Saturday, August 11, 2012

309 Restaurant Closes


Sad, but not surprising.

Suggestions for those who think they know the restaurant business but don't:

(1) Render faster, more polite service.

(2) Have really cool, friendly, and efficient waiters and waitresses.

(3) Get betters chefs, if you plan an upscale establishment.

(4) Get a more personable manager.

(5) Know acoustics, The acoustics were really bad.

(6) Offer customers a free dessert if there is any delay or problem with their order.

(7) Ask customers to honestly tell you how you're doing, what they like and what they don't like about your food, service, prices, and location.

(8) Don't show too much of the arrogant elite clientele, unless that type is all you plan to serve. The wine racks with arrogant elite names on their particular likes up front near the entrance was an insult to the regular diner.

(9) Have a Frequent Diner discount card, with a free meal after they purchase 8 or 10 meals.

Based on experience and visits with friends. Some similar reasons why the old Vonachens went out of business in the same area.

PREDICTION: With all the new restaurants opening in the area, look for more closings before the year ends.


4 comments:

steven edward streight said...

Bad service is a big cause of restaurant failure. I see it all the time. It's like the servers don't even care about a tip.

Chef Kevin said...

Gotta respond to some of these:

"Render faster service and Get betters chefs if you plan an upscale establishment." These two statements don't belong together in the same sentence. It is what is wrong with Peoria dining. If you want upscale dining, don't expect to be in and out in under 1 1/2 hours. It is called dining, which is a lost art. If you want speed, hit the McDonald's drive through. When I worked at Lindsay's, I was amused at the mass of people who made 7 pm reservations and expect to make an 8 pm curtain call at the Civic Center.

"Have really cool waiters and waitresses." I don't want a really cool waitperson in a upscale dining establishment. I want someone who knows the menu, reasonably the wines, is attentive yet not overbearing and keeps the table in order.

"Get a more personable manager.
Know acoustics, The acoustics were really bad." Won't argue these. However, is all you need is a few tables of people who have been drinking and I don't care how good your acoustics are; you could put them in St. Louis's Fox Theater and they'd still be loud and annoying.

"Don't show too much of the arrogant elite clientele unless that type is all you plan to serve, The wine racks with arrogant elite names on their particular likes up front near the entrance was an insult to the regular diner." Definitely won't argue this.

"Based on experience and visits with friends. Some similar reasons why the old Vonachens went out of business in the same area." I still contend that Vonachen's mistake was getting away from what made them successful and tried to be somewhat trendy combined with trying to be everything to everybody.

With all the new restaurants opening in the area, look for more closings before the year ends.

Merle Widmer said...

Thanks, Chef Kevin, why did they fail? My friends and my take? They thought they were upscale when they weren't Can't blame it on the economy in the area or lack of funding or was lack of funding the reason?

Perhaps they drank up the profits, something that happened to a restaurant on far north University years ago. The wait persons that served us appeared to be poorly trained.

For all reasons or no resons, the restaurant is closed without much if any advance notice.

TGI Friday in E. Peoria closed? Can't comment as I have seldom visited any part of that chain.

Merle Widmer said...

On 6/10/10, then JS columnist Paul Gordon, wrote, "The "WOW" Factor", owners of 309 hope to impress with combination of great food, comfortable surroundings and reasonable prices. The buzz around Peoria has been tremendous, You'll be able to get a spectacular meal in a comfortable place for a very reasonable price."

Hmmm.