Do We Desperately Need Drive-Thrus?

I think it's more along the line of the $1 value menu deals like at McD, BK, or Wendys--a Coke, burger-like unit, and fries for $3.20 out the door--quick, no tip required. This product is only available from the places that have drive-thrus attached.

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Yeah, I think you may be right, but I was interested to hear from the poster if this was truly what he/she was talking about.

This kind of fast food is so unhealthy. Our children are suffering from so much of it with obesity and probably other things.

No fast food is one of the things I like best about Sowal, and we do have some reasonably priced places.

I just wondered if food that did not cost quite so much would satisfy whatever is driving this push for fast food restaurants...or if people really do want those sausage biscuits and cardboard burgers....

No fast food is one of the things I like best about Sowal, and we do have some reasonably priced places.

"Reasonably Priced" is highly subjective--and will be moreso for more people as we sink deeper into this recession.

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Aren't there a couple of Subways in the area? Five...five...five dollar foot-long can be a lot of calories if you go heavy on the mayo and cheese.

Biscuits are good. Lee's had some pretty good ones, when they were here.

I wonder what would happen if someone offered a fast, convenient maybe even a drive -through if it was a beachy one...restaurant that served locally grown, healthy food and seafood at a price comparable to what one can get at one of the fast food chains...

would it be successful?

What would happen if some of the land that was mentioned before as a good place for a drive-through, became a community garden and restaurant ?


My point is: can we solve the problem , that is, offer the food at a price that is acceptable in a convenient way and location...without having a national chain?

I wonder what would happen if someone offered a fast, convenient maybe even a drive -through if it was a beachy one...restaurant that served locally grown, healthy food and seafood at a price comparable to what one can get at one of the fast food chains...

would it be successful?

What would happen if some of the land that was mentioned before as a good place for a drive-through, became a community garden and restaurant ?


My point is: can we solve the problem , that is, offer the food at a price that is acceptable in a convenient way and location...without having a national chain?

I would love to see locally grown, healthy options at prices comparable to fast food!
I think it would be a big hit if the food were good. I don't know if it could be done at a profit. But, there are countless ways to prepare seafood without too much fat and salt.

It would be hard to compete with the convenience of a drive-thru though. You don't have to shower or tip.

From someone who has a high metabolism, I don't like diet food or low fat stuff! It seems that after you eat that stuff, you're hungry again soon! Besides, every once and a while, a good ole' McD burger won't hurt!

From someone who has a high metabolism, I don't like diet food or low fat stuff! It seems that after you eat that stuff, you're hungry again soon! Besides, every once and a while, a good ole' McD burger won't hurt!

I had a class at UWF...Ethics in Business...and my "team" had to do a presentation about MD's fries. You know, when they switched to vegetable oil, they just were not as good as they used to be. I forget the details, or even why the fries were our subject. But I never will forget our closing line for each part: "a little beef tallow never hurt anybody!"

First, I don't think there is a popular uprising demanding fast food. Second, there is zoning on 331 that allows fast food. There is a Subway in Blue Mountain. We had Lee's until they closed. Let's be honest...it's people with land on 98 that want the zoning changed.

As for the fast food...sounds like some people need to watch this...
Hulu - Super Size Me - Watch the full feature film now.@@AMEPARAM@@http://www.hulu.com/embed/vAG-PZbBn1sfk8E75bRL0g@@AMEPARAM@@vAG-PZbBn1sfk8E75bRL0g

Healthy doesn't mean diet food. A hamburger can be healthy and yummy...but a McDonald's hamburger is not healthy...and it can hurt you.

And geez, people...10 minutes down the road in Miramar.

First, I don't think there is a popular uprising demanding fast food. Second, there is zoning on 331 that allows fast food. There is a Subway in Blue Mountain. We had Lee's until they closed. Let's be honest...it's people with land on 98 that want the zoning changed.

As for the fast food...sounds like some people need to watch this...
Hulu - Super Size Me - Watch the full feature film now.

Healthy doesn't mean diet food. A hamburger can be healthy and yummy...but a McDonald's hamburger is not healthy...and it can hurt you.

And geez, people...10 minutes down the road in Miramar.

I'm not for fast food on 98 but I don't think a McD hamburger can really hurt you if you have one in a blue moon! I will enjoy one every 6 months to a year. I also love to get a baked potato from Wendy's when I'm on a road trip.

On your next drive to Destin time how long it really takes to get there. It takes me 10 minutes to go from Dune Allen to the end of 30A, then another 10 minutes to Sandestin and maybe 5-8 minutes to Tuesday Morning across the street from McDs. If the traffic is bad it's a bit longer. Not as close as it seems.

I used to go to the drive thru at Blue Orleans....and I have to say it was nice for a change not to have to get out of the car!

Believe me for the past 20 years I've watched things pop up that we NEVER thought would come to our area. Sometimes it was as simple as paving an oyster shell road....and other times really BIG houses in Grayton. One time I was told to move if I didn't like progress in South Walton, because no matter what anyone thought....it was coming. Too bad that some progress is not as nice as other kinds. Getting a Publix was a Godsend!! A High School too!!!!

You CAN go to lunch for less than $10-15 - just depends on where you go and what you order.

I'm not current on my specials at local restaurants (I bring my lunch rather than eating out due to the economy) but there are places all over 30-A that are not only reasonably priced, but feature daily specials and local's discounts - making them a much better deal and a much better meal than Taco Hell or McDonald's.

Flip Flops, Hurricane, Fire, Publix, Coffee House, Don Pablo's, Jambone, Village Market etc.

Modica's posts their lunch specials on Sowal, Bruno's used to have pizza, salad, bev for $6, Amore had a drink, GOOD salad, and half a pizza for $8 ....

Not saying some places prices aren't a bit high, but there ARE quite a few options.

Summer Kitchen also has daily lunch specials - you can call and request to get on their e-mail notice list. I think those specials start around $5 or $6, and Chef James cooks delicious yummies from scratch.

Is there something I am missing? I have never been overly concerned about whether a food choice required me to get out of the car to pick it up or whether or not I was appropriately dressed for pick-up.

With the exceptions of wearing shoes or covering a bikini w/ something I've never felt the need to "dress up for pick-up" and have never gotten attitude from anyone.

broaden the search?

Personally, I'm happy without chains and drive throughs, despite rare urges for grabbing something fast, cheap, decadently full of transfats and who knows what other horrors, without having to get out of my pajamas ;-)

But the other 99.9% of the time, I relish the absence of national chains -- and the resulting beautiful variety of local mom and pop businesses -- as a huge part of what makes South Walton so special; so appealing to tourists of significantly higher demographic profile than those who visit our neighboring counties; and such a big reason why I live here rather than any geography-of-nowhere town, USA.

National chains suck money out of local economies at dizzying rates, siphoning our cash into the pockets of folks who have no accountability to us or to their employees,nd no interest in our community other than how much profit they can extract. Local mom and pops keep the money in the community where it undergoes a multiplier effect of great benefit to the local economy. (I majored in English, and withdrew in disgrace from Economics 101; otherwise I'd explain this in more detail.)

Besides that, when you go in a restaurant where the owner is your neighbor, there is far greater accountability than with a chain. If you don't like their food or the way their servers act, you let the proprietor know, and if desired changes don't come, you can take your business elsewhere. With chains, the employees most often don't care (it's just a thankless job paying awful wages, after all). Any suggestions or complaints you offer most likely end up in File 13; the best you could hope for is a generic form letter thanking you for your interest in MacDoodles.

I could go on and on about that, but I want to look at this food thing from another angle. What about cooking our own food and picnicking, brown bagging, etc.? I know we're all busy and on the go, but is it that hard to make a big casserole or pot of soup, or prep veggies for quick steaming, for the week, so there's something in the fridge handy to heat up when you're too rushed or too tired to cook or go out?

Okay, if that's too hard, then what a bout a co-op? Maybe you poll your neighbors to find out who likes what sort of food, and have a few potlucks together to check out each other's cooking. Then the folks with similar tastes (or similar health issues, like cholesterol, diabetes, food allergies) could form a cooking co-op, and take turns cooking for the group, organized to meet the needs and schedules of those in the group.

Maybe on Sunday afternoons, a different member delivers a set amount of servings of a main dish to each member -- or members pick up at a set time. Or maybe the group prefers individual meals frozen like homemade TV dinners. (I used to make these as part of my postpartum doula service for new mothers, and they were a huge hit; one former client still gets glassy-eyed when recalling the meals I filled her freezer with, and that baby is now a teenager.) Someone who loves to cook might become the group chef, with members paying food costs and some kind of compensation for the cook's time and effort. A more economical, egalitarian "personal chef" service, if you will.

I'm sure there are gazillions of variations on this theme (for instance, monthly or weekly group cookathons -- at a church kitchen maybe, or local restaurant on their closed day? -- where neighbors gather and make big batches of dishes for members to take home in their own containers and freeze or whatever). Does anybody besides me think this could be a workable way to meet our affordable/easy/fast food needs, and maybe get to know some neighbors better while we're at it?

Is there something I am missing? I have never been overly concerned about whether a food choice required me to get out of the car to pick it up or whether or not I was appropriately dressed for pick-up.

I think the concern isn't so much what you're wearing when you get out of the car but if you're in the demographic group where you have 2-3 small humans of the toddler or younger variety in the car and no other adults with you at the time. Since, even in areas like SoWal, leaving the kids in the car with the AC running while you quickly duck inside to pick up a takeout order, I can understand a drive-through can seem like a godsend to that group.

There's a tiny little burger stand in DeFuniak called H&M Hot Dog that used to make the best burgers in town, cheap! I haven't been there in a while, but it's a great idea. They don't have a drive thru, but the whole idea it seems to me is a great money maker in todays times. Doesn't have to be McD, or BK, but tiny overhead, making just burgers, or limited menu, cheap, and include a drive thru seems like a great thing! I know there are several down here already, don't know how cheap they are, they haven't appealed to me enough to actually go there.

My aunt and uncle opened H&M Hotdogs back in the day...the Initials stand for their names. The hotdogs were the specialty of the house, but the burgers were good too. The shop was sold to another family member and then later to other people. It still offers a good deal and last time I was there, the food was still good.

I still think (as I posted before) that we can offer the convienent food in a take out or drive thru way, without having the chains...hope so anyway.

I think the concern isn't so much what you're wearing when you get out of the car but if you're in the demographic group where you have 2-3 small humans of the toddler or younger variety in the car and no other adults with you at the time. Since, even in areas like SoWal, leaving the kids in the car with the AC running while you quickly duck inside to pick up a takeout order, I can understand a drive-through can seem like a godsend to that group.

Including pets in the car. And, on an occasion a teen with a "tude"!

I still think (as I posted before) that we can offer the convienent food in a take out or drive thru way, without having the chains...hope so anyway.[/QUOTE]

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I'm not sure if you understand whats going on here with respect to the subtleties. It is unconstitutional to pass any ordinance that says you can't have "chains", even though that's of course what 99% of us in South Walton want. The next best thing, to 'discourage' chains is to disallow drive thru's for any restaurants - that has been fairly effective at keeping the chains interest quite low, b/c national fast food chains's profitability in drive thru locations are so much better than non drive-thru, they're hesitant to locate anywhere they can't have people sitting in line with their cars running.

The speculators on hwy 98 should just wait for the next cycle to cash out.

It will be interesting to see how the new leadership in the planning department handles this issue.

I'm told that the old director is angling to take the economic development director postion with the chamber.

I guess new blood is really hard accept.

April 9th, 5pm Courthouse Annex

The drive-thru ordinance will be on the agenda.

I still think (as I posted before) that we can offer the convienent food in a take out or drive thru way, without having the chains...hope so anyway.

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even though that's of course what 99% of us in South Walton want...

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Might be what 99% of the folks on this board and the general population of 30A wants, but I guarantee that the percentage is much lower.

General feeling, however, is that they don't belong on 30A. But, blasphemous as it may sound, there is much more to South Walton than 30A.

A good friend of mine who used to live on Cape Cod and now lives outside Durango just sent me this link to a story of hers in the Durango Herald. Seemed to have some relevance to our discussions here.

Durango Herald News, Maintaining a sustainable lifestyle a safety net

I get confused sometimes with all the quotes and replies, can't always tell who said what. But anyway, has there been some kind of poll saying 99% of Walton County -- or South Walton folks -- do or don't want chains, drive-throughs, etc.? I'd like to see the poll. I do know that the very public and inclusive visioning processes I've participated in or read about over many years resulted in visions that clearly preferred the atmosphere of a community served by small local businesses to one that is home to national chains and big boxes.

I suggest that it's not really the Planning Department's handling of this issue that's critical (though I'm open to reaching a new level of understanding if there are subtelties and details I'm not grasping here). I believe what matters most is how we as citizens participate in the process, which includes Planning Commission meetings, BCC meetings, and probably opportunities to opine in local newspapers as well as direct communication with BCC and PC members, whether by phone, fax, e-mail, snail mail, or maybe even smoke signals.

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even though that's of course what 99% of us in South Walton want...

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Might be what 99% of the folks on this board and the general population of 30A wants, but I guarantee that the percentage is much lower.

General feeling, however, is that they don't belong on 30A. But, blasphemous as it may sound, there is much more to South Walton than 30A.

I don't understand the objection in any case. Maybe somebody could clearly point out what the objections are. If it is simply because there aren't any here now so they wouldn't fit in with the character of the place, I don't believe that's valid. Twenty years ago there was an entirely different character than now, yet 30A has thrived with the changes.

Again, I could take it or leave it. It doesn't bother me that there isn't a Taco Bell on 30A but it wouldn't bother me in the least if there were. I'll bet many vacationing beach goers would love it. Particularly those with big groups and big families. Right off the beach and into some grub.

More food for thought.

Proximity to Fast Food a Factor in Student Obesity

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/health/nutrition/26obese.html?hpw

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Again, I could take it or leave it. It doesn't bother me that there isn't a Taco Bell on 30A but it wouldn't bother me in the least if there were. I'll bet many vacationing beach goers would love it. Particularly those with big groups and big families. Right off the beach and into some grub.

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These folks may be happier in the Destin atmosphere. The character of 30-A without high rises, fast food and t-shirt chains is extremely important to most homeowners as well as returning vacationers imo.
We vacation and purchased in SoWal precisely because the above mentioned do not exist here. We want charm and uniqueness which still exists but is threatened.

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