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A sad day for this fast food lover
Submitted by leaderreader on November 17, 2006 - 4:20pm.
I just got word that Wendy's is closed for good. How sad is that? Of all the fast food restaurants in town they were in my top 3. I'll miss their chili and burgers, fo sho.
RIP Dave Thomas I loved your food well.
Lasted a lot longer then Cub Foods did. This isn't St. Cloud or Mankato, it's Hutchinson.
The town can only support so much and until taxes are lowered you won't see a lot of real growth in Hutch.
When I drove by Wendy's this morning on my way to Hutch Bowl I couldn't help but notice the signs were gone and a sign in the window that said "We are closed". That's when I knew another business was gone from Hutchinson. I always hate to see that happen, but to look at the positive side, perhaps something new and better will fill this spot. I have heard many people say that they want a nice sit down restaurant to come to Hutchinson. Any restauranteers out there listening?
A tough location might have contributed to Wendy's woes. I know convenience is important when it comes to fast food. That intersection — with the frontage road, right off School Road, and the SuperAmerica gas station parking lot — can be a real pain to navigate. It was particularly bad when a lot of cars started detouring down School Road because of the State Highway 7 construction. I know there were times when I decided against eating there just because I didn't want to deal with the traffic. But maybe a nice sit-down restaurant could succeed there. It's a high-visibility site, and maybe convenience wouldn't be so vital if the restaurant there offered something different. I bet Hutchinson's got to be a competitive market for a fast food chain. There are so many fast food restaurants to choose from.
- JLS -
I don't care for fast food, I maybe eat fast food once a year. If I do go out to eat. I either go to the cities or st. cloud.
I think we could use a new family restaurant in town. Maybe something like an Olive Garden or Red Lobster...something that we do not already have.
If you doubled the size of Hutch it still couldn't support an Olive Garden or Red Lobster, not even close.
wildchild,
I don't understand how you can make such an assertion. Do you ever go out to eat in Hutchinson? There was a 20 minute wait at Lamplighters last Friday night. People were lined up in the entry way at McCormick's. I'm sure Applebee's was far worse, and they seem to be busy every night of the week. I work at HTI. Many of my co-workers live in the suburbs of the Twin Cities mainly because Hutchinson lacks variety in dining and entertainment. I agree with Silverlakian. This town is in desparate need of more upscale dining. There are only 5 places in this town where I can have an alcoholic beverage with a meal that doesn't consist of burgers or pizza, and two of those are Mexican restaurants. There are 12 fast food restaurants. How's that for balance?
A 20 minute wait is nothing, try Mankato, St. Cloud or the cities on a Fri or Sat---20 minutes would be a true blessing. Olive Garden has been open in Mankato for 2 months now & it still has over an hour wait weekdays, 2 hours on Fri-Sat.
I can agree that Hutch is lacking in more upscale dining but there just isn't the poplulation base or draw to support it. Hutch is 15,000 people, it is what it is. In many respects I think Hutch has more then most towns of 15,000. It also doesn't help that people 30 miles away, in either direction of Hutch, will go the other direction (St. Cloud, Willmar, Mankato, Cities) to shop & eat. People from those towns don't come to Hutch to shop/eat.
You guys/gals got too remember, even though hutch is around 15,000 people. It still would support a decent restaurant. You have all these surrounding little cities. Some come to hutch for everything from groceries to household items and what have ya. A good restaurant would even draw people from glencoe, hector, stewart, silver lake, buffalo lake, cosmos, ceder mills. I think they would have more business then they know what to do with. But a lot of it comes down, How they treat you. How big the waiting line is going to be. If there is enough places to park. (like apple bees I see people parking on the grass all the time) Every little thing a buisness does can add up to either a good thing or a bad thing. The more they cater too you, the more reason you will have to come back.
I agree with wildchild that Hutch is exactly it Hutch. It is not Mankato or not even half of St. Cloud. I thought the market was overflowed with fast food burger places and with the addition of Culver's someone had to go but I thought it was going to be Hardee's not Wendy's.
Isn't Quizno's Subs fast food also? They got that new building across from dairy queen. Where the old gas station used to be.
Hopefully the addition of America's Pastime(a sit-down restuarant opening next to Quizno's) will alleviate any frustrations local folks have regarding the lack of decent non-fast food eating establishments in town. Rumor has it that they serve good BBQ food which is something unique to our town. Plus they cater! Hey boss, do I hear catered lunches being served at work for your loyal, hard working employees?
Ok about to bump this topic possibly.
I use to work at wendys. I was the drive thru gal who handed you the meal and the drinks. I would say have a nice day or have a good day. I quit wendys two months before they were closed and they never saw it coming. things had slowed down at wendys but not that bad. I always had my hours but if it become slow then if we had too many we would go home.(usually who had like an hour or two of their shift left.)
I missed working with brian,ricki,melody. they made wendys so much fun. I still miss them and everyone I worked with so much. I feel it was the location that killed the resturaunt. It was not like burger king with an easier access. What people do not know or may not know about wendys is when they said the food was fresh it was indeed fresh. they made chili every day by scratch. The beef is never frozen. Not like most places. Dave thomas said he wanted freshness and that is what people got.Potatoes were cooked all the time, and yes many times we ran out, but we cooked on average I believe 50-60. Oh wendys remians to this day the only "fast food" place I can eat late night without an potential ibs attack.
now what is very sad is wilmar's wendys is now closed. if you want wendys it is saint cloud or the cities one has to go too and yes I take full advantage of it when I have to go to saint cloud. I love wendys. I think if wendys was to come back to hutchinson then a location near the others by wal mart would be the wisest.
to all the former employees of wendys, I hope you are all doing great. I miss you all greatly. Lisa
I love Wendys. But in my opinion the Hutchinson restaurant was poorly run and thats why it failed. I'm sure the people who worked there were nice and meant well and its sad they lost their jobs. But I don't buy the location argument. Burger King has been there years and seems to be doing well. Wendys drive thru my experience was that you had about a 50/50 shot at getting your order right. Burger King rarely messes up drive thru orders and when they do they go out of their way to make it right. At Wendys the manager laughed at me because I had to drive all the way around and get in line again because they forgot a burger in my order. I didnt find that particularly amusing. Wendys could have learned a lot from Burger King - the little things like stapling the receipt to the bag, etc. Perhaps they would still be in business then.
"RIP Dave Thomas I loved your food well."
Dave Thomas died of heart disease.
Q: What is that juice in the hamburger?
A: Grease.
Comment: I agree, where else can you
Submitted by wandaheidecker on November 17, 2006 - 10:35pm.I agree, where else can you get a cup of chili on the go or a small Ceasar salad with out paying 6 bucks? And the late night crowd will have to go home to leftovers.*sigh*