How to ruin a brand without really trying

My sister called with some terrible news the other day.  No, no one is sick. 

Our favorite burger joint was sold to a new family. 

This place, the Olympia Dairy Bar in Salem County (New Jersey's most rural county), had been making outstanding...no, incredible...no, fabulous...burgers, fries, steak sandwiches, hot dogs, and more since 1954.  And don't get me started about their milk shakes and sundaes!

The owner died recently and his children sold the business.  This was such big news in my hometown that it was a front page story in the local paper. 

And it was important enough that my sister called to tell me it happened.

The old gentleman's son and daughter said they would stay on "for a while" which we read as being "forever."  Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

When they left, it didn't take long for the new owners -- who had promised they would leave things exactly as they had been for the past 43 years -- to make changes.

These changes were probably meant to save money but were seen by locals as giving less for the same price.  Not good. 

These new owners and their staff don't hustle as well as the previous owners who delivered outstanding food -- and plenty of it -- pretty quickly.  No order was ever wrong in all the years we ate there.  I never heard anyone else mention that there order was wrong either. 

The place had it's own personality that was as distinct as the colorful people who owned it and the locals and tourists who stopped there.

It's now a pathetic example of what it used to be with low quality food, small portions, high prices, and poor service.  In other words, it's no different from the fast food joints down the road.

Another example of the wish for short term profits getting in the way of customer satisfaction and making brand champions.

I used to tell everyone to plan there trip across South Jersey (a completely different place than New Jersey..but that's a different rant) so they'd be hungry just as they reached the fork where Routes 40 and 48 split.  Not anymore. 

Do yourself a favor and pick up a sub from WaWa.  Or better yet, pack a cooler with homemade sandwiches.