Do We Really Need More Places for Chicken, Coffee, and Car Washes?
Yes, apparently
Not too long ago I read an article that said three of the hottest trends in the country right now are chicken restaurants, drive-thru coffee stores, and car washes.
I can’t remember why I read this article. Perhaps the alliterative trio caught my eye, or I was just intrigued to see what could have lassoed together such sundry enterprises. In any case, reading this article left me with a lot of questions about this current crop of hot cravings.
My first query was, Really? We are running low on places offering chicken, coffee, and car washing? Where I live, these establishments cling to the landscape like barnacles on a boat hull. They are not in short supply, as best I can tell.
Then it occurred to me that, in fact, these places are abundant—and we just want more of them. That’s probably the case, although the article didn’t speak to any bounty or scarcity of such places.
There was no reference to any information showing people in some locations lack an adequate supply of deep-fried chicken tenders, or they’re parched for foamy nitro cold brew, or they’re driving around in cars grimier than the norm.
It seems that wanting more of what we already have is just how we are, as a country, as a species. That explains not only more places for chicken, coffee, and car washing but also things such as eighteen styles of jeans, twenty-four kinds of toothpaste, over a dozen varieties of milk, five flavors of sea moss super food brain gummies, and so on.
There’s no other way I can figure such plenty. We don’t need more of any of these things. We just want them.
Another question I had after reading the article was, Why chicken, coffee, and car washing? Of all the things to want in the world, of all there is to desire or demand, how did chicken, coffee, and car washing come to top the list?
The article did not speak to this either. It just said what it said — we want chicken, coffee, and car washing.
I suppose some other options may have been under consideration— for example, places to buy hamburgers and fries, or waffles, or dog treats. Soap? Flowers? Beer? Or have our nails done? Get an oil change? Paint some pottery?
I am searching for some theory unifying chicken, coffee, and car washes, wondering what makes them so special, how they rose to the top. But I don’t think I am going to find it.
The article also did not address what it will mean to bring all this chicken, coffee, and car washing to market. It did not consider the resources consumed to build and maintain all of these establishments or the resources required to produce their products .
Contemplating this lead me to my last question after reading the article—how does having more places for chicken, coffee, and car washing mesh with our desire to be better environmental stewards? To live sustainably? My best answer here is—it doesn’t. What we need more of is less, not more of more. But, I know, that is not our world.
There may be a bright spot—right at the end of a car wash tunnel, as a matter of fact. Researching this essay, I discovered some car washes where customers can buy a cup of coffee after washing their cars. Perhaps I will give them a call and suggest adding a basket of nuggets to the mix, to go along with the lattes and the lava shine.
You may also support my work at Buy Me a Coffee.
Fun thoughts
For sure