It's a moot point anyway because to my knowledge Phil has never, ever, not once, talked about patronizing a truly local business in Washington. He does his grocery shopping at Fred Meyer, which I am led to believe is a major regional chain. He buys clothes at Kohl's. He buys furniture at IKEA. He gets fast food at Taco Bell and Wendy's and restaurants at the mall. None of these are local businesses. They are, at best, local
franchises supported by national, centralized management and supply. That is not the same thing as going to a local, one-location restaurant every week.
The Renton, Washington Taco Bell is not going to live or die by Phil Burnell's patronage and everyone knows it, including him. This is just another way for him to inflate his ego by positioning himself as a Man of the People, which is a common thing for him. That he's using the backdrop of a global crisis to do it is just the newest low.
ETA that Phil lives within spitting distance of a large collection of truly local businesses he may frequent at his leisure. The
Pike Place Market is Seattle's most visited tourist attraction, more so than even Phil's go-to romantic destination the Space Needle, and as far as I know in the six years he has lived in Washington he has never once gone there.
