i'm from a medium sized city in Ohio, and we often had chain restaurants trying out new items and treating us like "the most average possible" test market for fast food.

specifically, i remember taco bell trying out new items there, before they even publicized or advertised for them coming soon.

from Toledo paper The Toledo Blade, : http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2016/03/11/Ohio-called-test-market-for-the-restaurant-industry.html

In case anyone ever had any doubt, “Ohio is a restaurant state,” the new head of Ohio’s Restaurant Association said on Thursday in Toledo.

“Ohio is a bellwether, a test market. We have major chains headquartered here — Wendy’s, White Castle, Bob Evans,” said John Barker, who in January was named president and chief executive of the statewide organization that represents the state’s $20.5 billion dining industry.

As such, the state’s 22,000 eateries are often first to see changes that will later become industry-wide and also first to feel the difficult issues that can frustrate restaurant owners, everything from rising wages to emerging technology.

And association members, Mr. Barker said, “expect us to be the lead on these things.”