Lesson #1: Things Aren’t Always As They Seem
There’s nothing like having a self-righteous goal to make a blog and a Wedding Road Trip worthwhile. Since we’re egotists of the highest level, we have several: eating local, working out every day, and doing the whole wedding thing on the cheap. Yes, we pat ourselves on the back daily for our piety and often give ourselves cookies (locally-made, of course).
So it shouldn’t surprise you how excited we were to stumble upon a quaint little local pizza joint in Dunsmuir, California. The Pizza Factory boasts a wall of high school jerseys, a game room of arcade delights, and colorful local patrons who chat it up at the counter. When we walked into the restaurant, Chris and I looked at each other and nodded sagely. Finally, we were experiencing the real America that we had been dreaming about since we started planning the trip. We ate our food and jumped back in the car, vowing to write a blog about our first local restaurant of the trip.
As I was preparing the blog, however, I quickly found out that the Pizza Factory isn’t a local restaurant, rather, it’s part of a huge franchise that spans Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and several other states. In fact, if I were so inclined, I could start my very own Pizza Factory franchise in San Francisco by calling (800) 654-4840.
Nice. So basically we screwed our entire objective at the very first place we went to eat. Who’s self-righteous now?
That being said, it did cause me to think about another option for small business owners in the United States. If owning your own local business isn’t in your financial cards, a franchise might very well be the next best option. Many companies who franchise offer some flexibility to their franchise owners, allowing them to infuse local flavor into their establishments. Applebees is an example of a franchise that does just that, although, they all look exactly the same and are basically covered with framed flea market finds.
The Pizza Factory in Dunsmuir, however, was surprisingly fresh, hence its ability to trick Chris and me into thinking it was a local joint. The staff was friendly, the food was good, and the decor made me feel right at home. Chris was desperate to play a game of Ms. Pacman, but unfortunately, time was short and the road to Eugene long.
Tags: eat local, oregon road trip, pizza factory dunsmuir, restaurants in dunsmuir
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Ha! That’s so funny! Judging from the photo you took, I would have been fooled too.
Hint #1 for Lesson #1: Look for places with the city’s name as the name of the restaurant. ie. Fresno Breakfast House.
If you put the car in reverse and back out of the city, does that reverse the mistake?
You we be disappointed by the sorry state of the south valley here. We are desperate to get non chain eateries.
Ha ha ha ha ha. . . I have been so easily fooled myself while traveling. Ah well. . . hopefully you got that out of the way early.
Glad to see you are on the road and look forward to hearing more as you go.
Sneaky pizza factory! It’s no Patxi’s!
Nothing wrong with regional chains — for lack of better options, I’ve had several good meals at Black Bear Diners in the northern Sacramento Valley.
Their decor wasn’t so creative though. Not enough Chotchkies.
Rolled into a Pizza Factory in Scotia over the week-end which reminded me of this post back in the day. They’re located pretty much everywhere in California (including Fresno) EXCEPT the bay area. So I’m kind of amazed that you guys hadn’t heard of them. Maybe y’all need to get out of SF a wee bit more often.