Cookout or Takeout?

You know those times when you have the urge to grill out, but then you think to yourself, ?that?s way too much work? and besides, ?I don?t just want hamburgers and hotdogs, I also want corndogs, barbecue and milkshakes???well, don?t fret, Cookout Restaurant, ?Cooked Outdoors Style,? is here to save the day!

Or should I say Flip?N Burg-R?

Okay, so here?s the deal.? Some Harrisonburg business genius opened perhaps the worst named and executed QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) ever in Harrisonburg last year.? Their shtick was hamburgers, hotdogs, barbecue, chicken sandwiches and milkshakes.? Except that they spelled each of these with an absurd and confounding array of dashes and ill-placed CaPit-l letters.

Flip?N Burg-R was supposed to be the launch of a new chain operation and a franchise opportunity for other rich people with no business going into the restaurant industry.? The adage remains, ?A fool and his money are soon parted.?? Flip?N Burg-R closed after 6 months, garnering one-and-a-half stars on both UrbanSpoon and Yelp.? After it opened The Breeze ran an article with the headline, ?New restaurant Flip-N Burg-R fails to impress?.

My first thought was that perhaps the business model itself was a bit too all over the place.? The menu was a nightmare to read, especially having to decipher their illogical spelling.? I tried it once and found my barbecue sandwich with a side of corndog to be underwhelming to say the least.

Owner Bruce Forbes claimed that the reasons for the closure were the ? percent increase in Harrisonburg?s meals tax and restrictive sign ordinances.? Not the product, not the concept, not the execution.? Funny thing?there?s actually a book called Flip-N-Burgers, on QSR restaurant management, which I?m sure he never read.

What?s interesting is that Harrisonburg?s Flip?N Burg-R was a total flip-n rip on Greensboro?s Cookout.? It?s exactly the same concept and almost exactly the same menu.? It would have been weird, to say the least, to have both restaurants in Harrisonburg at the same time.? Either way, it?s going to be a tough pill for Forbes to swallow when and if Cookout thrives in Harrisonburg, despite operating under the same meals tax and sign ordinances.

So, back to Cookout.? I?m not saying it?s a better restaurant in which to dine.? It is a better restaurant in that they have over 100 locations and any country-ass fast-food-loving idiot can read the menu.? They use ?fresh fruit? in some of their milkshakes.? They use fresh ground beef cooked to order (making it a slightly longer ticket time than other fast food joints).? And they use ?real chicken? instead of all that fake chicken.? The prices are definitely cheap, which is the only value some people know how to assess.? Just remember, you get what you pay for.

Interestingly, despite having so many locations in SC, NC and VA, Cookout does not have a website.? Strangely enough, instead there are two websites online posted by fans of the restaurant: www.cookoutnc.com?and eatcookout.com.?? Each of these sites has a menu and the corporate 1-800 number.? And, each of these sites has a Nutrition Facts tab, which when clicked reads ?Coming Soon!?? It?s probably not, and if you?re concerned about your nutrition you shouldn?t be eating there anyway.

While I?m not really down with fast food ?cooked outdoors style,? I am totally down with a Cheerwine float.? So maybe I?ll see you there?

Source: http://www.oldsouthhigh.com/2012/08/13/cookout-or-takeout/

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