Grab A Slice Of Nostalgia
Families are desperate for ways to disconnect from our world and reconnect with each other.
Welcome back to Good Life, a newsletter about navigating our modern culture and staying sane in the process. This week, we discuss one man who is looking to provide more than just nostalgia for families at dinnertime.
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I’m obsessing over this guy, Tim Sparks, in Pennsylvania, who is buying up Pizza Hut franchises and remaking them into the image of the old Pizza Hut, the one we all loved. Everything is modeled to look, feel, and taste as it did in the 90s.
While a part of this is definitely a hit of nostalgia that is needed as our world grows more chaotic, and it’s true that every generation looks back to their childhood, craving the innocence that has been lost, I think there is something here that is more profound than just kitchy booths and classic lamps drawing me in.
Sparks was interviewed by the local CBS news station about the decision to bring back Pizza Hut’s old glory. Of course, he mentioned how excited customers were to see the red cups, booths, and salad bar back in commission. But he said that after the allure of nostalgia wears off, he notices families putting down their phones and connecting. Sparks said this is what is driving him to own more than 80 locations, with plans to buy more.
“If we can get them in here as a family, they do tend to put their phones down and actually have conversations and speak with each other. I’m not gonna tell you I know how to fix the world, but I do think that family is a good place to start,” Sparks said.
The outlet pointed to other franchises, like Burger King, bringing back old packaging as the reason for Spark’s success with Pizza Hut. But as I said, I think it’s much more than that. It’s not every day you hear a CEO say that he wants to help fix the world by strengthening the family bond. The thrill of nostalgia may bring them in the door, but that isn’t enough to get them to put down their safety blanket (their phone) and actually talk to each other.
I think families are desperate for reasons or ways to disconnect from our world and reconnect with each other. But there are fewer and fewer options provided by corporations to do so.
In a perfect world, and I’ve written about this many times, families would rekindle the tradition of eating dinner together around the table every night. Even with our crazy schedule, we make it a point to close our night with the table set and a family meal. It’s the best time to rewind the day with your children, learn about their troubles and triumphs, and coach them through whatever is weighing them down.
But not everyone is doing this, and I don’t necessarily fault them for it, even if I wish they would make the compromises to ensure this happens. In our modern world, it’s more likely than not that both parents are working. This typically means 8-5 at their first job and 5-10 at their second job, taking the kids around to their activities and doing homework. Dinner is an afterthought. It’s either on the go after one child goes to volleyball and the other soccer, or everyone is grabbing a plate and running off to their rooms to finish the rest of their homework before bed.
Because of this, most families are in survival mode, just praying they get through another long week without crashing out. And some might argue that children have too many activities, and they’re probably right. I’ll be the first to admit that when we signed up for volleyball, basketball, and soccer in the same season, I thought it was a good idea until I realized that at least two days a week we wouldn’t get home until 9 pm. Still, even on those nights, we ate dinner together as a family. And while I know it is possible, it’s hard, which is why most families opt for the easier way.
I’m used to private equity firms buying up everything I love in this world and making it worse. You can’t go to a family-owned grocery store, dentist office, or pediatrician anymore because, like locusts, these firms have located green pastures and sucked them dry.
Everything feels sterile and devoid of humanity. You are no longer part of a loyal customer base that needs to be courted and tended to like a member of the business’s family. Instead, you are just a number on a profit margin spreadsheet.
This makes what Sparks is offering so unique. He could have created a Frankenstein’s monster version of Pizza Hut nostalgia to sell to the masses and probably make a bundle doing it. But his interview made it feel like he understood that families are in desperate need of care, and he’s giving it to them in the best way he knows how: food.
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