Morning Brew: June 20th, 2008

Bahahaha. Great line.

A friend of mine lives right across the hall from where one person was arrested. Woken up quite suddenly to the sound of the police breaking down the door.

This was kind of surprising considering where she lives: An upscale high-rise condo on Lakeshore.

She didn't know the person arrested, so I can't really offer any insight as to his crime.

...150km/hr...

The posts where you discuss speeds over 150 km/h seems to get a lot of comments, but I think this is cheating. Also I think that the Mythbusters busted this one.

Not sure how I feel about the proposed expansion -- BMO Field full at 20,000 is pretty amazing for games but a 30,000 seat stadium with 5,000 empty seats might not have the same effect.

I believe part of the appeal of BMO Field is the great atomsphere a small compact stadium provides. The City might be interested in expansion as it'll be able to host other larger venues in the future. Bills games perhaps?

"massive amounts of narcotics, including fake Viagara."
maybe the viagra was a free gift with purchase of nacotics!

Jesus, what an awsome photo!

Reminds me of the first GTA game.

When I read "failed makeover", I automatically assumed that Dooney's had been renovated by "Restaurant Makeover" - and I was right, as the Post article confirms.

Appearing on that show appears to be "the kiss of death" for most restaurants who participate. Granted, most of these places were likely having trouble to begin with, but it still doesn't explain RM's ridiculously high failure rate.

A Maclean's article about the show earlier written this year concluded itself with:

"Now the show is looking beyond its long-standing Toronto-area base to Montreal and especially Vancouver, where pre-Olympic restaurant openings are burgeoning. So don't be jealous: some day soon, a Restaurant Makeover restaurant may flop in your neighbourhood, too."

I don't buy that Restaurant makeover is responsible for these restaurants demise.

They simply just fail to stop the demise already in progress...which is supposed to be the point of the show.

An already struggling restaurant has to wait months and months after the show was filmed for it to air. That is a long time to wait for the increased publicity.

Additionally, they only focus on two areas, decor and to a lesser extent, the food. How often would decor make or break a restaurant? Not very often, I imagine.

There are many, many reasons for a restaurant failing and the big one is never even addressed: Poor management, specifically when it comes to money.

They need to do one of two things:

1) Rework their show to address the other reasons why the restaurant is failing. This would involve having an actual qualified host in addition to the chef and designer. An actual restaurant owner would be a start (But that might conflict with the chef since often the owner is the resident chef). "Jamie Kennedy's Restaurant Makeover" anyone?

2) Only makeover restaurants that -aren't- failing, such as when they did Phil's BBQ, or Montana. If their show does nothing to improve a restaurant's situation, why not just do any old restaurant? It'd also make it easier to find restaurants for the show.

How often would decor make or break a restaurant? Not very often, I imagine.

Look across the street at the marble-clad cafe. It used to be JJ Muggs, among other things, and was always empty because it looked like a strip club was renovated to be a family diner. More than one restaurant failed because of that decor.

A few nitpicky points

- Lakeshore is only "Lakeshore" outside of Toronto. In Toronto it is "Lake Shore"

- BMO field is fantastic, but i do think they can add more seats without ruining the experience (maybe 5K, not 10K). Maybe i will finally be able to get tickets again!

- The bills would require at least a 50K+ seat stadium. Only Skydome (i will always call it that) has enough, but its not designed for football and thus will never be a permanent home.

Susur Lee made an appearance on the show, when they renovated Dhaba's. (Susur's wife was the interior designer renovating the restaurant.) He gave some advice in the kitchen, and his presence worked hugely in Dhaba's favour. (The owners later reverted back some of the interior re-design, as often done by show participants.)

Hmm, if David Adjey wasn't going to be busy with his new book, he would be a good candidate for hosting. He's already on every second or third show as the resident chef. In addition to being a chef, he actually does restaurant consultation, so I'd say he's more than qualified.

Dump the voiceover guy and hire Adjay on full time, even if he's not the chef on the show. Get him to investigate other failings of the restaurant. Only downside is that it would start looking much more like Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares.

The success and failure of any restaurant is determined by these factors: 60% location/hype, 30% decor and 10% food quality. Restaurant Makeover has zero control over the location of a restaurant, which is ultimately what makes or breaks the business. And unlike the UK-version of Gordan Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare, it doesn't generate much hype either. The show is really rather self-serving in that it's all about creating construction drama on TV by imposing an impossible deadline. It doesn't address the problems & issues of actual day-to-day operation, which any Gordan Ramsay fan can tell you is really why restaurants fail.

After talking to the staff at Phil's Original BBQ - which was featured on RM - it seems the show has done nothing but wonderful things for them. Granted, it was a FANTASTIC restaurant before the makeover (and it still is!). Apparently they have to make sure they have extra staff on for a few nights after the show airs (pretty often in re-runs) because they see such a dramatic increase in customers. It seems that for their $15,000.00 they got a whole new decor AND some pretty decent advertising.

Donny, I think you underestimate the importance of proper management. Balancing food costs, staff, waste and cost of the food are tricky things to master. Mess those up and you can lose money even if your restaurant is packed.

J: Really? I always called it Lakeshore, and I live about two blocks away.

How do you speak for 2.5 million people's vocabulary habits anyway?

:P