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Oh, how I used to love chain restaurants like the Hard Rock Cafe.
A deep dish Margherita all squidgy dough and yellow stringy cheese from Pizza Hut.
Chicken tenders smothered in an overzealous drizzle of Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce (™) from TGI’s.
Greasy, bacon-draped beef burgers from Frankie & Benny's that never quite did match up to the picture from the menu.
Each trip to the mainland would without fail result in at least one trip to any or all of the above, during which we never thought to question whether the ingredients had been delivered to the kitchens frozen in bulk or just how much sugar was in that goldfish bowl sized ‘tequila sunrise’ mocktail.
They were trashy, they were fun, and it was the kind of all singing all dancing Americana cuisine that we would never be able to find at home.
And to be frank, thank goodness for that, or I might have risked leaving school with the cholesterol levels of an idle 50-year-old.
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But by the time I did eventually move to Glasgow for good in 2014, just one year after the Hard Rock Café opened to much fanfare at a prime Buchanan Street location, attitudes towards food and drink had already started to evolve.
From a city that famously faced an 18-year cold shoulder from the Michelin inspectors to a place that some of the country’s most promising culinary talent call home, the following decade would be quite the journey.
A reputation for fine dining which was once reserved for Edinburgh, or further afield in the Highlands, now faced competition led by the likes of Lorna McNee at Cail Bruich, or Graeme Cheevers at Unalome who would soon place us back in the spotlight.
Outside of the Michelin Guide, our appreciation for bold new flavours and restaurant concepts was flamed by the likes of the Big Feed, or Dockyard Social which proved instrumental in offering a platform to small-scale street food vendors.
It’s no wonder then that the 170-cover Hard Rock Café, in all of its ranch dressing, loaded nachos and retro pineapple garnished Mai Tai glory struggled to keep up.
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It’s a phenomenon I’ve spoken about many times since taking on a role as food and drink writer, with chefs who have decided to launch their passion projects in the city after witnessing an influx in talent and fresh ideas in recent years.
Craig Fallachan, of the newly opened Fallachan Dining summed it up when speaking with The Herald in October last year.
He said: “From a culinary perspective, Glasgow is a very different city than it was 10 years ago, and it feels like we’re coming into a new era where people are enjoying food on a whole new level.”
While I’m not one to judge anyone’s dining preferences, it’s difficult to understand why anyone would now choose to spend their hard-earned cash on a chain restaurant rather than seeking out one of the city’s incredible independent eateries.
And this week's demise of the Hard Rock Cafe is surely indicative of Glasgow’s waning appetite for global chain restaurants.
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