Chick-Fil-A Building

Nothing like a Blue Cheese tomato soup, a B-Stop burger with some Lola fries and a B-Spot Mary. :)

I am not sure how important brand recognition is at amusement parks in general or Cedar Point specifically.

Pete said:

I'd love a B Spot at the Point, and Michael Symon would probably be receptive to that idea since he has opened locations at Quicken Loans Arena, Browns Stadium and Horseshoe Casino.

Michael Symon is a boss!

Just going to disney a few weeks ago. i would say that it does not really need to be a brand name but the food at disney is better and cheaper at cedar point. so really the only place they can go is up

Red Garter Rob said:
Nothing like a Blue Cheese tomato soup, a B-Stop burger with some Lola fries and a B-Spot Mary. :)

The Fat Doug is one of my favs.
Plus the fact that they serve dozens of different U.S. micro brews but no Bud, Miller or anything like that. I find that refreshing.

Hey, keep you hands off my Bud Light!

Some of us have to watch our calorie intake, ya know? It's not like I can drink microbrews all the time and then expect to still buckle the seatbelts on MF and TTD!

GoBucks89 said:
I am not sure how important brand recognition is at amusement parks in general or Cedar Point specifically.

I'd say it's very important. We're a creature of habit and a culture of brand names. Why do you think US Brands (McDonalds, A&W, Pizza Hut, etc) do so well in foreign countries? It's not because they have superior food.

With that said, I'm much more likely to try something new at an amusement park then I am in some random town in Nebraska.

People going to McDonalds, Pizza Hut, etc. are going there specifically to eat. Few people go to Cedar Point specifically to eat. It secondary to the primary purpose of the visit. To me, Cedar Point would be much better served by having good food, served quickly and efficiently for a reasonable price than they would having branded food that people recognize.

I've been meaning to make a trip over for a Coney dog for some time now. I was shopping at Somerset in October but opted to choose Panda Express because of time constraints. Now this conversation has me craving it again! But the question is, American or Lafayette?

GoBucks89 said:
I am not sure how important brand recognition is at amusement parks in general or Cedar Point specifically.

I don't know about that. Friday's seems to do pretty good business, especially considering it's outside the gate. I know part of the reason we go there is because we know what to expect, both in terms of price and food selection.

Vince982 said:
...the question is, American or Lafayette?

Lafayette. A thousand times Lafayette.

There's a reason American, despite its shiny new dining room, is always a ghost town compared to Lafayette, with its comparatively dingy, Formica-laden dining room.

While I tend to agree with GoBucks about not going to a park to eat I think dj's point about Friday's is valid but I imagine any brand name restaurant would do very well in that particular setting given that it offers, as hard as it is to say this, a higher class food choice as compared to the park.

There have been a lot of people here who said they go to Fridays because the food is horrible inside the park and the prices worse. If there were more unbranded food options in the park that were good, reasonably priced and with good service, I suspect you would see less people going to Fridays. Particularly those who are leaving the park to eat and then coming back. That wouldn't be as true of people stopping at Fridays on their way home though at that point, they are now people with a primary goal of eating (will be more focussed on quality (perceived or real) and price). But if they knew there was good food (in terms of pricing and selection) in the park, they may well eat before they leave.

That may be, though I think you underestimate the value of brand name recognition.

A cursory glance at the parking lots of restaurants (not a valid indicator, admittedly) along Milan seems to demonstrate as much. Places like Bob Evans, Applebee's and so on seem to do pretty great business, despite having mediocre food. The only exceptions that jump to mind would be Diana's Deli and Chet & Matt's (both of which are fantastic, by the way). There are quite a few good places that seem to get overlooked.

But again, those are situations in which the primary purpose for people going there is to eat. Which is not the case for people going to Cedar Point. Next to no one is going to CP because there is a National Coney or a Pink's or a B-spot or whatever branded restaurant tickles your fancy. Unless you want to leave the park and return or bring your own food (something most people, who visit the park once or twice a year, do not want to do), you are a captive audience. That is not true for driving down whatever street or through whatever shopping plaza that has multiple restaurants. In that situation, a brand name means a whole lot more.

And maybe I should refine my statement to be that I think that brand names matters a whole lot less in an amusement park than they do outside an amusement park. Good unbranded food which is reasonably priced and with good service is really all they would need. And they avoid franchises/fees, etc. that go along with brands. If they want to say they cannot go do good food at a reasonable price and opt for brands instead, so be it. But it doesn't have to be that way.

I agree, good food is the key. I love burgers, and my main reason for wanting a B-Spot in the park is to finally get a quality burger in the park. If CP would follow through and implement what Ouimet said in the spring about offering fresh, never frozen burgers, I would be happy. Although living up to a custom blended Pat LaFrieda burger patty they serve at B-Spot probably wouldn't happen, a nice 80/20 properly seasoned fresh patty would be a fine offering for the park.

djDaemon said:The only exceptions that jump to mind would be Diana's Deli

You need to get to more real restaurants. lol

I'm not in Sandusky frequently enough to warrant doing so.

The vast majority of my local restaurant visits are to non-chains, for what it's worth.

Did someone really say Diana's Dump has good food?

This thread is filled with restaurants I have never heard of...and I've lived in Ohio all my life!

liebevision said:
Did someone really say Diana's Dump has good food?

Yes they did. :)