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Vermont Has The Only State Capital Without These Popular Fast Food Chains

Tag：fast food vermont 2025-02-07 10:49

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We live in the age of convenience. As such, there are a handful of establishments we expect to find pretty much anywhere we go. When's the last time you had to hunt down a McDonald's? Well, if you ever find yourself in Montpelier, Vermont, just know that you'll be hard pressed to secure a Big Mac. Not only is the city the only state capital devoid of the Golden Arches' presence, there are no Burger King, Wendy's, or Starbucks locations either. (However, there is a Dunkin' — Dunkin makes better coffee anyway — and a Domino's, both located across the Wisconsin River on Berlin Street away from Montpelier's downtown area). While that may be hard to believe, that's just the way the citizens of Montpelier want it. And with a population of 7,991, the voice of the people is hard to ignore!

Whether they are shopping or grabbing a cup of joe or a bite to eat, the good people of Montpelier prefer to patronize local businesses, at least for the most part. For this reason, coupled with the fact that it's home to the New England Culinary Institute, the tiny town is known for having quite the local food scene. Plus, if you're really hard pressed for some good old fashioned fast food, you can get whatever your heart desires up the road in Barre, Vermont.

Montpelier, Vermont — a city with a backbone

Vermont Has The Only State Capital Without These Popular Fast Food Chains

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If you're wondering how many McDonald's locations there are in the world, it's a whopping 34,000 stores scattered across 118 countries. At this point, it seems McDonald's is nearly omnipresent. Yet, within the confines of Vermont's capital, it is nowhere to be seen. That's not for a lack of trying on the burger giant's part. In 1996, McDonald's applied to open a store on Montpelier's main drag, but the city's planning commission said nay. "I think there was such major opposition to McDonald's because it represents the all-pervasive corporate homogenization of things," Fred Wilber, a local business owner tells the Associated Press.

We'd venture a guess that even if Chick-fil-A wasn't absent from the entire state of Vermont (possibly due to an ugly copyright lawsuit), Montpelier still wouldn't want it around. Speaking of ousted fast food chains, there was a Subway in the city's downtown until 2021, when it was replaced by Yellow Mustard, a locally owned deli and bakery that already had the support of the townsfolk, as the new sandwich shop's proprietor also owns a beloved burger joint in town.

At this point, the capital of the "Freedom and Unity" state seems to pride itself on its individualism and standing together against selling out to big corporations. In a Reddit thread inquiring why there was no fast food in the city, one commenter writes, "So we can be smug a**h**** and tell the rest of the country we're the only state capital without them." Said like a true New Englander!

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