Restaurant Failures in the Triad

[Varmint]

The lagging economy hits the restaurant industry hard, even in a state with substantial growth such as North Carolina:

Click here for the article

What I find interesting in the article is that the restaurateurs are blaming not only the economy, but also the Atkins Diet, the Mad Cow scare, and the influx of chain restaurants for their woes. They forgot to mention the voodoo hex their arch-enemy put on them.

[Random Alias]

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It's free, instant, and doesn't verify the info you give it.

I do think chains are making it increasingly harder for the independents. I've got no real proof of that, but if you head to Crabtree Mall any night of the week PF Changs and The Cheesecake Factory are usually pretty crowded. And inevitably whenever someone we know (not from here of course ) raves about a new restaurant, it's a chain. Seeing as how people only have so much disposable income they can spend on restaurant, it stands to reason that a meal at The Cheesecake Factory is one less meal at an independent.

If you think about it, it kind of makes sense. These big chains are designed to appeal to the most people: the food, the location, the atmosphere, the price, the amount etc. And with every new location they can dial in what works with even more precision.

[bandregg]

There are a couple of things about this article that stand out for me. The first and simplest is that the definition of fine-dining is a meal for two including drinks for around the 100$ price point. I don't know why this stands out for me, but from my experience, in regions with similar economies 100$ for two is the very bottom of the fine dining experience.

The article doesn't discuss how many new non-chain restaurants were openned in the area during the last year and what their survival rate was. I'd guess some of that business is being lost to other local restaurants.

And finally, I just love the last quote, "If you do enough volume, the costs don't matter." It reminds me of failed Internet startups.

[Malawry]

Bryan, that's how dining is in Greensboro, High Point and Winston. The only time the economy can support higher dinner check averages is during the Furniture Market. Otherwise people carp about spending more than $30/person at dinner. There's a reason why there isn't any truly high-level dining in Greensboro especially.

I am stunned that Market Street closed. They've been around forever! My parents bought out the restaurant once to throw a big party for my grandparents. I really loved Mosaic, and the owners were some of the friendliest restaurant owners I ever met. After one meal there I felt like they, and our server Brian, were not just the agents of a fun meal but also friends.

I love Bert's and they certainly deserve as fine a space as the Mosaic spot but I wonder if they can support their move. Sunset Grille, the first Greensboro "fine dining" restaurant to not serve beef as an entree, started at the same intersection as Bert's on Spring Garden in the 70s, and eventually they moved to the Market Street location. They eventually failed there, and then after a while Mosaic moved in. And now it's Bert's in the same spot. Is that space good karma for a formerly tiny, crowded, neighborhoody, much-loved restaurant? It's set off the street and the parking lot is not very friendly.

As for Noble's...they've tried several concepts in Greensboro, all of which eventually failed. Their Winston and High-Point restaurants seem to endure though. I think Greensboro diners just don't support what they were trying to do, even as they got more casual over the years.

I'm emailing the link to this article to John Batchelor, restaurant reviewer for the Greensboro News and Record, and asking him for his comments.

[robyn]

The lagging economy hits the restaurant industry hard, even in a state with substantial growth such as North Carolina:

Click here for the article

What I find interesting in the article is that the restaurateurs are blaming not only the economy, but also the Atkins Diet, the Mad Cow scare, and the influx of chain restaurants for their woes. They forgot to mention the voodoo hex their arch-enemy put on them.

I don't know if it's relevant in North Carolina - but you can add smoking bans as a factor too as far as I'm concerned. I used to spend a lot of money in independent restaurants (hardly ever ate in chains - still don't) - and - once I couldn't smoke in a restaurant - not even at the bars in the restaurants - I decided to cut back. My restaurant bills are down over 50% this last year. Robyn

P.S. Smokers tend to drink - which is where restaurants make a lot of their money.

[chemprof]

Hey-

Sorry I'm a bit late to this. However, I want to make one corrections vis a vis Basil's Tratoria in Greensboro. It's NOT closing (YET). We went relatively soon after that story appeared in the Business Journal...if only to get the last fried oyster salad before they closed shop. Apparently, reports of their death had been greatly exaggerated. They denied it (closing in the near future), however, they might have been running a bit scared at that point since we're pretty sure J. Basul himself stopped by to ask us how our meal was.

It's almost april and they're still there---

Anne

[Malawry]

Thanks, Anne. That's good to hear.