By providing a place for locals to gather, local restaurants such as the Butcher and the Barkeep, Northbound, Jesse’s Barbeque, and other local establishments work to bring life into Souderton.
According to local restaurant owner Cody Ferdinand, his establishments, Northbound and Butcher and the Barkeep, benefit Souderton by creating a welcoming environment.
“Part of what makes a great neighborhood is having a community space like a restaurant,” Ferdinand said.
For Ferdinand, supporting local farms is important. His restaurants source their ingredients from farms and vendors in the area, supporting local agriculture, which is “something that a chain couldn’t offer to the community.”
However, Ferdinand feels the support needs to go both ways. “If restaurants like ours are going to survive we need the local support,” Ferdinand said.
Another way Ferdinand believes Butcher and the Barkeep and Northbound aid the community is by hiring local students. By hiring local Souderton Area High School students, Ferdinand can “keep a finger on the pulse of the community.”
According to Butcher and the Barkeep employee Vienna Fulginiti, working with local people creates a better bond between coworkers. “It’s great to work at a local restaurant because most of those people are my friends from school,” Fulginiti said.
Many establishments build ambiance to better the dining experience. At Butcher and the Barkeep, customers are seated so that everyone has a candle in front of them.“It’s a small detail but I like that we care about making it warm,” Fulginiti said.
Fulginiti finds providing unique dishes to be one of the most important aspects of a restaurant. Butcher and the Barkeep food is “just more interesting than what you would get from an Applebee’s,” Fulginiti said.
Former McDonald’s employee Charlie Whiteman said his experiences working in a chain differed from how local restaurants are run.
According to Whiteman, working with chain management creates a “weird dynamic” because managers are “just doing what corporate tells [them]” instead of creating their own policies the way local establishments do.
Whiteman also said chains tend to have fewer local people working there. He believes that there’s a “greater sense of community” when local people work together because they share “common interests.”
To Whiteman, this dynamic and lack of local employees makes chains far less enjoyable than local places.
Local consumer Ariana Im said that although she finds local restaurants more enjoyable, she thinks chains excel with their advertising.
For Im, chains “come to mind a lot quicker than local restaurants do.”