Lacroix is gone, is Georges next... who takes over

[herbacidal]

I have just read the food section online for Philadelphia Inky.  "On the side"  complained about the "chainifying of the city".  This is what we have been discussing all along, but the problem is after a four paragraph diatribe, he never once pointed out that the reasons for the chain restaurants proliferating in the city.  It is good that he brings the problem into the public's attention, but we need solutions and and we need someone in the paper to force the issue. 

Not just complain about an issue we have already discussed, but to actually take a stand on way or another.

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Chainifying is one thing, but it's a separate (but related) issue from what I feel has been discussed thus far, the idea that chefs are not challenging diners, raising expectations, further expanding their culinary boundaries and conceptions.

Chainfying is going on in NYC, and probably many a downtown in the US, primarily because they can usually afford to pay more for the space than most restauranteurs.

[aaronwcpa]

I like the word "chainifying." As someone who came to English as a second language, albeit as a nearly fourteen-yearold, I am going to have to look into "chainifying." English was also a second language to Joseph Conrad.

[shawng]

I have just read the food section online for Philadelphia Inky.  "On the side"  complained about the "chainifying of the city".  This is what we have been discussing all along, but the problem is after a four paragraph diatribe, he never once pointed out that the reasons for the chain restaurants proliferating in the city.  It is good that he brings the problem into the public's attention, but we need solutions and and we need someone in the paper to force the issue. 

Not just complain about an issue we have already discussed, but to actually take a stand on way or another.

←

Chainifying is one thing, but it's a separate (but related) issue from what I feel has been discussed thus far, the idea that chefs are not challenging diners, raising expectations, further expanding their culinary boundaries and conceptions.

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The problem is that the chefs are not able to challenge diners or raise bars and expectations if they can't get a business off the ground. You need good money coming in from liquour to be able to afford to pay staff, get prestine product, buy proper equipment etc. etc. Also a reasonable lease would help as discussed earlier. Real Estate is outrageous and not just in philly the only difference is that other places can justify the expense. You need to be able to sign a long term lease and landlords aren't willing (cuz they want to jack it up as soon as possible) and young chefs don't have the backing. Thus left with this chainifying thing I guess. Rich get Richer. And the diners Suffer...

[matthewj]

if Django had a liquor License, they would still be in Philadelphia. It has nothing to do with the chefs raising the expectations of dinners. That is false. Young chefs can not afford to pay the outrageous rent, let alone liquor license

[Holly Moore]

Funding is a problem for any start up business, especially with a young owner with minimum assets.

My experience is that brilliant chefs are luckier than most in that moneyied types become entralled with a chef's cooking ability and become investors in a restaurant, giving the chef a percent of ownership.

[mandabear]

As for all you alumns, I was talking to JML recently and heard that the new Chef, I guess he is not too new anymore, was not his choice. All of you who worked there know whose decision it was. I never worked in the kitchen, so I do not understand how chef was to work for from a culinary standpoint, but as a FOH staff, He was a Chef who understood the whole dining expierence which is rare. I keep in contact with him and I miss the days at Lacroix alot.

Just a little side bar

[MarketStEl]

[...] Real Estate is outrageous and not just in philly the only difference is that other places can justify the expense.  You need to be able to sign a long term lease  and landlords aren't willing (cuz they want to jack it up as soon as possible) and young chefs don't have the backing.  Thus left with this chainifying thing I guess.  Rich get Richer. And the diners Suffer...

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Not just the diners.

The Village Coffee House, right across the street from me, just shut down over this sort of thing, and it's a crying shame that it happened.

The Village's owners took the place over from a fellow who had opened it as the Mean Bean and transformed it into a lively community hangout (much as the name would suggest) -- sort of like Millennium in its heyday, but with a wider mix of clientele.

Apparently, the lease negotiations foundered on the issue of what would happen if the owners decided to sell the business (which evidently they must have been considering). They wanted a clause in the lease that would guarantee that the new owner would get the same terms and rent for the remainder of the lease term. The landlord did not want such a guarantee in the lease.

The problem is that absent this guarantee, it becomes almost impossible to sell a going small business of this type, for the buyer cannot be sure what his cost structure will be.

So now we have an empty storefront again, and there's no guarantee that the landlord will find someone to fill it with something similar.

Can I call this greed on the landlord's part? At the very least, it strikes me as short-sighted -- unless the landlord had gone into the negotiations thinking he could find something more lucrative than a popular coffee house to fill the space.