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Jersey Diners: Sysco-​matic Decline

Category: The Diner Industry

Published on Thursday, 13 August 2009 03:00

Written by The Plain Speaker

How ironic (and certainly not surprising) that Sysco and US Foodservice — the same self-​serving companies that sold themselves as the friend of the mom & pop diner owner /​operator — would ultimately be in part, the cause of their demise.

The Sysco program is the same slippery slope as was de-​regulating the airlines. Sure, the immediate result were cheap airline tickets. But the devolution of air travel was cemented the day deregulation began. Same for the diner. The day you sign on to Sysco, you’ve turned your diner into every other place serving the same glop.

Now, two decades later, we have tired planes, cranky and scarce airline staff, self serve everything, and surcharges for everything from pillows to window seats to per-​bag charges, overweight passenger surcharges, etc. Much the same mentality that allowed car companies to sell highly profitable gas guzzling SUVs for one brief decade, all the while knowing they were making a pack with the devil exchanging short term financial gains for what would ultimately result in their own demise. The same stupid logic that gave us Wal-​Mart, at the expense of manufacturing jobs in the USA. Same pattern of greed, stupidity and laziness.

Diners that signed on to Sysco’s program have done so at their own peril. As you say, ridiculous 12-​page menus, but nothing local or noteworthy to eat. It’s the same mentality that brought down the US film and television industries. Yessir, Reality TV is very cheap to produce. Yupp. No more big costly crews to employ. Huge short term profits as broadcasters initially