A five-buck meal from Taco Bell?
Sounds about right. But beyond the occasional cheap, fast food fix, Midwesterners decide to skip going out for meals, according to a recent study.
The report, released recently by Visa, showed that among Americans, those in the Midwest are the least likely to dish out their hard-earned dollars on food. Midwesterners stay thrifty by typically going to a restaurant an average of 1.7 times per week, spending an average of $15.13 a week collectively.
Athens appears to be no exception.
Sheri Harvey, part-owner of Casa Nueva, 6 W. State St., said that because she is a part of a family of five, eating out is considered a luxury. She chooses to eat at Casa when possible or to prepare her meals at home.
“Your average person with kids probably doesn’t eat out much,” Harvey said. “For the most part, I’m a mother of three so I never eat out. It breaks our budget.”
Harvey said students are responsible for most of Athens’ restaurant income, but only because students, generally speaking, haven’t yet learned to budget.
But Casa, she said, has a stronger local clientele because its prices are higher.
“Students don’t know how to cook — they have to eat out,” Harvey said. “Students probably don’t know where to spend their money, either. Usually the people who eat out, though, are traveling or a have a time restraint so they can’t cook.”
Devin Wyckoff, a senior studying business finance and management, said he opts to refrain from spending at local restaurants. Choosing to set aside his cash for groceries, Wyckoff said he stays healthier and saves money toward his bills with this method — and his friends do, too.
“I ate out once over the weekend at Taco Bell, and recently I’ve been eating out, but only because I’ve been really busy. I don’t want to,” Wyckoff said. “I try to cook my own food and only spend about $35 a week (at grocery stores).”
The national average for restaurant attendees stands at $18 per week, according to news reports on Visa’s survey. The Post requested a copy of the survey from Visa, but representatives for the credit card company could not provide it by press time.
Restaurants employ 10 percent of Ohioans, according to the Ohio Restaurant Association, meaning a drop in sales could lead to job loss. Still, the National Restaurant Association projects a 3.6 percent sales growth for Ohio eateries in 2013 because of the popularity of fast food restaurants.
Sixty eight percent of restaurants in Athens County are considered fast food establishments, according to a previous Post article, which also stated that the national benchmark is 27 percent.
Athens County has one of the highest percentages of fast food restaurants of any county in the state. Many of the other counties exceeding the national benchmark do so by more than 30 percent, according to the Post article.
In addition to those establishments, Ohio Restaurant Association spokesman Jarrod Clabaugh said that in towns like Athens, small restaurants can still thrive.
“College towns often offer a greater appeal to independent, niche restaurants that cater to a younger set of guests who are more open to new food experiences and less concerned about a restaurant’s decor,” Clabaugh said. “It makes greater sense to open a 24-hour diner in a college town than it does in a metropolitan location that only experiences foot traffic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.”
Bagel Street Deli, 27 S. Court St., has had unique success in Athens, said Anastasia Chamberce, the deli’s manager.
“The Athens locals always tend to eat out less when school’s in session, but over break locals will take advantage of shorter lines,” she said. “Athens is a special case in the fact that it has a powerful local food movement. If people are eating at home, they’re still getting good local food.”
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