When most people go out to eat, they know the restaurants in their neighborhood and rarely think about whether the restaurant is part of a large chain or not. However, the very nature of the business of operating a large chain of identical restaurants leads them to make compromises on the food they serve.

Large chain restaurants have great advantages over single "mom and pop" restaurants when it comes to advertising. A large chain can advertise in major newspapers, on television and radio with much greater "bang for the buck" than a solo restaurant.

The problems for chains in operating as a proper business is that they must seek to have as uniform a product as possible. This is because their mass advertising is uniform. When a restaurant features its cinnamon french toast on large regional or national television, the french toast served in its many restaurants needs to be the same. This does help build brand identification but also mandates a central source for the very food that is served. This in turns mandates frozen food, additives to preserve food and to enhance flavor.

In addition, the restaurant employees who are cooking are then required to make the dish in a specifically mandated way in order to achieve uniformity. An artistic chef would not willingly work in a large chain restaurant. As a result, the cooking becomes the work of mechanical food preparers rather than chefs.

We have all learned to value fresh fruits, meats and vegetables. The non-chain restaurant has the ability to use these fresh ingredients where the large chain restaurant is precluded from using them.

Our web site, www.signaturedishesofcolorado.com tries to dig out the best non-chain restaurants we can, especially those that make their signature dishes "from scratch". We believe you can do your body a favor by trying to discover the fresh, non-chain restaurants in your neighborhood.