Independent Restaurants Fight Growing Chains

Nov. 11 -- The restaurant scene in Cleveland is getting a bit too crowded for chef Sergio Abramof's liking.

This fall alone, at least 10 new eating and drinking establishments have started up in the area, as one new shopping center opened and another upscale retail center expanded.

But it's not just the number of new restaurants that's bothering Abramof, owner of Sergio's in University Circle, a Brazilian restaurant that seats around 50. It's also the type of dining establishment — national chains.

Big chains like the Cheesecake Factory, the California Pizza Kitchen and Chipotle Mexican Grill all opened their doors with the the new Legacy Village retail center at the end of October. And Abramof says his small restaurant has already felt the hit.

"We clearly felt a drop of 20 percent during that week of opening," he laments.

Concerned about the future of independent restaurants amid an onslaught of new chains, Abramof quickly formed a Cleveland-based chapter of the Council of Independent Restaurants of America, or CIRA, a Lousiville, Ky.-based national organization that helps independents compete against larger chain restaurants.

Abramof is hoping the group will help him and other independently-run restaurants better compete for consumers' attention in a crowded market.

"We have been painfully aware of what's been happening in other industries such as the drugstores, the hardware stores and the coffee shops," says Abramof. "Many have just become extinct and they're all replaced by chains. It seems like if the restaurants don't do anything about it, we're next."

Casual Chains Gain Consumers' Cash

Chain restaurants hardly outnumber independently-run establishments — more than seven out of 10 eating-and-drinking places are single-unit, or independent operations, according to the National Restaurant Association.