Saw this article last week… some interesting quotes in here. I will bold them and leave to people to discuss. Here is the link that will only work today. (Great news resource but the dynamic links kills it for me)
Three restaurants in the Four Points area have closed in the past couple months and the owners said the area is a challenging to do business.
“We tried to change the concept with changes and improvements, but basically it never did enough business to keep running. It’s a tough neighborhood to do business in,” said restaurateur Stan Adams.
Adams closed Quinlan Park Grill in Steiner Ranch’s Vista Ridge Shopping Center earlier this month. Around the first of the year he changed the format from Tutu Gusto with Italian fare to the grill.
Now Adams will concentrate on his other Austin restaurant - three Brick Oven locations and the upscale Sienna. Business at his other restaurants has been slower this summer, but they are holding their own, he said.
“The expectations and demands of the neighborhood [are] beyond what they are willing to pay for. Most merchants are struggling in that neighborhood,” Adams said.
He is not the only one who said running a restaurant was hard to do in the Four Points area. Hoon Kim closed Seoul Food at the end of July after three years in business.
“Lunches were pretty good but dinners were hit or miss; some days nobody came in,” Kim said.
Although there are a couple of offices in the area, Kim said there was not enough office traffic.
Kim, who learned to run a restaurant from his uncle in Los Angeles, thought there were not enough restaurants in the Four Points area. He was surprised that more traffic did not come through.
“I think it had first a bad location for a restaurant. The entrance is not very good. Second, it’s a matter of people in that neighborhood not spending that much money,” Kim said.
He found that lots of people who live in the area cook at home. He learned that from the school kids he hired who said their stay-at-home moms cooked every night.
Kim also said he had to overpay to get good help.
Kim hopes the new Chinese restaurant Hunan River Place that plans to go into his former space does well, but he is happy to be out of the business.
“It’s too time-consuming and not rewarding enough,” he said. Now he is investing in real estate.
Daniel and Olga Gillcrist closed Mood & Food in River Place the first week of June - two-and-a-half years after opening it. High costs and poor location were also some of their main reasons to get out of the business.
They thought their location was misrepresented to them before it was built.
“We signed the lease before they built it. It was presented to be real visible to the corner,” Gillcrist said. But it ended up with hills and tall grass that made the complex hard to see from the intersection.
It is a tricky center to get into unless patrons know the back way, because in the front the entrance is away from the shops and was not illuminated at night, he said.
In addition to a poor location, costs to run a restaurant have gone up since the couple opened Mood & Food, Gillcrist said. Profit margins are “real thin” in the restaurant business anyway but that coupled with dramatically higher food costs, higher labor costs, new vendor delivery charges and fuel surcharges, he said.
Local restaurateurs are not alone, across the nation, the restaurant industry has faced several economic challenges which started last year according to the National Restaurant Association. In 2007 the industry saw the largest spike in wholesale food prices in 27 years as well as increasing energy and gas prices.
Currently, the cost of food and beverages account for approximately 33 cents of every dollar of restaurant sales, the trade group said.
The costs that pushed Mood & Food out of business was the fact that the landlord started charging $1,840 more a month for the space, Gillcrist said. “For me the biggest thing was the landlord thing,” he said.
Before opening Mood & Food, the Gillcrists owned La Traviata at E. 3rd Street and Congress Avenue for a number of years before selling their part to open their own Italian and Mediterranean place in River Place.
“One thing I think we didn’t expect is that people out in this area when they want to go out and have decent food or something moderately priced or more upscale, they drive into the Arboretum or downtown,” Gillcrist said.
“We had a lot of loyal customers but were not generally embraced by the community,” he said. Now Olga caters with Mood & Food Catering and Daniel works in IT.
Gillcrist thinks the less-expensive places and family-friendly places are still doing all right in the Four Points area.
One example is Rudy’s Country Store and BBQ, located at 7709 RM 620. The store opened in May 2005 and from January to August, sales are up in the Four Points area store, said Marlis Oliver, area director of the four Austin Rudy’s locations, which are owned by K&N Management Inc.
“We’re doing fine out there. We continue to at least stay flat or grow over previous year’s numbers,” he said.
He attributes the sales to Rudy’s name in Austin and having a good product mix with something for everyone’s budget from prime rib to sausage.
“We have a mid-ranged price point. It hasn’t been affected greatly,” Oliver said. He thinks more higher end places have been affected by the slower economy.
Although Oliver is optimistic about the future potential in the Four Points area with everything that is coming in now or in the future, he said the restaurant business is tough.
“We feel what has kept us in the mix over the years is our attention to detail, cleanliness and delighting every guest. In the long haul, that pays off,” Oliver said.
Gillcrist said the Four Points area does not currently have the population density of other established areas in Austin. But that being said there are plenty enough people to support the businesses in the area, he said.
“If [area residents] feel strongly about having business out here they need to patronize them,” he said.
22 responses so far ↓
1 TXN8TV // Sep 5, 2008 at 8:59 am
Boathouse Grill seems to do just fine and the food is really good. We love the pizza at Lakeside and order it every Friday night.
I think what was missing, was Quality in the taste of the food and poor service that was given….at least at Quinlan Park Grill. We thought the food was awful, so why pay to go there. Just my opinion, of course.
2 Stmbtsprgs // Sep 5, 2008 at 10:05 am
The area restaurants that are open do brisk if not heavy business with waits/lines at rush hours and I frequent them. This includes Lakeside, Rudy’s, Boathouse, Flores, just to name a few. The things the ones that closed were missing were that right combination of good food, good prices, and good service. I really hope we eventually get something that fits the bill in the old QPG spot (hint: Tex-Mex!!!).
3 Mike // Sep 5, 2008 at 10:12 am
I agree with most of the comments above. QPG’s value for the money simply was not there… after two bad experiences with their service, and lousy food it just didn’t make sense to go there. I do think that Mr. Adams didn’t have the focus to actually fix the place besides changing the name and hoping that would drive new volume.
Interesting part about the article is that it glazes over the restaurants that HAVE succeeded due to good service, and prices (Fion, Lakeside… hopefully Thai Harmony soon!).
Saddest thing for us was the closing of Mood and Food, which had great service for awhile and very good food, but due to their location it was really tough to get in and out of, and you had to consciously look for it.
I’m hoping that with Fion’s restaurant open soon we’ll have food served past 9 pm on weeknights. That’s one sad thing about the area.
4 Tellurada // Sep 5, 2008 at 10:24 am
I agree with TXN8TV. Restaurants that serve quality food do great. Quinlan Park Grill was horrible. Mood and Food moved into an area with a high population of kids and was not seen as kid- friendly. There are restaurants that do well here, they offer good food, good service and a comfortable atmosphere. This area has too much money to pay for bad food or bad service. When we go out to eat, we want something better than we get at home. There are too many other outstanding restaurants in Austin to settle.
5 Steiner Res // Sep 5, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Agreed on most points. I didn’t have an issue with QPG’s prices (nor the prices when it was Tutto Gusto). The owners simply did not pay attention to the restaurant (which is strange, since they obviously know how to run successful restaurants). Service was spotty, and the food just became terrible over time — I don’t know who was cooking the last few months there, but it was bad.
Mood & Food was nice, with good food. I heard a few complaints about prices, but they were less than a comparable restaurant downtown. It may be that our area will suffer from the same problem as Westlake — nicer restaurants seem to not do as well because people want to go downtown (or the Domain, or Arboreteum) for a nice meal instead of staying in the neighborhood. I guess we’ll test that theory with the new Steakhouse and the restaurant at Fion.
Went to Seoul Food a few times. Actually, not bad for fast food Korean — just a bad location. Maybe a Chinese restaurant will have greater appeal.
6 steiner res // Sep 5, 2008 at 7:01 pm
It’s true that people want to leave their neighborhood when dining at a high-end restaurant. While very close for us, the Steakhouse will be out of the neighborhood for most people in Austin. By offering hilltop views, they can draw in more people from those areas. Remember, we live in a location considered a mini “get away spot” by many Austinites. Incorporate views into your restaurant, and you’ll have people lining out your door willing to at least give the restaurant a try.
7 Steiner Mom // Sep 6, 2008 at 8:11 am
I love to take my family out to eat…I don’t cook everynight. We are new to the neighborhood. Were are the good places to eat?
8 MickTx // Sep 8, 2008 at 10:38 am
We loved Tutto Gusto when it opened and found the service and quality to be excellent - we would have even paid a little more. After time, we did grow tired of the limited selections on the menu, though that could have been solved by a refresh. The switch to QPG was depressing - exactly the wrong thing to do - switch from something somewhat unique to ordinary, commodity cuisine and crappy service. We informed the management of this as well (provided our contact info too), but it fell on deaf ears.
We tried Seoul Food several times when they first opened and found the food to be cold and mediocre. We gave it a third try shortly before they closed and were pleasantly surprised by the improvement.
Mood & Food was OK, though I never really understood the place. My wife hated it. Definitely not kid-friendly either. The combination of those things pretty much kills it for us since there are just too many other choices in the area. (Rocco’s anyone?)
BTW - don’t blame your customers for not liking your food. And with help, well, you get what you pay for. Crappy service at QPG from kids too young to carry a drink to the table? Too cheap to pay more experienced people? Net result: closed business.
9 Joanna // Sep 8, 2008 at 4:17 pm
The new bistro next to Fion, Mia’s, is serving a limited menu on Sunday and Monday nights (during the evening game) until the official opening Oct. 1.
My husband and I went last night and wow we were *really* impressed. I had pork chop/Elgin sausage skewers with grilled corn on the cob, husband had jalapeno peppers stuffed with chorizo and queso blanco. It was all terrific! The chef, Chef Paul, was very hands on, asking opinions and sharing his ideas for the restaurant. We also saw a sneak peek of the menu and it looks absolutely great.
There will be a normal menu for typical business hours, then a late night/bar food menu for late dining. We couldn’t be more excited after last night’s preview, I encourage anyone to go Sunday or Monday nights to check it out ahead of time!
10 Tom // Sep 8, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Based on past performance, you can bet that Fion will knock it out of the park with the new addition. Those guys definitely understand the restaurant biz.
I also have a feeling that unless the Steiner Steak House is really really bad, they will prove the “need to leave the neighborhood” theory way wrong.
In fact they will probably be the place where the downtown and arboreteum locals come for a GOOD sunset dinner.
Thai is going to be a good alternative to the options we currently have, but I think it’s a definite roll of the dice.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all three.
If they are hits, there will probably be a lot more street-legal golf cart sightings in Steiner!
Good luck to all.
11 Mike // Sep 9, 2008 at 11:48 am
Joanna,
Thanks for your review… too bad I didn’t know they’d be open before, since Sunday I would have loved to check them out. Maybe next weekend :).
One thing I’m wondering about, and I can see both sides of the argument for Fion is, will they continue to allow people to order pizza from Lakeside? One thing we love to do is order the pizza and enjoy some good wine…
Either way we’ll continue to visit both places.
12 anon // Sep 9, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Am I the only one who does not appreciate being charged a take-out charge at lakeside? What is that for? Sure they have to pay for the styrofoam container, but they’re also saving on the labor cost to serve it. It shouldn’t cost $14 for a take-out soup and wedge salad!
13 Anonymous // Sep 9, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Mike, that’s a really good question. I hope so, I will ask next time we are in there.
It sounded like Chef Paul had some pretty neat ideas, he was talking about doing occasional themed events and what not. I especially like that we will have a late-night dining option!
When you go in, ask to check out the full menu and see what you think…
14 Rez // Sep 12, 2008 at 10:59 am
The “staples” who survive stay and those that need fixing go, which is great. The idea of a Thai place or something different then burger and fries (oh sorry pizza) is great.
Thumbs up - Flores, Los Pinos, Hill Country Pasta and Lakeside
Thumbs down - Boathouse….it only puts you in the outhouse.
They guy who said this area is a “mini get away” nailed it, from those going out or getting way from the kids we have it all.
My question is, the Oasis claimed they had a new chef or menu…I haven’t seen anything change or improve…Beau obviously knows people complain the food is only decent…he made his start in the upscale Houston resturant market, what gives king of the sunset?
15 Melissa // Sep 15, 2008 at 10:09 am
The owners of Quinlan Park Grill / Tutto Gusto are so off the mark. The reason the restaurant did so poorly was because the food and service were bad - plain and simple. The owners seemed to have no interest in addressing the issues. Instead, it sounds like they are blaming the customers for expecting too much. How do they explain the fact that Lakeside Pizza seems to be doing pretty darn well? Their attitude really makes me wonder if I will even go to Sienna or Brock Oven again.
16 Mike // Sep 15, 2008 at 5:01 pm
One thing I do want to also call out in some of the good restaurants that are making it here in Steiner is Owner involvement. I never saw QPG’s owners around, all I saw were kids serving and managers apologizing. Fion, Lakeside, Cups and Cones and even Delicato seem to have their owners seriously involved in the day to day operations.
I hope Thai Harmony follows suit, seems like a very easy and straightforward rule of restaurant management, yet so easy to get lost in the shuffle.
17 Rez // Sep 16, 2008 at 10:38 am
Damn I wanted to have something to say about Thai Harmony, but when I arrive at 8:30pm to order take out they were out of food (simple fried rice).
That’s a tough menu if anyone has seen it, lots of specialty items kids wouldn’t go near (duck, squid, soups and curry). I wish them the best but am going to make a prediction, that location won’t work until it’s Mexican, yes I said it, Tex-Mex…why more Tex-Mex?
Simple, nice patio, margaritas, simple dishes, kids will eat and adults can sit back…..the place has potential; the right cuisine hasn’t arrived…and of course hands on owners, hell maybe I’ll take it over next.
Plus if the economy really is going belly up, folks are going to want cheap eats when they get out, certainly not a time for pricier tastes.
18 Steiner Res // Sep 16, 2008 at 9:10 pm
How can a Thai restaurant run out of rice? Yeah, I know, it’s the first week…but rice????
19 Steiner Res // Sep 17, 2008 at 6:37 am
I spoke with the guys at Fion last night and got th skinny! so here it is…
First off they are planning on having live music friday and saturday with chef grilling on the patio Friday night through Monday night football. The bistro is in pace to open the beginning of October. Right now they are planning on having a private soft opening in the bistro on October ist with a limited menu for the “Go Texan Restaurant round-Up” that will be offered in the pub and on the patio. On Thursday, October 2nd the restaurant will go live on everything for dinner with a “blue plate special” lunch menu to follow shortly after. They currently have tow menus, dining room and late night. Both will be available to eveyone on both sides and the late night will be available until 11pm on weekdays and midnight on saturday. Both menus are available for viewing at the pub now. The owner informed me thatthe menu is seasonal and will change frequently. He also asked me to express to residents to give them feedback, they will be looking for suggestions/and or comment s from the nighborhood. There will be a comment box at the front that they would like residents to take advantage of.
I also asked about the atmosphere and was told that the bistro is a direct extension of the pub. In other words, adult environment. The owner informed me that they are not going to turn kids away but that at the end of the day, they are a wine bar and after certain hours it may not be an appropriate environment for children.
Within a few months of opening, they will also be offering a “take-home gourmet” program that wll include delivery and/or membership with a rotating menu for all family members.
Good luck Fion!!!!!
20 Steiner Res // Sep 17, 2008 at 4:52 pm
We have 2 “Steiner Res” posters. Geuss I need to chnage names
21 benji // Sep 17, 2008 at 11:57 pm
anon, everyplace that has to go food has a take out charge, you just don’t see in the bill. It’s calculated in the cost. It’s a dollar get over it. I bet you don’t even tip do you?
22 Fion’s new Restaurant details // Sep 30, 2008 at 9:39 am
[…] from the comments: (thanks one of the two Steiner Res’) Steiner Res // Sep 17, 2008 at 6:37 […]
Leave a Comment