Groundspeak Portal

Thanks to those who voted on the three regional franchise categories.

There were several nice, positive comments, and the "nay" votes were generally in the vein of disliking commercial categories in general.  A few misunderstood what makes a regional chain and also the difference between chains and independent businesses.

As I've said, I'm actually lukewarm on these types of categories - seldom would go out of my way, but if it is close to something else, I would do them.  I don't think they are a blight on the waymarking landscape, as some do, but they do have a place for those who enjoy them.  My goal in creating these categories was to respond to what I felt had been an expressed idea over some period of time and to try to do them in some sort of sensible way that would be manageable.  I hope I've succeeded in that.

One interesting suggestion was to have one large category for all regional chains, with a drop-down menu for Coffee Shop, Pizza Shop, etc.   It still seems better to me to have separate categories for types of places, like Coffee Shops and Pizza Shops, with drop-down menus for the specific chain.

To that end, I'm soliciting submissions for regional chains/franchises to be included in each of the three categories - coffee shops, pizza shops, and burger joints.  We'd like to populate the menu as best we can before activating the cateogories.

Here is our basic definition of what qualifies as a regional chain/franchise:

"2. Basic definition for the United States and Canada

* In general a chain should have outlets in several states, although in some cases they may be confined to one large state.
* If a group of businesses is family owned, or has only a few outlets in a smaller geographic area, then it is probably in independent shop.
* The line between REGIONAL and NATIONAL is more difficult to draw. We will try to be flexible on this, but in general we will follow these guidelines:
- Outlets in fewer than 20 states
- Confined to a geographic region such as west coast, east coast, midwest or south.
(usually there will be a concentration in the original city or state, dispersed outward.

3. Chains outside Canada and the United States

* Franchises or chains that are confined to one country will be considered "regional" for the purposes of this category.
* Franchises or chains that have outlets in more than one country may be considered regional if it is a relatively small group and still confined a small, well-defined area. These will be evaluated on a case by case basis. "

Our intention is to populate the drop-down list with as many specific chains as we can, and then new ones will be added as they are submitted.

If you have suggestions for any of these three categories, please submit them either here on this thread or to me personally.   If possible, at least provide a web link to the company site.  If you know how many outlets in how many states/provinces, that would be helpful as well.  I know what some of these are, but obviously, those who are familiar with their own region are in the best position to know what they are.

As soon as we have a good number for each category, we'll activate them and accept waymark submissions. 

Thanks for your help,
Larry (silverquill)
Cheonan, Korea
(back home)

What do you have already?

saopaulo1:

What do you have already?

Right now we're at ground zero!

I can come up with some of the ones that I'm familiar with from the places I've lived, but I thought it would be better to tap in to the wider regional coverage we have here on the forums.  So, the field is wide open.

Snappy Tomato Pizza

Pizza:

• Edwardo's
• Giordano's
• Pizzaria Uno Chicago Grill
• Lou Malnati's

Yes, it is Chicago-centric, but if you got good pizza...

Burgers:

• Culver's
• Five Guys
• Steak 'N' Shake

And I apologize for my early submission.  I have since cancelled it and will wait until activated.

ok, what about this? you have a nice regional chain with lots of waymarks.....what if it is time for that chain to have its own category.
can those be moved to the new category? will they stay in the regional category?

Whataburger   (burger chain: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia)

I'll post more if I think of more that no one else has suggested.

Burger

- In N Out Burger

Pizza
- Round Table Pizza


Coffee
- Peet's Coffee & Tea

our whataburger just closed...

Cook-Out burgers (they don't have a website), franchises in NC

Port City Java www.portcityjava.com, coffee in 5 states (mainly NC), Jordan and Costa Rica

I just heard about this burger chain one in the newspapers, today.

Smashburger

Pizza:
    Imo's  -  3 states, Mo, Il, Ks mostly around St. Louis

Coffee:
    Caribou - 15 states mostly in Midwest and East

BruceS:

Pizza:
    Imo's  -  3 states, Mo, Il, Ks mostly around St. Louis

Coffee:
    Caribou - 15 states mostly in Midwest and East

I'd drive to St. Louis for an Imos pizza... The cheese is amazing.

How about Crystals for hamburgers?

Burgers:
Baker's Drive-thru in the Inland Empire area of CA.
 
http://www.bakersdrivethru.com/newweb/bakers.php 
 
Pizza:
Would Peter Piper Pizza 139 locations in NV, AZ, TX, CA, NM and Mexico (34 locations) make the list?
 
http://www.peterpiperpizza.com/about_us.asp

Add this one to the burger chains.  They have around 30-40 locations in TN/VA featuring a ginormous hot dog, fry, and shake (appropriate for that cat).  I waymarked the Johnson City location in the Zippy cat.  The only small restaurant business to win the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award - as they know exactly how/much everything takes...

Their website:

http://www.palsweb.com/

chapterhouseinc:

ok, what about this? you have a nice regional chain with lots of waymarks.....what if it is time for that chain to have its own category. can those be moved to the new category? will they stay in the regional category?

Good question!

I think maybe this has been raised before, but I've never heard an answer.   I'm sure it would take Groundspeak intervention.

If it were possible, I'd do something with the Ice Cream Parlor category I inherited.  It accepts both independent AND chain ice cream places, which is a real mess.  If I could, I'd pull out all of the Cold Stone Creamery's, Ben & Jerry's, and Haagen Dasz ones and put them in their own categories and keep this one for independent ice cream shops.

Thanks to those of you who sent in suggestions!

All three of these categories are now activated and ready to go. 
I've started each with about a dozen companies, but others can be added along the way.

I've found several that seem to be on the borderline  -  30-35 states pluse several countries.  So, it's a judgment call as to whether to include these.  It's hard to set an absolute cut-off point.

Well, we'll see how these go.

Pizza addition, although their website seems to be having problem

Pizza Plus operates out of four states (VA, TN, NC, and KY).  Basic pizza offering.  One in VA was the site of the first geocaching meet-n-greet for this area which led to the explosion of that activity in the region.

Here is a caches version of their location webpage for reference.

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:YsBik2b5o8EJ:www.pizzaplusinc.com/locations+pizza+plus+tennessee&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

i agree about the icecream thing....maybe they could start working on a solution...as if it already needs to be done now, just wait a few more years when more categories need to be split....

what about godfather's pizza? i know they like to be in gas stations, but are they too widespread? pizza must be a popular food item as it has 4 categories now.....