Rick's Steaks Leaving RTM?

[Holly Moore]

So Rick is Philly's biggest martyr since David Marston.

Remember the pair of photos in Philly mag at that time?  This one's David Marston, that one's Jesus Christ.

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Don't need my words twisted Charlie. Not sure Rick qualifies as a martyr, though common sense suggests that he is being screwed primarily for his aggressive leadership and representation of the Merchant's Association.

But as long as you're going biblical on me, what is the stance on those who persecute a martyr?

Edited July 28, 2007 by Holly Moore (log)

[Mummer]

It's not about you, Holly. I'm calling them as I see them.

It's about the guy who didn't protect his franchise. Sometimes you have to eat a little crow with your cash cow. And you don't have to be Eddie Haskell.

He was a tenant. RTM didn't take his corner thru eminent domain.

[Holly Moore]

Other than kissing the collective arses of the RTM Board and Management how could he have protected his franchise?

[Mummer]

He'd have negotiated a lease that made both the prepared food vendors and RTM plenty of money. He didn't have all the marbles as head of the merchant's association, but he was the shooter.

[mrbigjas]

I had my first cheesesteak at Rick's yesterday.  Let me be the first on eGullet to say, "If you are in Center City and you want a good, representative, South Philly cheesesteak, go to Rick's Steaks." 

hey i said that upthread! well, basically that.

[Bluehensfan]

Dear Mr. Feeley,

I am writing you today because I think it would be in the best interests of the market to not renew the lease for Bassett's Ice Cream whenever it comes due. Although I know that Bassett's has been a fixture at the market for over a hundred years now, I think that something a lot more hip and trendier like Capogiro do much better in the market because it would bring a new clientele into the market since everyone and their brother who is in their twenties and lives in the City of Brotherly Love just adores the gelato from Capogiro. Although Bassett's does make a good product and they do a steady business, it really would be a good idea to bring in a more famous name, since they are the rage these days.

And while you are at it, I think Spataro's should get the boot too. Who has heard of Spataro's outside of our city? No unsuspecting tourist would drop any of their hard earned money at a place with that name. Bring in Geno's and put 'em in where Spataro's was. And while you're at it, bring in Pat's too. Better yet, put them right across the aisle from Geno's, just like in the Italian Market. Yeah, that's it! Put Pat's right where DiNic's is now. After all, who the heck need's DiNic's anymore sinec we have Tony Luke's anyway. Get rid of em all. Tell Pizza By George to take a hike and bring in Taconelli's. People know that name. Tell Mueller's they are next because John and Kira need to set up shop.

And by the way, the Amish, they all gotta leave town too. Every one of them. Especially since they won't be doing the Amish Festival this year. But hey, paybacks a bit$% right? All that closed space half of the week in the market that could be bringing in more money. Close all those Amish merchants down, and bring in the big guns. Someone in town's gotta be capable of making soft pretzels seven days a week for all the tourists...don't want to send them home hungry.

Mr. Feeley, while I'm sure I could list the rest of the merchants in the market and tell you who could do better there, I'm sure that you've already done your homework so there's no need to figure out what other changes need to be made. I would like to make one suggestion, though, when Susanna Foo opens up shop later in the year, I do think that she really should get a reserved parking space in the garage across the street. After all, the market would not want any more bad press if there should be another meter maid assault.

Thank you for your precious time, since I know you are a very busy man.

[Capaneus]

He'd have negotiated a lease that made both the prepared food vendors and RTM plenty of money.  He didn't have all the marbles as head of the merchant's association, but he was the shooter.

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Pretty much the way I saw it. He campaigned against the terms of the lease he now wants to be offered. I wonder what he expects to happen if he does get his day in court?

Market management did shoot themselves in the foot, though. If they'd just presented him with the lease he'd already rejected, they'd be dealing with a win-win situation: either Rick's left voluntarily, or the leading opposition to the new terms would have to knuckle under, very publicly.

Memo to self: mail them a care package of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli.

[rlibkind]

New article today in the Metro: Tony Luke's, Rick's already squaring off at Citizens Bank Park, from today's paper, keys off on their ballpark competition (by volume of customers, TL wins), to provide an update on the RTM-Rick's brouhaha, including Rick's plans to a news conference this afternoon where he will presumably discuss his legal tactics.

[MarketStEl]

One can certainly argue about the wisdom of the various changes that have been made, and will be made, but are we really arguing that no changes should ever be made unless the vendors want to go? [...]

I honestly have no idea what the motivations of the RTM management were for wanting to replace Rick's with Tony Luke's, but isn't it at least plausible that it could have something to do with that?  If the general sense is that Rick's product is OK, but not thrilling, and they could get someone who makes the same thing and receives raves, doesn't that strengthen the market?  Is that any different than replacing Braverman's with Flying Monkey?

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I think this point is worth engaging a bit more, for it (a) touches on those aspects of "mall management" that trouble some people and (b) may help clarify what made this spat different. Those of you who have graciously responded to my other posts on this discussion in efforts to set me straight may continue doing so, for it should be clear as you read on that once again, I am inferring things. Absent insider knowledge, it's the best a reasonably intelligent person can do in any contested situation.

My recollection is that Braverman's had not been in material breach of its lease with the Market while there were some legit lease issues concerning A.A. Halteman. IOW, the main impetus behind terminating Braverman's lease is that, in the management's opinion, they were not operating up to their expected standards of quality -- and the current management does have those; witness the spate of upgrades in the appearance of several existing Market merchants over the past year or so. The management also had quality issues with A.A. Halteman, but it's my understanding that more than that was involved in their lease termination.

It's this aspect of "mall management" that most troubles its critics -- the enforcement of "codes of conduct," if you will, that tend to produce a sterilized, homogenized experience for the visitor. IMO, the RTM's chief defense against this outcome is that even as the management tinkers with the mix of merchants and asks them to upgrade their equipment and appearance, it continues to rely on independent local businesspeople whenver it seeks to make changes. Imagine what the King of Prussia Plaza might look like if the only difference were that no national chains were allowed and you might understand why this is not a trivial distinction.

There was some alarm and disappointment expressed over the booting of Braverman's, too, as I recall. And certainly the termination of that store's lease wasn't "fair" to Braverman's owners, as they had met their lease obligations over their many years there (I think). But there wasn't the degree of outrage you now see, and such anger as was expressed then dissipated faster than it looks like will happen this time. Which means that -- for better or worse -- some of the elevated angst over this particular termination has to do with Rick Oliveri himself -- and Oliveri deserves credit for looking out for himself by taking his case to the court of public opinion when it's clear (at least to me) that the judicial courts wouldn't back him up.

And yet that phrase, "looking out for himself," may also hint at the other problem. It's clear that Rick is not the sort of person who goes gentle into that good night. Such people earn both devoted friends and strong enemies usually, and both tend to show up for a fight. And in a fight, people tend to take sides: evenhandedness and an understanding of the other's position are almost always the first casualties.

Comments made by others with more inside knowledge than I have suggest that the problem was more than just someone objecting to a lease he helped negotiate. Other comments made by similarly well informed people suggest that it boils down to little more than that. Who's right? I don't know, but I feel the Rashomon effect coming on.

[Bluehensfan]

I honestly have no idea what the motivations of the RTM management were for wanting to replace Rick's with Tony Luke's, but isn't it at least plausible that it could have something to do with that?  If the general sense is that Rick's product is OK, but not thrilling, and they could get someone who makes the same thing and receives raves, doesn't that strengthen the market?  Is that any different than replacing Braverman's with Flying Monkey?

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I think the problem with Braverman's was that:

1. He was not paying his rent in a timely manner and

2. Was selling food, some of which was not all that fresh. I vividly remember seeing leftover halloween cookies at Christmas time and conversely Christmas cookies at Valentine's Day.

Vic did have some very good sugar cookies in dinosaur shapes, though. You just had to know when he made them and stock up accordingly.

[Holly Moore]

He'd have negotiated a lease that made both the prepared food vendors and RTM plenty of money.  He didn't have all the marbles as head of the merchant's association, but he was the shooter.

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Pretty much the way I saw it. He campaigned against the terms of the lease he now wants to be offered. I wonder what he expects to happen if he does get his day in court?

Market management did shoot themselves in the foot, though. If they'd just presented him with the lease he'd already rejected, they'd be dealing with a win-win situation: either Rick's left voluntarily, or the leading opposition to the new terms would have to knuckle under, very publicly.

Memo to self: mail them a care package of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli.

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Negotiating is not the process of giving the other side what they want. The Merchant's Association was negotiating a lease they deemed fair. Management did not agree. Rather than continue to negotiate market management opted to kill off the merchant association's head negotiator. Effective, with the side benefit of intimidating all the other merchants.

This is what I'm not getting, negotiations-wise:

1. Rick would sign the same lease offered similar merchants.

2. This is a public relations nightmare for market management and ergo Reading Terminal Market, itself.

3. Market management is irreparably damaging its long term relations with most market merchants.

4. Legal action is going to cost both parties a lot of money if the case continues in court.

Would it not make sense for market management to simply give Rick a lease? Rick has a history of running a good operation. Rick has a history of reinvesting in Rick's Steaks. There is no evidence that Rick would not live up to the terms of a new lease. So how is it sound business sense and fiducially responsible for the market board and management to force a law suit, lose the faith and cooperation of their merchants, and fan the fire of a public relations disaster?

One wonders if there could be outside influences impacting the market management's irrational, unreasonable stance. Otherwise why hang so inflexibly tough on an issue that could go away in 5 minutes?

.

Edited July 30, 2007 by Holly Moore (log)

[mod*betty]

Driving home from work today I noticed that the late breaking news bulletin on KYW regarding Rick's Steaks going to court about his impending eviction tomorrow came before the late breaking news bulletin regarding Supreme Court Justice Roberts' fall. I am glad they have their priorities straight! ;-)

[Holly Moore]

At the press conference they read off the docket number. I had to fumble for a scrap of paper, but I think it is 003822. Maybe one of eGullet's crack legal scholars could translate that to a link to the actual court filing.

[Holly Moore]

Here is CBS 3's coverage of today's press conference. There is also a clickable video link to their on-air broadcast.

Edited July 30, 2007 by Holly Moore (log)

[mod*betty]

I find it interesting that the Market Management claims that they believe Tony Lukes will be better for the Market in the long run but I have to disagree- previous to this incidend I did not feel the need to choose sides when buying a cheesesteak, but if TL's does come to the Market in place of Rick's then I will actively avoid buying a cheesesteak from there. In the long run they have lost my purchase, which had Rick's stayed there, would have gone to the Market.

[Holly Moore]

Again, I am a fan of Tony Luke's on Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia. That said, here is their track record on other operations I know of that they tried to open:

- Tony Luke's Junior on 18th Street in Center City - So bad that they took their name off of it.

- Tony Luke's All American Hot Dogs or something like that on Passyunk - Closed within a year. Dogs were no where near as good as the Oregon Avenue Tony Luke's.

- Tony Luke's NY. OK, from what I hear, but not as good as Oregon Avenue.

Tony Luke's on Oregon Avenue is as good as it gets. - It could be, like many similar restaurants, it just does not translate well elsewhere.

Edited July 30, 2007 by Holly Moore (log)

[Bluehensfan]

Again, I am a fan of Tony Luke's on Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia.  That said, here is their track record on other operations I know of that they tried to open:

- Tony Luke's Junior on 18th Street in Center City - So bad that they took their name off of it.

- Tony Luke's All American Hot Dogs or something like that on Passyunk - Closed within a year.  Dogs were no where near as good as the Oregon Avenue Tony Luke's.

- Tony Luke's NY.  OK, from what I hear, but not as good as Oregon Avenue.

Tony Luke's on Oregon Avenue is as good as it gets. -  It could be, like many similar restaurants, it just does not translate well elsewhere.

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Holly,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Tony Luke also the proprietor of a recently failed business venture that was opened (briefly) around Penn's Campus?

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2006-06-29/food3.shtml

Edited July 30, 2007 by Bluehensfan (log)

[KatieLoeb]

I think that's correct as well. Although I think the booting off the Penn Campus was another case of finding a tenant that would be willing to pay more money. The University is not a kind landlord. Ever since they built the "mall" on Walnut Street to put in all the retail shops between 34th and 38th streets, they've been of the mindset of Lily Tomlin's Ernestine the Operator character. "We're the phone company. We don't have to care."

Sound familiar?

[Bluehensfan]

I think that's correct as well.  Although I think the booting off the Penn Campus was another case of finding a tenant that would be willing to pay more money.  The University is not a kind landlord.  Ever since they built the "mall" on Walnut Street to put in all the retail shops between 34th and 38th streets, they've been of the mindset of Lily Tomlin's Ernestine the Operator character.  "We're the phone company.  We don't have to care."

Sound familiar?

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Do you think it was just that Tony Luke wanted to pay more money than Rick or that the market really wanted Rick out? Because if the former were true, the market could have gladly accomodated Tony Luke in another section of the market and pocketed the change from both Rick's and Tony Lukes, or even sent one of the less successful business (i.e. probably nine tenths of the rest of the market tenants) packing.

I smell a rat. But then again, I'm not the only one...

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_updat...e_to_court.html

Edited July 31, 2007 by Bluehensfan (log)

[Holly Moore]

"It's unfortunate that Mr. Olivieri is putting his interests above those of Reading Terminal Market," Feeley said in a telephone interview.

Could Kevin Feeley have made a more inane statement?

Maybe he was quoted inaccurately. Perhaps he actually responded, "It's unfortunate that Mr. Olivieri is putting his interests above those of Reading Terminal Market's board and management." That is at least comprehensible.

As I see it, the Reading Terminal Market board and management is the one putting their agenda ahead of what is good for Reading Terminal Market. They and only they are responsible for what has happened. They and only they can easily end it now.

[KatieLoeb]

Do you think it was just that Tony Luke wanted to pay more money than Rick or that the market really wanted Rick out?

It's a bit of both. I think the Board sees this as a complete win-win-win for themselves. They not only get to punish Rick for his outspoken ways as President of the Merchant's Association, they also replace him with a competitor who has no such mutinous notions, and will pay whatever they ask. They also get to put the fear of the Almighty into any other merchants that might conceivably try and cross them in the future. It's an across the board (no pun intended) ace for the Board and accomplishes many goals with one felled swoop.

[Capaneus]

"It's unfortunate that Mr. Olivieri is putting his interests above those of Reading Terminal Market," Feeley said in a telephone interview.

Could Kevin Feeley have made a more inane statement?

Maybe he was quoted inaccurately. Perhaps he actually responded, "It's unfortunate that Mr. Olivieri is putting his interests above those of Reading Terminal Market's board and management." That is at least comprehensible.

As I see it, the Reading Terminal Market board and management is the one putting their agenda ahead of what is good for Reading Terminal Market. They and only they are responsible for what has happened. They and only they can easily end it now.

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You think that maybe, possibly, Kevin Feeley disagrees with the vision for the Market that you and Mr. Olivieri so thoroughly share?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the stated reason for the changes in the leases was to guarantee the long-term viability of purveyors. I have seen nothing, anywhere, that leads me to question this. I have heard nothing, here or elsewhere, that articulates with even marginal coherence either the reasons this is not a good idea, or the reasons the new terms do not truly aim to achieve this.

Am I missing something? As I hear it, Rick's vocally opposed the revenue reporting clause in the lease, and by implication the idea of supporting the less-profitable purveyors. No? It is certainly the case that the merchants who have been vocal in his support are, as far as I've heard, also facing the prospect of higher rent. I have not encountered any such support from the merchants who, lest we forget, stand to benefit from these changes - and they are the majority of the Market, and explicitly central to its mission, which, may I point out, the prepared-food merchants are not, as I read the media reports. A stand, by the way, with which I agree. And one that is implicitly rejected by Olivieri's current actions.

I'm having some trouble seeing the heroes and villains in the this the same way you do, Holly. Heck, so far the only thing that has impacted me in all this is that DiNic's has finally abandoned their wicked wicked ways, and will now serve roast pork in the company for which it was always meant: rabe and sharp provolone. A restoration of rightness that seems to have stemmed from the prospect of Tony Luke's as a neighbor, since decades of vocal advocacy had previously done me no good at all.

In the end, the scoreboard stands as follows for me: better cheesesteaks (about which I care little), assuming TL's maintains their quality standards - an assumption I will make until I taste otherwise; improved roast pork sandwiches all around (about which I care much more); improved long-term viability of the majority of the merchants, pushing off the day when Reading Terminal Market becomes the Convention Center's food court (about which I care by far the most).

In the down column... well, I have nothing against Mr. Olivieri. I wish him all the best in his future ventures, and I regret the consequences this move will have for him. But I sincerely hope that Market management weathers the publicity storm, allows the law suit to find the circular file it belongs in, and continues to put my interests, and farmers', and those of the merchants who provide them with an outlet, above feeding conventioneers. Sorry if that sounds callous, but the matter does seem that straightforward to me.

By the way, Holly, why do you believe Rick's was in fact prepared to sign the new lease? I've heard him complain he wasn't offered one, but I cannot find a record of him explicitly stating the new terms were acceptable to him, and much on how iniquitous he finds them.

[phungi]

Again, I am a fan of Tony Luke's on Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia.  That said, here is their track record on other operations I know of that they tried to open:

- Tony Luke's Junior on 18th Street in Center City - So bad that they took their name off of it.

- Tony Luke's All American Hot Dogs or something like that on Passyunk - Closed within a year.  Dogs were no where near as good as the Oregon Avenue Tony Luke's.

- Tony Luke's NY.  OK, from what I hear, but not as good as Oregon Avenue.

Tony Luke's on Oregon Avenue is as good as it gets. -  It could be, like many similar restaurants, it just does not translate well elsewhere.

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There is also a Tony Luke's at the "food court" at the Borgata Casino, and they appeared to be the busiest merchant the 2 times I was down there. The Roast Pork was as good as Oregon AVe and the cheesesteak comsumed by my friend looked the same and was reported to be very good.

While I would prefer to take the extra minutes to drive to White House, TLs will get a LOT of casino traffic and likely make a fortune. Opening in high-profile/traffic locales (i.e, casino, stadium, RTM) appears to be a great move for the franchise, perhaps in response to isolated drive-up locales that appear not to have panned out.

[mrbigjas]

I'm having some trouble seeing the heroes and villains in the this the same way you do, Holly. Heck, so far the only thing that has impacted me in all this is that DiNic's has finally abandoned their wicked wicked ways, and will now serve roast pork in the company for which it was always meant: rabe and sharp provolone.

hey now, they've always had sharp provolone.

[Capaneus]

I'm having some trouble seeing the heroes and villains in the this the same way you do, Holly. Heck, so far the only thing that has impacted me in all this is that DiNic's has finally abandoned their wicked wicked ways, and will now serve roast pork in the company for which it was always meant: rabe and sharp provolone.

hey now, they've always had sharp provolone.

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Yes. But it belongs with provolone and broccoli rabe. Not that flavorless Popeye nonsense they give the undiscriminating.