The Confusion Over Tomatillo Salsa

National franchise restaurants are all about "systems."  Franchise restaurants are focused on individual investors or groups of investors who want to be in the food business without really having to know much about food.

When you buy a franchise you don't have to know a great deal (other than how to write check).  The national franchise organization will train you and your staff, provide schedules and procedures for everything involved in operating your new franchise.  If you follow the procedures and you have done your homework to ensure that the local demographics will provide enough "food dollars" you might make a reasonable return on your investment (emphasis on 'might').

In the small business world you work out all the details yourself and you start the day working on your business and end the day working on your business.  That's fine.  If you can deliver a quality product, cover your expenses, meet nice people and give back to your community it is satisfying.

Saturday evening one of us was doing overdue paperwork while another was keeping the ovens going preparing products for another of our outlets (The Chickadee Boutique).  About 8:30 we headed to a nearby fast food vendor (a successful national franchise).  As John ordered his fajita bowl he asked for tomatillo salsa. The guy behind the counter reached for the pico de gallo (fresh uncooked salad with tomatoes, onions, lime, coriander, serranno).  "No, the tomatilla!" Then the person reached for some other red cooked salsa at which point John said "the green salsa."  "Oh, the hot salsa?"  "No, the green salsa.  Green is the tomatillo!"  

Somewhere in the franchisee training program with it's comprehensive set of how to do everything they've missed a chapter on explaining what each of the twelve or so options on the line are.  When you have lunch at  Marianne's Kitchen we know what we are serving, we know who made it, we know who produced it and often where it was grown (we're using up the last of our Leeski Farms  potatoes this month).  That's just part of the difference.  You are part of that difference, too.  That's why we ask your name, where you work or what you are up to?  We try to put together a community, one bowl of soup at a time, one sandwich at a time and one name at a time.

So for the benefit of those who have missed the franchise instructions, the tomatillo is a husk tomato or also know as a Mexican husk tomato.  They are green or purple/green and make a nice 'green' salsa when cooked.  I'm going to drop the franchisee a note with a link to Wikipedia so they can train their employees.  We also sell a tomatillo salsa which is great with chips or on cheese enchiladas.