c'mon....they only have like 4-5 locations in the Philly area. I wouldn't call them McD's until they become one of those national chain bars.

__________________
-Tim K

Licensed PA Real Estate Salesperson

MILES & GENERALIS, INC. GO REAL ESTATE
20 N. 3rd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-928-0221 (office)
215-928-0584 (fax)

www.PhillyLoftHouse.com : Loft-style living in a single-family home

www.LoftOn12th.com : A REAL loft in Center City

I agree with TimK...I am the first to berate chains, but Kildare's is far from it. They have an executive chef at each location that makes an amazing meal, and a perfectly poured beer can't be argued with at all. Sure, I don't like the Frat party going on at night upstairs, but it is generally sequestered to the second floor bar area. When I took my employees to Kildare's we sat upstairs in the dining room area, and you couldn't even tell there was a band playing on the otherside of the wall! If you don't like it, fine-but you can't say that they are a corporate "chain" when the copabanana will have more stores than Kildare's in a week or two. Just because Kildare's figured out a formula for success doesn't make them McDonalds-if you prefer chipped paint, subpar food, and a slightly foul-tasting beer with your live bands, Abilene is open seven days a week for your convienence!

More are coming. Its a chain bar.

The bars I go to are very nice and successful, but there is only one of them.

I think American Idol sucks, but 35million people watch it every night. If enough people like it, it stays in business; just because you don't like it doesn't negate it.
As far as the "chain" enviroment, just because more than one exists doesn't make it bad, and just because there is only one of a bar doesn't mean it isn't part of a corporation. Places like Lucy's Hat Shop, Bar Noir, Fergie's, Il Portico, Tiramisu, Maaco's, Tattooed Mom's, 32degrees, Continental, Hikaru....hell, name a place, and chances are that it is part of a larger portolio of a corporation-just because it doesn't fit your version of a cookie cutter McDonald's doesn't mean that it is not part of a larger conglomerate. In fact, any bar that isn't a corporation would legally be shooting themselves in the foot in regards to liability-so no matter which bar you go to in PA, its technically "corporate", but I digress.
Please, teach me with your inate ability to find the one bar that is not a corporation and is a sole proprietorship that is in business for the good of mankind while serving alcohol and providing an area to procur lung cancer through the osmosis of Hydrogen Cyanide via second hand smoke. Your tutelage would be greatly appreciated. Please, bestow your recommendations on the bar that I must be seen in to be cool...I can't go tonight, since I have to go to a way cool concert at the way cool Khyber, which also owns the Royal Tavern, which is also building a new restaurant in Northern Liberties, which owns a production company called HeyDay entertainment, which once owned part of Tribecca for a short time, which.......get the drift?

They're planning on opening another 45 by 2010. Would that then be considered a chain?

...and the Sex Pistols were the most anti-establishment band ever, yet if you want their album, you'll be giving money to Time-Warner.

If you want to be anti-establishment and use craigslist, that's fine, but your still supporting ebay since they now own 25% of craigslist.

Ben and Jerry's is now owned by Breyer's, which is owned by Unilever(yum, soap), and Pennsylvania's favorite Yuengling is now bottled in Florida...

Even if you find an establishment which is a one-off sole-propreitorship which is so great that it only serves 3 people at a time, there is an 86.4% chance that their food supplier is Sysco Systems, which is one of the largest corporations in the U.S. ...so you and your two cool co-patrons just ate corporately homoginized growth hormoned cheese on your non-corporate nachos. Pamela Anderson and PETA would be so upset if they knew what you were up to.
People get so caught up in the word "chain"...Maoz on south street is a chain store, but it almost always receives positive reviews from suits to treehuggers alike.
I've seen the owner of Kildare's in the immediate neighborhood as much or more than any other neighborhood business owner. The food is equivalent or better than most casual restaurants in the area. The attention to detail is the same or better than most bars in the area.
On their opening night, they raised more for neighborhood preservation than the combined 500 south street businesses raised in 5 years. The owner even hired engineers to come in and reduce enviromental noise just because 3 neighbors could hear a murmur of sound coming from the building...but he's a big bad corporation, while many non-chains in the area can't even figure out how to dispose of their grease without spilling it all over the sidewalk.
If he's successful, good for him-who gives a sh*t; he's not opening every 5 blocks like starbucks to crush competition. He came up with a successful formula which people enjoy, and it has actually drawn more people to the adjacent bars rather than hurt them.(I've seen many people nearby say'Kildare's is too busy, let's go to Bridget Foy's', or 'lets' go to Dark Horse')-and at any rate, anything beats the incredibly nasty Uno's that was there.
I would suggest that you go live on an island to avoid corporations, but then then they might come and start filming CBS's "Survivor" , ABC's popular show "Lost", or a Gilligan's Island remake, and that would just be too corporate to swallow.

[quote=alesis]...and the Sex Pistols were the most anti-establishment band ever, yet if you want their album, you'll be giving money to Time-Warner.

food supplier is Sysco Systems, which is one of the largest corporations in the U.S. ...so you and your two cool co-patrons just ate corporately

I don't want to be an smart ass but it's not SYSCO Systems it's SYSCO Corporation. Cisco Systems is the tech company.

When you say one of the largest corporations do mean in top ten, 20, 50...? if you rank them by Revenue they are 60th. If it's by Markect cap they are somewhere around 270. They're definetly the largest food suppplier in US if that's what you meant to say.

I think the bottom-line is that 5 locations doesn't make a "chain" and certainly doesn't warrant a comparison to McDonald's. Furthermore, having multiple locations doesn't always mean something is 'bad'. If you opened a business, your goal is to make money. If your business is succesful in its initial location and you want to make more money, you expand and open a second location to meet demand. As long as you maintain the quality of service and integrity that you had in your first location, you have not become the big bad corporation.

Sure, if there were 500 Kildare's and they were franchised out and they served frozen foods prepared by a short order cook and had only bud, bud light, coors light and MGD on tap, dumped their trash in the street and had $1 beer specials for College Night....then you would be justified. But as long as they are privately owned by a guy who gives out his cell #, have a trained chef at each location preparing fresh food, work with neighbors to control noise, trash and customers, and generally seem to give a damn about what goes on.....well then your comparisons are unfair.

__________________
-Tim K

Licensed PA Real Estate Salesperson

MILES & GENERALIS, INC. GO REAL ESTATE
20 N. 3rd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-928-0221 (office)
215-928-0584 (fax)

www.PhillyLoftHouse.com : Loft-style living in a single-family home

www.LoftOn12th.com : A REAL loft in Center City

HAHAHA...I'm glad you feel satisfied relying on nuances to thwart the entire argument.
Sysco Inc., Systems, or whatever you prefer to call it is within the Fortune 500, as they are no. 1 in food wholesaling, 60th overall based on sales, and 171th worldwide based on sales volume, based on the same stats you got your contrite facts from. This would make them, by any standard, one of the largest US corporations.
Now, look at the original still-used Sysco's logo, which is a cube with two "s"'s on it...that is because they were named Sysco Systems(which is how I remember them when I got invoices from them years ago before switching to retail businesses), but they eventually dropped the "Systems" when modernizing their image, since it only served to doubly affirm their acronym, "Systems and Services Company ". I certainly apologize for ruining my entire argument by utilizing an outdated name for a major corporation, just as it is outdated luxury to desire nothing but sole proprietorships when the entire restaurant and bar community is fueled by corporations.
I will call a truce by mixing my dunkin donuts coffee with a half cup from The Bean as soon as I get to my office today, and then we will all co-exist. Deal?