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Published on 11/24/1997 All articles from this issue

Will Koo Koo Roo do Los Altos right?

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Downtown addition or detriment? Community contributor or taker and detractor? Questions like these are coming with the presence of franchise operations opening in a downtown that has been characterized over the years by independent, locally-owned retail stores.

Such stores have earned Los Altos downtown a reputation as a charming, even laid-back place to go shopping. But to what effect does a corporate-type store with absentee owners have in undermining that charm? Some of these stores have contributed nothing more to the downtown other than take up space, while taking their profits out of town. That's their prerogative, but hardly in keeping with the tradition of most downtown Los Altos merchants.

The brass over at Koo Koo Roo California Kitchen, a Los Angeles-based restaurant chain that has just opened on Main Street, say they're determined to add to the community as well as benefit from it. Officials cite a long list of charities to which they've contributed in the past. They noted that 5 percent of their proceeds from a Nov. 15 grand opening went to the Tree House at Stanford - not exactly in Los Altos, but a connection in that Los Altos families are involved in the program.

We applaud Koo Koo Roo for making a commitment to contribute and show other corporate stores that involvement locally is good for business. We would hope Koo Koo Roo officials understand that contributing also means showing a willingness to conform to standards set by the city.

What may work for El Camino Real doesn't play in downtown Los Altos. Koo Koo Roo's "winkie-blinkie" sign will not work here - nor, apparently, will their logo, "Koo Koo Roo, Good For Yoo." The council decided last week that their catchy phrase was too tacky and had to go.

If Koo Koo Roo officials truly want to blend into the community, they will accept these decisions with grace and try other options. To fight these decisions would undermine their neighborly commitment to the downtown.

We hope the restaurant chooses the former strategy and makes good on its promise to give back to the community. We would like to look back a year from now and say that this chicken and turkey-specialty eatery wasn't for the birds.