The comfort of chains

I love a lot of things in life. I love hot chocolate. Come to think of it, I love cold chocolate. Okay, I love chocolate. But I love other things too. I love black and white photography. I love my family. I love great films, the ones that have meaning in them. I feel like I’m in good company with most of my loves in this world, except maybe one. I absolutely love chains. Not the I’m-in-jail-in-the-1940s kind of chains, but the I-always-know-what-kind-of-food-I’m-gonna-get-for-my-money kind of chains.

It’s true. When I traveled a lot for work I would eat most of my meals out and realized just how much I love chain restaurants. Well, I’m not sure you could say “restaurant” for all of the chains I love, but you get the point. Sure, someone I am with at the time might get me to try some local fare and sure I have learned to love some new foods across this fine country of ours. However, my attraction to new foods never decreases how much I love what I already know I love. Follow?

Picture this: you’ve been traveling all day. You left your bed at 4am this morning, sat in three different airports, stood in poor airline customer service lines while everyone yelled left and right about a delayed or cancelled flight. You make it to your destination without a moment to spare. You run through the car rental center so fast you’re not even sure what car your driving, run to a community meeting you’re facilitating with people you’ve never met and at 8pm your stomach puts it’s foot down. With stress still on your mind and now a stomach revolting from lack of food, I swear to you there is nothing better than the warm glow of a Panera Bread, the distinct aroma of a Chipotle, or the retro atmosphere of Arby’s.

Some would say, how gross, a whole day of not eating and you think Arby’s sounds good. Well, first, you must have never tried their one-of-kind Jamocha milkshake and two, they actually have great healthy options now. Second, the point isn’t what sounds good or not, it’s what I know I love. When the whole world is unstable and you don’t want to risk one more “surprise” in your day, something like a Panera is just the place. I know what I’m getting before I even walk in their four walls. I know what the atmosphere will be and usually what the quality of the food will be. In a chaotic world on the road, it can be my safe haven, for my stomach at least.

Sure the mom-and-pop shops can be great hidden treasures, but for me, I’ll save those for a calmer day. After all, the chain places must have done something right. Even McDonalds started off as one little restaurant.