TaDa will serve as a national brand for independent restaurants, making them more easily identifiable and recognizable to the public. Most consumers have no way of differentiating independent restaurants from chain and franchise establishments. The TaDa logo and door decal will change all that by giving consumers a way to tell independent restaurants from their competitors.
The importance of independent restaurants has received little to no press. Thus, TaDa will be working to educate the public about the value of these local businesses to their communities and the shop local movement. This idea is critical to helping reduce the impact of the economic downturn on our nation’s many small communities. When we shop or buy local, more of our money stays inside our community where it gets reinvested in our neighbors’ businesses. Whereas, when we buy from large corporations or multinational chains we’re sending our money out of state or out of the country.
From their scholarship program that helps with the cost of college tuition and pays for continuing education for teachers, to their student ambassador program that motivates high school students to graduate, to their program to supply restaurants with produce grown by local farmers, to its buy local campaign, TaDa has come up with a diverse range of programs that will benefit not only their members but also the communities surrounding them. TaDa’s Vice-President Miss Nyiema Bayfied had this to add “our goal with TaDa was to do something that would have a positive impact on not only our members but also entire communities. Too many people think bigger is better, we want to remind people that we can’t afford to lose our small main street businesses.”
Independent restaurants are rapidly being put out of business by large chains and franchises that have been invading the market. They are another casualty in the long list of businesses, such as drug stores, hardware stores, grocery stores and video stores that are now more than likely part of a chain that you can find in any city across America. Independent restaurants are an important part of our culinary heritage and keep alive the diverse flavors of our country’s many regions. We’ll lose more than the cuisines these independent restaurants serve if they disappear from our communities.
