A reader wrote in to point out that things have been looking quiet over at Chelsea's
Redwood Kitchen, an eatery that opened back in March on Eighth Avenue and 15 Street. Well, a walk by confirmed that the joint looks finished - the Airstream trailer that the owners used to decorate the space sits quietly inside the room, which hasn't been open for at least a week. Last week there was a sign saying the restaurant was closed Monday and Tuesdays for "August hours" but it was shuttered over the weekend and now it's boarded up. Cue sad trumpet sound.
"Bored up."? Really? Who writes this stuff.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand how we repeatedly see investments in prime locations accompanied by bad marketing and bad menus--- and then don't immediately react when it is apparent that the execution was poor from the start, then its too late.
ReplyDeleteI bought a couple of Travelzoo vouchers for $49 each that provided for two diners: 4 cocktails, 2 appetizers, and 2 entrees with an implied total value of $120. I redeemed them both in early July, and am glad I did. I read on another website that the restaurant had stopped honoring the Travelzoo vouchers, citing they were losing too much money (both overall and on the vouchers), that Travelzoo had sold too many of them, so they cancelled the contract with them.
ReplyDeleteThey had sold a total of 554 vouchers through Travelzoo, so assuming that Travelzoo kept 50% of the sale proceeds (the Groupon model), the restaurant was collecting about $25 for a meal they nominally valued at $120. That's one helluva loss leader even after you consider what the actual cost per meal was.
It's too bad. We actually enjoyed our dinner there, and was planning on going back.