Los Banos California is graced with a number of pretty darn good places to eat. Many of the restaurants in Los Banos are reviewed in our dining section and all of them have something to offer the hungry traveler or citizen during normal business hours.

However the truth of the matter is that not everyone travels, commutes or gets hungry during normal business hours!

It is our opinion that Los Banos could be well served by the opening of a few more places to get prepared food at those odd hours late at night and early in the morning when 'normal' people are sleeping. Having more 24 hour choices would serve travelers, future high tech establishments, and the citizens and commuters of the community very nicely.

Travelers:
Families traveling back to the South Bay Area regularly pass through Los Banos on their way to their vacation destination and on their way home. Many veer to the north to stop in Santa Nella to get food and fuel. Santa Nella makes sure that every traveler heading down highway five knows that there is a bounty of greasy goodies just ahead, and they reap the obvious tax advantages and business dollars from hungry travelers.

Why does Los Banos not do the same? While we are not right on highway five, we certainly are at a major crossroads and are in a perfect position to serve hungry travelers. I have heard it said that the Mercy Springs and Pacheco Boulevard intersection is THE most busy intersection in Merced County. Sounds like lots of hungry kids that might not want to wait till they get to Merced or Ca$a De Fruita to me!

Since so many travelers take their journeys late at night, it would seem to us that it would be a great opportunity for the fast food and maybe a couple of other restaurants along Pacheco Blvd./Highway 152 to remain open and serve those families who are making tracks to get home or to get to their next great adventure.

Future High Tech Companies:
Another point to ponder is that the City Council and other civic minded groups are trying to court the high tech industry - hoping to get some of these businesses to establish offices and shops in Los Banos. In our opinion, an influx of high-tech would be absolutely fantastic. The high tech industry would help to bring a large number of jobs to our city, it would be a boon to property values as folks who did not wish to spend four hours on the road each day came here from San Jose, and it would bring in revenue to the city from taxes and fees.

In courting these businesses we should make note that the mindset of many people involved in high-tech is a 24 hour mindset. Many many silicon valley companies have lights burning all night long, particularly when developers are heading toward a deadline or when there is some emergency calling for patches and fixes to be developed yesterday. This is in fact the norm when the heat is on.

Fast food restaurants in Silicon Valley learned a long time ago that there was a lot of money to be made off of guys doing hamburger and Jolt Cola runs. While this may not be a major portion of the decision making, it is always nice to know that if your company pulls an all nighter that your people will have a variety of options to select from.

Commuters And Citizens
More importantly however we believe that having more 24 hour places to eat in Los Banos would serve this communities citizens directly.

Los Banos serves as a quasi-bedroom community for some of Silicon Valley. As such there are a very large number of commuters that make the the 100 mile trip 'over the hill' to get back home every night. Many of these folks work late shifts to avoid the insane traffic of the South Bay and pull into town just as the bulk of the local food places have closed or are closing.

If the hungry commuter forgoes the option of choosing from a plethora of options before they leave Silicon Valley and decides to 'wait till he gets home', he is presented with only 3 late night choices. Carl's Junior or Denny's as he drives in to town or Jack In The Box if he is willing to drive to the far end of town. I would think that a little variety might be well appreciated and would bring a few of those dollars spent in Gilroy or San Jose back to our town. It also means that our commuter could take his bag of goodies home to watch cable channel 96 rather than eating in his car - or worse eating on the road when he is trying to drive the hill.

In Short:
More 24 hour restaurants would service a local customer base that badly needs a bit more variety, it would serve as yet another small draw for the intense high tech companies that regularly pull all night design and coding sessions, and it would serve the late night travelers who at this point drive right through the town without stopping to spend some money with us instead of down the road.

So in summation, we would like to see more all night restaurants ion Los Banos. We are very glad to have Denny's, Carl's Junior, and Jack In The Box open late, but there is a lot of room for more. The new Taco Bell for instance could stay open late and make some bucks, and there is a lot of room for other places like Wendy's, In'N'Out Burger, and others to fill the late gaps. It wouls also be nice to have at least one alternative to Denny's from time to time.

What is your opinion on having more 24 hour food choices in Los Banos?
Share it with the Los Banos Community on the Los Banos Forums Bulletin Board!

UPDATE 8-26-06: Since this piece was originally written the McDonalds on Pacheco and Mercy Springs has gone to 24 hour drive through service! Within the same timeframe Burger King on Highhway 152 went 24 hour! This is a great start!

The following fast food places in Los Banos are now open past midnight or are 24 hours:

McDonalds
Burger King
Carl's Junior
Jack In The Box

There is also a Dennys in town that is open 24 hours

Update 11-23-2006

We just noticed that the McDonalds that WAS open 24 hours has not been open the last 2 nights. It may be that this is permenant and they have gone back to more traditional hours.

.8-22-06