rant: fine dining

[33anda3rd]

Of course a real estate developer would come up with such a scumbag idea. Make money without as a middle man. This guy deserves a good kneecapping. What does he do when the reservations he books don't sell on Craigslist? Cancel them last minute? Let them no-show? It's not a "smart way to help out procrastinators" it's a way for him to make money by doing nothing.

[Freed Roger]

Of course a real estate developer would come up with such a scumbag idea. Make money without as a middle man. This guy deserves a good kneecapping. What does he do when the reservations he books don't sell on Craigslist? Cancel them last minute? Let them no-show? It's not a "smart way to help out procrastinators" it's a way for him to make money by doing nothing.

Nah, I figure with those places on Valentine's Day, the bulk of people he's scamming are fellow douchebags.

If he starts doing it for Cousin Hugos - their will be riots in Mid-county.
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And Five Bistro - is Edmond's involved with that place?

[33anda3rd]

We got a pitch from a guy who's doing something like this online. The idea is we give them a couple seats on weekends. We don't reserve them. Then people pay to book them last minute. So, you can go online on Friday at 4:30 and be in oh-crap-forgot-to-make-a-reso mode, pay like $8 or something to book a 2-top at our place, and we get like $3 of your $8 and the reservation.

It's a horrible idea, on so many levels.

1. There's no guarantee. I asked website guy, since I'm an old hotel revenue management guy, what his guarantee would be. If we held 2 seats for peak time on Saturday and he didn't sell them, does he pay 50% of our RevPASH on the table? 70%? 90% The answer was zero. We're stuck with empty tables.

2. Ok, so then you are probably ok with me just booking the restaurant, and when time slots become closed out you can just book based on what's available online via OpenTable so I don't end up overbooked. No, he wants guaranteed availability. But he doesn't want to guarantee even part of the revenue lost when his startup, which I don't need because OpenTable is great, can't fill seats.

In the end it's just bad for the guests. You shouldn't have to pay $8 to make a reservation. You should be able to have a fair shot at booking seats, with a level field. We're entering, with the trendiness of restaurants and the needless and incessant media turning cooks into chefs in the minds of the public, a realm here where restaurant seats are being treated like concert tickets--our own forms of scalper have arisen.

If he wants to sell seats at my place and make a profit like a scalper, fine. Buy the seats. Pay $120 to buy the table for two hours then sell it to the highest bidder, and they can pay tax and gratuity when they come in. But holding space you have no intent of using unless someone will buy that hold from you is gross. Who the hell would do that for a living and be able to look at themselves in the mirror?

[33anda3rd]

And speaking of the "incessant media turning cooks into chefs in the minds of the public."

So many dumb competition TV shows. One of our cooks, who we fired over a year ago because he could not do a simple line-cook job in our place, recently went deep on a cooking show. What do they call people on those shows? Chefs. Chef this, chef that. Good morning cheftestants. Here is your challenge, chefs. I would bet that people watching on TV actually think that the fat, bloated boozehound we fired because he couldn't prep a station for service see him go deep on a TV show and think he's a "chef." Most of them are line cooks on those shows, not chefs, and the talent is worse the further down the ladder you get from Top Chef, which does have legit talent. Not everyone with a high school degree, a body full of tattoos, and an achy body from working 70 hours/week in the kitchen is "chef." The overwhelming majority of them are not.

[Freed Roger]

We got a pitch from a guy who's doing something like this online. The idea is we give them a couple seats on weekends. We don't reserve them. Then people pay to book them last minute. So, you can go online on Friday at 4:30 and be in oh-crap-forgot-to-make-a-reso mode, pay like $8 or something to book a 2-top at our place, and we get like $3 of your $8 and the reservation.

It's a horrible idea, on so many levels.

Yeah, I doubt I would frequent a place that does [expletive] like that.

When I find out a place does Groupons and other [expletive] like that, I steer clear too. (different, I know.)

[Molly]

Valentine's Day? Amateur hour.

Hubby will be relaxing at home. I will be celebrating Mardi Gras with friends at 61 Roadhouse in Webster Groves!!

[Diddy]

And speaking of the "incessant media turning cooks into chefs in the minds of the public."

So many dumb competition TV shows. One of our cooks, who we fired over a year ago because he could not do a simple line-cook job in our place, recently went deep on a cooking show. What do they call people on those shows? Chefs. Chef this, chef that. Good morning cheftestants. Here is your challenge, chefs. I would bet that people watching on TV actually think that the fat, bloated boozehound we fired because he couldn't prep a station for service see him go deep on a TV show and think he's a "chef." Most of them are line cooks on those shows, not chefs, and the talent is worse the further down the ladder you get from Top Chef, which does have legit talent. Not everyone with a high school degree, a body full of tattoos, and an achy body from working 70 hours/week in the kitchen is "chef." The overwhelming majority of them are not.

Jealous much?

[lukethedrifter]

I don't think that's something to be jealous of.

[Diddy]

I don't think that's something to be jealous of.

Just reads to me that he does all the work but the chefs get all the fame.

[Swirls]

I don't think that's something to be jealous of.

Just reads to me that he does all the work but the chefs get all the fame.

Not sure I follow. He owns the restaurant - he's not one of the line cooks.