Food for Thought

Springdale Residents Want Restaurants on East Side of Town

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Randall Body wanted to take his wife, Mikal, out to eat to celebrate her birthday. But as he considered where they would eat, he realized their home near J.O. Kelly Middle School in east Springdale is far from most sit-down restaurants.

“I wanted to take her out for a nice dinner,” he said. Only Mary Maestri’s on East Robinson Avenue fit the bill. “But we’d eaten there the week before.

“We have to drive across town or to Fayetteville to go to a nice restaurant,” Body said. “I don’t want to go to Fayetteville. We’re taking money out of Springdale.”

A quick survey found fast-food chains (but not all) represented on the east side of town. Two Mexican food restaurants and a Chinese food buffet near the Robinson-Old Missouri Road intersection provide the only other sit-down service.

Sarah Stanton agreed. Stanton and her husband, Jesse, live just off Don Tyson Parkway, not far from the Fayetteville city limits.

“Our only option is fast food,” she said.

And if they decide to go out?

“We totally go to Fayetteville,” she said. “We don’t even venture out to Benton County. It’s too far unless we’re up there already.”

Amber Evans lives even farther out at Nob Hill. She and her neighbors remain loyal to diners T&T, Hometown and others, which come accompanied with gasoline stations and convenience stores.

“It would be nice (to have closer restaurants),” Evans said. “I hate going into Springdale, driving all that way.”

“I’d love to see restaurant and nightlife in midtown, downtown Springdale,” Body said. He thinks sports bars would be a popular draw for Razorback game days.

“I encourage people to start businesses down here,” he said. “There are lots of families on this side of town, and I think they would support it.”

“There are more people out here than you’d think,” Evans added.

While Body craves convenience, he still wants “to go to eat in a place we like.”

But quality and price are the draw for Evans. A restaurant wouldn’t have to earn five stars if it was a good value, she said.

“If word got out that it was a good place to go, people would go to it,” she said. “But if the price is ungodly, it won’t make it.

“In a few places, a sandwich costs $10. For that price, if I want a sandwich, I can go home and fix it. If I’m going to spend that kind of money, I want steak and taters.”

“It’s got to be good if I’m going to it,” Stanton agreed.

Want is not what draws restaurants to town, said Perry Webb, president of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce.

“If you’re going to put in a restaurant, you want the maximum amount of traffic,” he said. “You can’t underestimate the draw of Interstate 540. You can’t underestimate the power of 40,000 cars a day driving up and down that highway. That’s the magic pill.”

Webb noted demographics for the east side of Springdale show an older, more established population, and, in many cases, lower per-capita income.

“I’m going to put a restaurant where I can maximize as much as possible,” he said.

The east side should benefit from construction of the new U.S. 412 bypass north of Springdale, at the Sonora interchange specifically, but also with opportunities for exits at Parsons Road, Mountain Road and Arkansas 264, Webb said.

However, the project remains unfunded, and residents won’t see that road for 20 years, he said.

Springdale’s current and future growth comes to the east because Springdale is bordered by other cities to the north, south and west, Webb said.

“But how much growth is it going to take to offset 540?”

Webb said everyone asks him when Springdale will get a Chick-Fil-A. That’s a $3 million minimum investment, he said. Springdale residents already drive to Fayetteville and Rogers to eat at chain franchises.

“Our people are eating at restaurants not in Springdale, so those restaurants already have the business,” Webb said. “Why would they spend $3 million here?”

For Evans and Stanton, driving to Fayetteville remains status quo. They both grew up in Springdale.

“When we were in high school, it was no question,” Stanton said. “It was understood that we were going to Fayetteville.”

LAURINDA JOENKS IS A FORMER REPORTER AND EDITOR AT THE MORNING NEWS WHO HAS LIVED IN SPRINGDALE SINCE 1990.