Letter from an Applebee's waitress

The following e-mail was sent to me by a waitress at Applebee's, who requested that I keep her name anonymous:

I have been following the battle you are fighting right now. I would like to throw out my two cents. I live in Effingham and have my whole life, I recently passed my real estate exam and am a licensed realtor, I also am a waitress for Applebee's. I am also a mother of two girls, a member of your church and a friend of someone killed by a drunk driver. I am opposed to the liquor for many reasons. I would like to state that I have not heard one word about any full service restaurants even considering coming to Effingham, most corporate businesses require as part of a franchise agreement that there be so much of a population around the area intended to build which we do not have yet. This is to keep a big name business from having to have closed locations due to inactivity or slow business. I also know Bryan County allows liquor and that the only city to benefit by having full service restaurants is Richmond Hill. With in Bryan county, Ellabell, Pembroke, etc.. there are no big box chains except McDonalds and Dairy Queen I know they don't have liquor, But with in 10 miles of each other there are 2 bars on the outside of Pembroke on the same road. There are about 5 bars in the rural areas of Bryan county and no FULL SERVICE RESTAURANT'S. I know everyone is being deceived into thinking that we will get a great place to go eat if it's passed but that is not guaranteed. Just look toward Bryan County for a example. Rincon or Springfield could get a restaurant but what about Guyton, Shawnee, Marlow, Sandhill, etc... they will most likely wind up allowing bars because that looks to be the trend.

The myth about "full-service restaurants"

The people promoting the February 5 liquor referendum here in Effingham County have one mantra: "Vote for full-service restaurants." They are promoting the myth that unless we allow distilled spirits, we cannot attract top-quality, national chain restaurants. It sounds reasonable, but it isn't so.
These kind of restaurants are very expensive, requiring an investment of about $1 million to open. Thus they have strict site requirements for a new franchise about population, traffic, and economic demographics in an area. If liquor were the only thing keeping chain restaurants from coming to Effingham County, then why have we not already seen a Golden Corral or Ryan's Steakhouse, which do not even sell liquor?
Liquor proponents will reply that while the restaurants require traffic and population, they also require liquor. That simply is not true. If the population is there, they will come, with or without liquor. Look at Rankin County, Mississippi, a county in several ways similar to Effingham County. Rankin County is the suburban county east of Jackson. They had two liquor referendums in the past decade and each time liquor proponents told them they had to have liquor to get good restaurants. Both times, the voters said "No." After the first vote, Applebee's opened in Rankin County. Today, they have Applebee's in two locations, Ruby Tuesdays in two locations, as well as O'Charley's, Logan's Steak House, Texas Lone Star, and several other "full-service restaurants."
Now here is the difference between Rankin County, Mississippi and Effingham County, Georgia-- Rankin County has an interstate highway, and it has 150,000 people. As Effingham County grows, we too, will see more restaurants open. Don't believe the myth that we must have liquor to get them. No, with a smaller population, what we are likely to attract with loose liquor laws is seedy bars more than nice restaurants.
The truth is, we are not voting on restaurants. We are voting on bars and liquor! Why vote for something that brings all kinds of social problems with it? Does Effingham County really want to be just like Savannah? I don't think so.
Learn more about this issue on the web page of the Effingham Family Association at www.effinghamfamily.org.