How to lose money while running a restaurant or two.

[sparr]

Two experiences this week with overpopular restaurants have driven me to write this post.

The Vortex (L5P) is often packed, with hour+ waiting lines out the door in the cold. They have another location about 4 miles away that is often sparsely populated at the same times. Here's a crazy idea... Offer a % off their meal, or free parking, or something of similar value, for a party of 8+ to go to the other location. You are going to lose their business when they find out there's a 2 hour wait, why not salvage it?

The Majestic is also often packed, with faster moving lines out the door also in the cold. Tonight I arrived around 3AM to find a Fulton County Sheriff manning the door. I walked in, alone, to take a seat at the counter (which had 3-4 empty seats), and he told me to get to the back of the line. The line full of parties of 2-6. WTF? Majestic, you just lost a customer, probably for a substantial number of potential future visits, until I'm desperate enough to come back.

Comments

[thespian.livejournal.com]

there are no criminals in Atlanta. pshaw!

(seriously, there's a damn good reason for a cop to be at the door of the majestic at 3am; the apt building where I lived and sparr lives now is right near a grocery store referred to as Murder Kroger. Dead bodies are found there every year or two (3 were found during the 4 years I lived there, and it was called the Murder kroger BEFORE that. There's a working hotel (for yes, that variant of 'working') called the Clermont across the street (hasn't been a MURDER in the Clermont since 2001!). About 20% of Atlanta's crime happens in the 3/4 mile between Murder Kroger and Ponce and Highland, where the Majestic is.)

[inlkflyn.livejournal.com]

The last time I was at the Majestic after Rocky Horror waiting in line with 6 other people, a drunk guy in the line got really belligerent with me when some of my friends joined the line (I had already told them I needed a table for 8 and it was going to be a while so the entire party wasn't quite there yet). Luckily the sheriff got him to leave otherwise I think we all would have had to go in order to prevent a fight from breaking out. The cop was like "Yeah man, I don't think the Majestic's food is worth going to jail over". Hahahahaha.

And yeah Sparr the Midtown Vortex needs to do something about their parking situation. I prefer that location to the L5 one but it's $5 to park in the lot across the street so my friends rarely want to meet there.

[luckygirl74.livejournal.com]

going to the L5P location of the Vortex has nothing to do with the food at the Vortex. It is a place where the motorcycle guys go to hang out and drink beer. Motorcycle guys won't go to the midtown location because there is no place to show off your bikes. For everyone else that goes there it is 99.98% cultural experience of "Little Five Points" and not the food in any way.

The door cop at the majestic is just lame.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

write to both restaurants? these are things worth mentioning.