But conversely, I have a Red Robin not five minutes from my house and I have never, ever seen a commercial for it. Or them.
Sonic also advertises heavily in the Washington DC area, but the closest one is an hour or more out in the sticks.
There aren’t any north of MA either.
We see ads for:
Sonic
Golden Corrals
CiCi’s Pizza Buffet
Comcast (doesn’t service our town)
Time Warner Cable (doesn’t service our town)
If we’re talking about merely inconvenient to get to, there isn’t a Long John Silvers within 30 miles of here, and they advertised for years before that one *or *the one 55 miles away existed.
I went to a Schlotsky’s in Texas. I can’t say I care if they ever come to Ohio.
You’re missing a very important third word that fits in so nicely with those two:
Overhand.
This one for me too; because I’m in the same general area.
Cicis
Sonic
Jack in the Box
Sonic, Red Robin, Checkers/Rally’s. I see the ads all the time. Never seen an actual location.
Red Lobster. There isn’t a single one in Massachusetts, but they run commercials on all the Boston stations. 
You’re not missing anything. Besides, you already live in a part of the country that’s chock full of lobster shacks and pounds that all have better seafood and are often cheaper than Red Lobster. Wanting a Red Lobster to open in Massachusetts is like somebody from Little Italy hoping that Domino’s or Olive Garden would move into the neighborhood.
Anyway, in what part of the country are Joe’s Crab Shacks located? I see their ads but, to the best of my knowledge, there are none in the entire Pacific Northwest.
Actually there is a RED Robin in Port Orange on 95 just south of Daytona Beach. I wouldn’t be surprised of some of the Jacksonville stations are available on cable quite close to it.
We get Red Robin commercials in Orlando also, but Orlando and Daytona Beach are considered the same TV market.
Yeah, I was surprised to see one in Hayward recently. Finally all those TV ads make sense. Previously, the closest ones I knew about were in Phoenix.
Sonic again, for me. Particularly aggravating in that there USED to be more where I live—at least a couple—when I was a kid, and I really liked it.
I’m surprised and delighted to find out, on their website, that the closest one is only 40 miles away at the moment. They’re improving!
You should try their Egg McMutton sandwich.
NDP: I think Joe’s Crab Shacks started in Texas and are moving their way out from there. I have been to one in Houston, and we have a couple in the Kansas City area.
We have them here in San Antonio. They’re rather pricey.
According to that very cite, Buffalo’s per capita income ranks 117th out of 280 MSAs. There are plenty of towns, many of which are well-stocked with chains, that are worse off.
I mean, Rochester and Cleveland have plenty of chains (including the previously-mentioned Sonic, at least in Cleveland) which Buffalo doesn’t have. Honestly, I just don’t think national chains do well here, for whatever reason.
I was going to say the same as Duke - I’ve lived in Knoxville and San Antonio, both places with lower HHI than Buffalo and both places with plenty of the listed chains.
We’ve got Sonics on every corner here (it seems) and see their commercials all the time. When my brothers came down from MA for my wedding a few years back, they both were eager to go to a Sonic and a Shoney’s. I hope they liked it.
We have Red Robin but I don’t see commercials for them. I can’t really think of a national chain that I see on TV that’s not available here. Oh wait – what’s that place? Zaxby’s? We don’t have those.
Aggravating.
I live on an island, what am I gonna do, swim for it? :dubious:
I also hate when they advertise some great new internet service or cable network I can’t possibly get here. shakes fist
I have never seen a Sonic commercial and I live in Chicago. Could those have been cable TV inserts?
They could buy their advertising from a national broker. In that case you could see their ads in markets where there is no presence.