Brian Gongol
An Olive Garden opens in Grand Forks
The chain restaurant got a serious review from the local newspaper's food critic, and that review in turn went viral. Things like this go viral because someone who's sincere does something that seems naive (who, after all, would bother to review a chain restaurant?). But for all the laughter at Grand Forks's expense, it's worth considering that chains only succeed if they consistently deliver something that people want at an affordable price. That's what's magnificent about capitalism: It rewards what people really want, not just what they say that they want. And if that means we want a taco in a shell made of Doritos, then it doesn't matter whether authentic Mexican restaurants would ever be caught dead making something like it. It only matters that people actually want it and are willing to pay for it.
