Monday, August 29, 2011

Thinking "local," and ROTFLMAO.

I glanced at Think Local Southern Indiana's page at Facebook, and noticed a tout (from Think Local's very own page administrator) for networking:

Networking Opportunity: Connect Clarksville's September meeting will be at Chuy's, one of Clarksville's newest dining hot spots!
A quick web search revealed this January bit from Business First:

Chuy’s, a Texas-based restaurant chain that opened its first Louisville location last fall, already is expanding its local presence. The company is slated to open one of its Tex-Mex restaurants on the Clarksville side of Veterans Parkway in April, said Chuy’s marketing manager Hilary Delling.
Good work, One Southern Indiana! Your embarrassingly faux "buy local" group apparently has no clothes, either ... and your former honcho is bicycling to work.

3 comments:

Iamhoosier said...

The following is copied directly from Think Local Southern Indiana's web page.

"For every dollar spent in a locally owned business, 45 cents stays in the local economy, creating jobs and contributing to the local tax base. For national chains, only 14 cents of that dollar stays in the community. Think about the impact that 31% difference can make for Southern Indiana! IT'S HUGE!"

Now, some will say that pointing out the inconsistency is "toxic". Maybe so. They also say that truth hurts.

Jeff Gillenwater said...

Well yeah, Mark, but if we could all drive to Chuy's on an unneeded toll bridge built and operated by an out-of-state company, then 28 cents of our two dollars would stay local. See, that's twice as much-- economic development.

Iamhoosier said...

I don't hate chains, per se. I buy from some. I know some franchise owners that are incredibly generous with their time, talent and money for local causes. Still, to me, a buy local campaign/organization ought to be for the truly local businesses. The chains already have their corporate advertising. Including the chains just muddies the water. (Something that 1SI appears good at)