Letter to the editor: Students must embrace Kirksville restaurants

In response to the Jan. 20 column "Kirksville lacks restaurant variety," every decision we make is a trade-off between costs and benefits. Choosing to attend Truman is no exception. Hopefully as prospective students, we analyzed the costs and benefits of attending  a smaller liberal arts school in a rural town. To attend Truman we get the advantages of lower tuition, a high teacher-to-student ratio and the prestigious reputation of Truman on our resumes.  However, to obtain these advantages, we chose to give up the diverse opportunities for entertainment, shopping and food that larger cities can offer.

As students who chose to attend a college in rural Missouri, I feel we should embrace our off-campus opportunities instead of expressing our dissatisfaction for the amenities a town of 17,000 people can sustain. I have often been disappointed at the lack of understanding/knowledge students have about the reality of bringing restaurant chains to Kirksville.  Kirksville doesn't have the variety of restaurants simply because it cannot support a variety, nor does it have the demographics to bring in certain chains. For example, according to Panera Bread's franchise documents, for someone to open a Panera they must also open 14 others in a span of six years. This would be an almost impossible feat for an entrepreneur in rural Northern Missouri. For a Chipotle to be opened, it must be in a major metropolitan area with at least 15,000 people between the age of 18 and 49 and have a median household income higher than the national average. According to the last census, Kirksville's median income was almost half of the national average.

Idealistically we want bigger and better things, but who is going to sustain them so they generate enough revenue to keep their doors open? Kirksville does not have the population-base to bring in and support all the great places we can find in the city. This is one of the trade-offs we  made when coming to Truman, so we should appreciate the things Kirksville actually does have to offer, like no traffic jams, low crime rate, lower cost-of-living and cleaner air.

For its population, Kirksville has plenty of bon appetites to choose between — gyros, sushi, Mongolian stir fry and the classic steak. We even could enjoy dinner over-looking a lake. As for alternatives to Java Co, try the Mocha Hut, a coffee shop with a lounge, computers and Wi-Fi or Steve's Garden Deli, where you can also get a healthy, balanced lunch.

Let's take a look around and be thankful for what we do have.  Whereas it may not be the ultimate culinary cuisine, it's not too bad for a small rural northern Missouri town.

Alicyn Wyatt

senior