Metro Phoenix Dining Thread - Page 19

exit2lef · #**361** Posted **May 6, 2020, 4:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Code5

https://www.azfamily.com/news/struggling...7809758-8f32-11ea-aa6c-b72a534a0869.html

Welp, Songbird might be the next casualty of this pandemic....that sucks.

Sounds like sort of an indirect casualty. The discovery of the error in sewer billing is the main problem, but it couldn't have come at a worse time. I envision a GoFundMe campaign to save Songbird and a Change.org online petition to urge the city to forgive the accrued charges.

CrestedSaguaro · #**362** Posted **May 6, 2020, 4:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by exit2lef

Sounds like sort of an indirect casualty. The discovery of the error in sewer billing came is the main problem, but it couldn't have come at a worse time. I envision a GoFundMe campaign to save Songbird and a Change.org online petition to urge the city to forgive the accrued charges.

I also think a something will be done to save Songbird as you mentioned above.

brianroaz · #**363** Posted **May 6, 2020, 7:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJPHXskyscraperfan

Been doing take out anyway, going to the grocery store and out of everything, pumping gas is the scariest thing I do. I’m like oh shoot, how many people have pumped gas here today, so as I try to use my shirt to pump my gas feeling like Howie Mandel I’m like, this is getting ridiculous. My girlfriend is in the front lines at a nursing home who just started getting cases this past week. Thankfully she tested negative a few days ago but who knows if she is bringing it home any given day. This thing is just going to continue to spread unfortunately. I do all the right things, wear a mask and wash my hands after I touch anything. UFC is starting this weekend and if I can go to a bar to watch in the next few weeks with no other sports to watch, I definitely will go to a bar and watch and have a beer.

Best thing to do is keep some dog poop bags in your car (or grab a few extra produce bags from the grocery store). Friends without dogs bought them (pretty inexpensive) for their car. Stick on your hand, pump gas, and drop right into the garbage can nearby.

TJPHXskyscraperfan · #**364** Posted **May 6, 2020, 8:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianroaz

Best thing to do is keep some dog poop bags in your car (or grab a few extra produce bags from the grocery store). Friends without dogs bought them (pretty inexpensive) for their car. Stick on your hand, pump gas, and drop right into the garbage can nearby.

Wow, great idea, I have a dog, and now I will take some extra bags with me when I drive,lol.

ASU Diablo · #**365** Posted **May 7, 2020, 4:09 PM**

Hopefully this doesn't impact or delay the opening of Blanco Tacos + Tequila on Block 23.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news...actory-fox-restaurant-concepts-slow.html

Quote:

The Cheesecake Factory, parent company to Phoenix-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, said it will suspend temporarily all new restaurant development because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The move isn’t surprising as the entire restaurant industry is in crisis right now as dining rooms have been closed for nearly two months and all business has been done through takeout or delivery. The move, however, impacts FRC, which was in the process of rolling out a number of new locations that now are in limbo.

The plan was to open eight new locations in 2020, with one Flower Child restaurant opening in Denver already this year. On the FRC website there are six restaurants listed as either “opening soon” or “coming soon,” including two in the Valley – the Blanco Tacos + Tequila in downtown Phoenix and the Culinary Dropout at Scottsdale Quarter.

While Cheesecake Factory and FRC are in the early days of reopening restaurants around the country, CFO Matt Clark said on an investor call May 5 that new unit development will be suspended “until more clarity on the restaurant industry operating environment emerges.”

Clark went on to say that resuming projects depends on how quickly, and to what level the economy rebounds.

“If we’re assuming that the world returns to some degree of prior levels, then we would have the same commitments to the growth of all of our brands in that regard,” Clark said. “In the short term, we’re cautious right now and obviously in a cash preservation mode.”

Takeout orders surge
During the pandemic, Cheesecake completely closed 32 stores temporarily across its myriad of brands, including 12 FRC brands with four being Culinary Dropout restaurants. On the same call, Cheesecake President David Gordon said Culinary Dropout has a bigger footprint and is a more social restaurant. When it is appropriate to open those again, Gordon said FRC will.

For first-quarter 2020, FRC contributed $35.6 million to Cheesecake Factory’s total quarterly revenue of $615.1 million. Overall the company posted a $3.9 million loss for the quarter.

While times have been tough for Cheesecake, Gordon said the company, including Fox Restaurant Concepts, has seen success in takeout and delivery orders. At the pace an average the Cheesecake Factory location is going, takeout orders would generate about $4 million for the year, Gordon said. That is enough to break even. The company is expecting takeout to continue to be popular even after customers return to dining rooms.

While not giving similar numbers for FRC restaurants on the call, Gordon did say FRC has had similar success and has developed popular preordered family meals.

In a recent interview with the Business Journal about how Arizona restaurants will change as they begin to reopen, FRC founder Sam Fox said that the family meals had been a "huge success" for the company.

“It is a little easier on our kitchen when they know they are preparing 500 of the same meal, and it solves a lot of problems for our customers,” Fox said.

Gordon said the success both Cheesecake and FRC has with takeout sets them up for possible growth once things setlle, especially if other restaurants don’t make it.

“If [the economic downturn] leads to a change in market share or an opportunity to gain more market share because of a less competitive environment, we certainly are, we feel, poised to take that market share because of who we are, because of our high-end experiential dining,” Gordon said. “If those opportunities come about, we think that landlords would love to have any of our brands in any of those spots to continue to do the type of sales volumes that we’ve been able to do not just to The Cheesecake Factory, but North Italia or any of the other FRC brands.”

Phxguy · #**366** Posted **May 8, 2020, 12:23 AM**

New bar called Bar Garden, a ‘garden to glass’ concept is permitting for 822 N 6th Ave. It’s not all bad news nowadays.

TJPHXskyscraperfan · #**367** Posted **May 8, 2020, 8:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASU Diablo

Hopefully this doesn't impact or delay the opening of Blanco Tacos + Tequila on Block 23.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news...actory-fox-restaurant-concepts-slow.html

Hopefully Blanco downtown at Block 23 is just delayed a little. It’s a case of the strong survives, kinda like with the disease. Unfortunately it’s always the little man that will get the short end of the stick. Bigger companies will figure it out and the small ones will suffer and probably die out if this virus doesn’t die out soon. As far as downtown, the restaurants right downtown are hurting so bad, many not open at all, from people working from home and I think since most companies will be looked down up on if they send people back to work when they can work from home it’s going to get real tough. I see most people working from home if they can for the for seeable future. That will hurt the core bad. Meanwhile Roosevelt Row with the amount of residential should strive, people want to get out and support the businesses around them. We will see next week how people respond and hopefully we stay safe at the same time.

PHXflyer · #**368** Posted **May 8, 2020, 3:14 PM**

[QUOTE=ASU Diablo;8915171]Hopefully this doesn't impact or delay the opening of Blanco Tacos + Tequila on Block 23.

I'm worried Blanco has already stopped their build out. I walk by daily and the spot was buzzing about a month ago and looked like they were getting ready to install the exterior walls/windows. Since then, they boarded up the project and from what little can be seen from the street (overhead ductwork), nothing has moved in the past month.

Prestige Worldwide · #**369** Posted **May 9, 2020, 7:00 PM**

I think it's clear that Blanco isn't opening anytime soon. However, FRC likely signed a lease already to do these buildouts. They are probably figuring out the costs of termination vs. the future opportunity of opening the restaurant. My guess is the property owner and FRC are negotiating on how to open the restaurant next year and what concessions FRC can have in the meantime. Just a hunch.

[QUOTE=PHXflyer;8916088]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASU Diablo

Hopefully this doesn't impact or delay the opening of Blanco Tacos + Tequila on Block 23.

I'm worried Blanco has already stopped their build out. I walk by daily and the spot was buzzing about a month ago and looked like they were getting ready to install the exterior walls/windows. Since then, they boarded up the project and from what little can be seen from the street (overhead ductwork), nothing has moved in the past month.

DesertRay · #**370** Posted **May 9, 2020, 11:48 PM**

[QUOTE=Prestige Worldwide;8917217]I think it's clear that Blanco isn't opening anytime soon. However, FRC likely signed a lease already to do these buildouts. They are probably figuring out the costs of termination vs. the future opportunity of opening the restaurant. My guess is the property owner and FRC are negotiating on how to open the restaurant next year and what concessions FRC can have in the meantime. Just a hunch.

Your keyboard to God's eyes.

Phxguy · #**371** Posted **May 12, 2020, 1:27 AM**

https://www.abc15.com/news/national/coro...sWPXYwM_Ag_kowS2pg3Ad3KVlV31cCmz99JIyL3A

Steak ‘n Shake kicks the bucket. Never went there myself so never knew the hype around it but it means the location on Mill at Brickyard will once again be empty

combusean · #**372** Posted **May 12, 2020, 2:34 AM**

I wouldn't say they kicked the bucket, they closed underperforming locations in expansion areas where they don't have a strong following. I think they're huge in the Midwest which explains the hype from transplant residents.

biggus diggus · #**373** Posted **May 12, 2020, 2:49 AM**

Yep, rural Illinois. Some times when we were traveling down state we would eat 2 meals a day there.

CrestedSaguaro · #**374** Posted **May 12, 2020, 5:28 AM**

Steak and Shake diehard here. They are the big in the Midwest and my home state of Ohio.

exit2lef · #**375** Posted **May 12, 2020, 5:12 PM**

It has been interesting to see the varied reactions by restaurant owners and the public to reopening. I saw a lot of people on Twitter clutching their pearls over a crowded scene at CASA on Mill Avenue last night. At the same time, most places that reopened reported small crowds.

There’s also an informal movement of restaurant and other business owners called “Too Soon Arizona.” As its name implies, these are people who think we’re moving too fast. It’s mostly Tucson-based, but there are a few signatories from Phoenix. Also, the New Times restaurant critic has written that he thinks places are reopening too quickly (without really defining any criteria for when they should reopen).

I listened in yesterday on a webinar about reopening restaurants in Arizona. I expected a lively discussion with some opposing points of view, especially because one of the signers of the “Too Soon” manifesto was listed as a panelist. He wasn’t there after all when the webinar occurred, so it was not contentious after all.

biggus diggus · #**376** Posted **May 12, 2020, 5:24 PM**

Somewhat related to the current conversation, I think we're going to take a road trip this summer since our two weeks in Thailand (should be on a plane right now) were cancelled beyond our control. I've spent some time looking at restaurant situations in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois, Tennessee, and Texas. There is quite a wide range of regulations, I find it interesting.

New Mexico is keeping people inside their homes as much as possible while Nebraska is basically doing nothing. Others are somewhere in the middle. Looking at what they are doing along with what Arizona is doing I think we should expect to see arguing within the restaurant community over whether it's "the right time or not" for the foreseeable future.

exit2lef · #**377** Posted **May 12, 2020, 5:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by biggus diggus

New Mexico is keeping people as inside as possible while Nebraska is basically doing nothing. Others are somewhere in the middle. Looking at what they are doing along with what Arizona is doing I think we should expect to see arguing within the restaurant community over whether it's "the right time or not" for the foreseeable future.

Inside? Outside seems like it would make more sense.