What's The Deal With Food At Car Dealers?

An article in Nation's Restaurant News caught our attention (via Eatocracy). It seems that some car dealerships across the U.S. are getting into the restaurant business. (Hey, it's a slow news week!) The story's a bit of a stretch: it centers on Frank Kent Motor Co.'s Honda showroom in Ft. Worth, Texas, which opened a restaurant called Twin Creeks Cafe so that shoppers could take a break from browsing for Accords to lunch on grilled fish or grab a quick salad. The story also cites the planned opening of a 10,000-square-foot restaurant at a Lexus dealership's opening next year in Escondido, California. If, like us, you believe that "three's a trend," then the restaurants-in-car-dealerships story falls one short.

But that's not to say it's not a good idea! In fact, anyone who's ever broken down and settled for a stale donut or a watery cup of coffee while car shopping would surely welcome the option to, say, have a freshly made BLT and a beer. Am I right?

All this made me think of the most anguished food scene from any car dealership, at least in pop culture history: When George Costanza goes with Jerry to buy a Saab (R.I.P.) from Puddy, and, having just missed out on the free donuts, tries to coax a Twix bar from a candy machine after it gets stuck. This leads to a series of mishaps that results in George conducting a witch hunt to see if a portly mechanic is guilty of snagging his waylaid candy bar. Behold: