates that pass through our city. How many of the fast food hubs (JTB & Phillips, University blvd, 301 @I-10, Old St Augustine @95, Philips & 95) are within a half mile of interstate exits. Perhaps our convenience to major interstates is a negative in this respect.
For example, try getting a burger or some chicken fingers at midnight in San Marco or Riverside..... Many a night have I driven all the way to the Krystal on 103rd or the Whataburger @ JTB & Phillips to get my fix.
Quote from: thelakelander on August 19, 2009, 11:17:23 PM
Get away from the tourist traps and Orlando is loaded with none fast food establishments.
Agree. Seasons 52 comes to mind.
But I also assume that buffet places like Ponderosa that serve the greasiest, disgusting food I wouldn't feed my dog don't go under fast food.
Quote from: thelakelander on August 19, 2009, 11:39:35 PM
So what does this say about other spread out or consolidated cities like Nashville, Louisville, San Diego and Oklahoma City? What is going on in these places that isn't having much of an impact here?
Fair enough - but I don't think you can ignore the effects of consolidation on the validity of this ranking. 4 out of the top 10 on this list are consolidated cities. Anchorage, Indy, Jax, and Lexington.
Also, the fact that Cincinnati is #88 proves that this ranking is completely flawed. Cincinnati is totally saturated with fast-food "Chili Parlors" that the locals frequent in shocking numbers. Seriously, there are HUNDREDS of them. But I'm guessing that since they aren't national chains, the magazine probably didn't count them in their survey.
Also, for reasons unknown to me, people in Cincinnati swear by Frisch's Big Boy. But because it is a Shoney's style restaurant, it wouldn't go under fast food.
My in-laws are from Cincinnati. I know all about Skyline and Gold Star. It is religious up there.
I ate at Skyline back in June. They are a local Cincinatti powerhouse but the cinnamon in the chili thing is not for me.
Oh, I definitely associate that thing with Cincy and will for the rest of my life. I'll just try something different the next time I'm there.
LOL. I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows about Cincinnati's obsession with "Chili" (and Frisch's Big Boy - good call on that one too).
But my point is that Cincinnati is probably ranked so low on this list because places like Skyline, Gold Star, and Frisch's flew under the radar and weren't counted - even though they are obviously fast food. I'm sure the same thing happened with Lubi's in Jacksonville. There just isn't a big impact because there's only four locations, not four hundred.
So perhaps this Men's Health ranking is better described as a list of cities with the highest proportion of NATIONAL CHAINS, as opposed to fast food in general.
Fair point, Joe.
I see the fast food numbers in a good light. We're too damned busy enjoying all there is to enjoy in Jax to stop and have a slooooow "quality" dinner or lunch so we prefer to power through the drive-thru and grab a quick bite. The parks, the beaches, the golf courses, the river, etc are all so amazing that we would just rather spend our time chuggin beers and hamering down burgers to maximize fun in the sun versus sitting through a 30 minute wait for some "sit-down" food.
Am I reaching?
Nonetheless, there will be a new poll out next week. Don't sweat it guys.
yes
Quote from: copperfiend on August 20, 2009, 12:12:50 PM
Also, for reasons unknown to me, people in Cincinnati swear by Frisch's Big Boy. But because it is a Shoney's style restaurant, it wouldn't go under fast food.
Because Frisch's Big Boy is delish. There is a Big Boy near Orlando and everyone needs to try it out.
Quote from: reednavy on August 19, 2009, 11:31:59 PM
Orlando's #s are skewed, or so the appear. Due to the incredibly messed up city limit boundaries, most of the FF joints are technically in unincorporated Orange County.
Thats right the real Orlando is downtown. The rest of it is metropolitian Orlando (Sandford, OVideo, Lake Mary, Kissimmie, etc., etc.)
FYI, Oklahoma City is the home of SONIC and LOVES... Orlando only has three job categorys, pump gas, make beds or wait tables. If this survey was for real, counting their fast food joints would amount to about 1/3 of the whole city.
OCKLAWAHA
I am new to the forum so my apologies if this has already been addressed (I did go through alot of previous posts and didn't see it). Within Jacksonville, are eateries such as Zoe's. Moes, Tijuana Flats etc. classified as "fast food"?
Growing up in New Orleans the only fast food we ever ate was the Popeye's chicken we picked up on our way to the parades Mardi Gras morning. If we wanted hamburgers it was Bud's Broiler, not McDonalds. My mom and dad were adventurers and were always taking us to dark, mysterious hole in the wall joints. My favorite place as a kid was Ruby Red's. It was on the edge of the Quarter and you entered a door that took you through a long brick hall to the back of the building. You can still go in places in N.O. where people are shouting across the place to each other in French. Having a meal in New Orleans is always an experience.
Popeye's Chicken started in New Orleans. Popeye Copeland was a Church's Chicken franchisee and asked the chain if he could make his chicken a little spicy since that's what people in New Orleans liked. They refused his request so he sold his restaurants and started his own chain. Popeye's later bought Church's just before they went bankrupt and converted them all to Popeye's. Seems it was more than the people of New Orleans who liked their food a little spicy.
It's hard to get bad food in New Orleans, there are just so many places with good food that the others don't make it except in the Quarter where the tourists don't know any better. Even the counters at the Katz & Bestoff drugstores had great food. Ruby's was awesome.
Red beans and rice on Mondays; heaven!
Red beans and rice on Mondays; heaven!
[/quote]
Oh yeah!! With some crispy french bread on the side. I can't get used to the chewy french bread you get elsewhere. My best friend and I would go to the neighborhood store and instead of candy, chips and twinkies we would get a loaf of french bread to snack on.
"Popeye Copeland" is that how Popeye's got it's name. I knew the chain was started by Al Copeland but always wondered where Popeye's came from. He used to have a huge Christmas light display at his house every year that we would go see during the holidays.
That ranking is probably because Jacksonville has I-95 and I-10. All the tourists coming from up North down to FL and the ones coming up north from Miami and Orlando play a huge part of that. They have to stop at some time, and many of them decide to stop in Jacksonville because there's more options than at many of the Georgia exits.
Every exit off of I-95 has at least 3-4 of them, so that contributes to that.