Patronizing a restaurant with only a few customer

Often when given a choice of 2 or more restaurants for a meal I would patronize the one that is less crowded or even the least crowded. The thinking is not about avoid crowded places but more of supporting a struggling business and I have always been disappointed! If a restaurant serves good/great food it will be more likely to be busy than not. I would frequently provide suggestions for improvement for these places and had never made a difference! A typical example is as follows. There is this pie store at a food court where I used to have lunch several years ago. Most of their customers were foreigners as pies are not a Malaysian favorite. A pie lover myself I gave them a try and was not impressed. Like a food critique I spoke to the manager offering him what I belief would make a good pie. His pies were dried and sold without gravy, ketchup or sauce. He thank me for my comments and a minute later he came back with a bowl of chili sauce! This store closed not long after that.

I have given up thinking that I can make a difference to these people. My random support once or twice will have no impact on their bottom line and if they have the ability to improve with a couple of comments from a customer or two they will not be in such a position.