They're sort of like puppies. Cute to watch, annoying to be around, energetic, good-natured, over-confident, possessing short-attention spans, and unable to tell the difference between a valuable antique chair and a chew toy.
Still, when they show up in force, people pay attention. I heard that they recently showed up to a COT engineering meeting and got staff to think about bike lanes on an Improve Our Tulsa project. And, they made a big showing at the "sidewalk-gate" (on Riverside) meeting last year. Both of these things make me happy.
Personally, I wouldn't brag about bringing national chains to Tulsa. We've got plenty of that. Need to focus on being us and supporting local entrepreneurs, who will build and keep wealth here in Tulsa.
Here's an interesting article about why Dunkin Donuts is not good for building local wealth or benefiting local small entrepreneurs.
http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2014/1/20/dunkin-our-future.htmlTo open a DD, you need a minimum of $500k net worth, and $250k of that in liquid assets. This is not something your average TU grad has... even after working for 20 years!
The main point of the article is that young entrepreneurs don't open Dunkin D's, wealthy investors do. The folks who own the franchises hire people to work there, but their employees don't build wealth. They're just underpaid worker bees. The corporation makes money, and the wealthy investor makes money, but the guys who work for them don't.
Contrast this with a small, locally owned donut shop, where a hard-working person could make a go of it without already being rich (without the vast financial reserves required by Dunkin D). If they're successful, the money they make stays in town. They can build wealth that benefits their family and the community a lot more than a part time low wage job.
If I were the Typros I wouldn't be crowing too much about DD. While many typros will be qualified to WORK at a Dunkin D, I don't see many of them owning one. But, hey, maybe they can work their way up to part-time night manager. Afterall... someone has to make the donuts! (And keep those corporate profits flowing... to Massachusetts.)