Comments
Ovaltene17 t1_iwhvvm8 wrote
On Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares TV Show, it seems many people use their life savings to start a restaurant when they are in their late 40s/early 50s - hoping to parlay their savings into a nice retirement fortune. Unfortunately most of them end up bankrupt and have then either lost the house, retirement, or both!
No-Potential-1777 t1_iwj9zqt wrote
Best way to make a small fortune in the restaurant business is to start with a large one.
wasowka t1_iwbke97 wrote
Honestly I’ve not been going out to eat. Prices are way to high and service is shoddy. Easier and cheaper just to cook myself.
abnormalbrain t1_iwbqtbw wrote
That sounds good. What do you taste like?
SmartassRemarks t1_iwdqh0q wrote
pork
profjohnm t1_iw9um3u wrote
Maddi's is a great place. Hope they will open another location in Worcester.
Until then, Depot St. Tavern in Milford is the owner's original place and hope to see them thriving for a long time.
28Widget t1_iw9xyx9 wrote
I agree. I liked Broth too. I hope they resurrect somewhere close!
Unable-Bison-272 t1_iwa4ud7 wrote
Depot St is awesome
AchillesDev t1_iwbiwrv wrote
Didn’t realize the Depot St. people had another restaurant. My grandparents live nearby and it’s always packed when I drive by it.
njptoo86 t1_iwavli3 wrote
Well I can say the manager there sucked out loud. He was absolutely terrible to customers. If your going to rely on grubhub to survive it might be in your best interest to give customers a call when a menu item is out of stock instead of just sending a partial order
APlayerScav t1_iwadz02 wrote
Poor management had this place on this path for a while now. The owner has a track record for that. They just decided to blame the ballpark after others did, as an out strategy.
UncleFedora t1_iwa3we3 wrote
I got blasted for saying it before, but eating up parking spaces with bumped out sidewalks has people going elsewhere. One of the restaurants even blamed parking in an article. 🤦♂️
SmartSherbet t1_iwc2aqq wrote
It's not the city's job to provide parking for restaurant patrons. It *is* the city's job to provide safe spaces for people to walk.
UncleFedora t1_iwe4k9v wrote
How about that Grafton street rotary? GIANT sidewalks, and a traffic nightmare, but hey, plenty of space for pedestrians.
UniqueCartel t1_iwgzw2x wrote
That area has always been jammed with traffic. The rotary makes the traffic patterns more predictable and clear which makes it safer. Larger spaces for pedestrians makes pedestrians more visible to traffic.
Karen1968a t1_iwlsu08 wrote
It was never ever this bad. It’s literally 15 minutes from cvs to 290 almost every afternoon. Now, is it safer for pedestrians, I don’t know, it might well be, but it does seem to me that all of those cars trucks and buses stuck in traffic are going to increase pollution. Heywood street into Kelly square is the same, traffic nightmare, but that was the goal, slow everything down for pedestrians.
Karen1968a t1_iwewgzj wrote
A traffic nightmare, and they are going to do the exact same thing with the Chandler street reconfiguration.
AceOfTheSwords t1_iwc10er wrote
When you reach a certain density of businesses on a given street, the street parking is less useful. Increasingly you can only rely on the space immediately in front of your business. And the 2-4 parking spaces in front of a restaurant aren't going to come anywhere near filling the place.
What would honestly help the businesses in that area a lot would be a frequent (say, every 15 min) shuttle that ran a small route from Kelley Square, up Water St, across Franklin St, stopping at the bus hub, and going down Green St back to Kelley Square. And have it run LATE. At least until midnight. Could stop waiting at the hub after the last commuter train leaves, since other buses all stop running before that.
TheTokingMushroom t1_iwbevy8 wrote
Union Station Parking Garage is literally right there. It was easy to park there on a Friday night.
sunshinepills t1_iwc3om7 wrote
I agree, but Worcester is culturally not a park and walk city.
your_city_councilor t1_iwcawi0 wrote
It has to become that, though, if it wants to have more than just a few restaurants. In the meanwhile, the restaurants could provide valet service, as the Shrewsbury Street places do.
moisheah t1_iwccq3l wrote
Valet Service 👍didn’t even think of that. (I don’t drive so not on my radar)
sunshinepills t1_iwd03y2 wrote
I definitely agree with you, and FWIW I disagree with the notion of "if I am going somewhere I must be able to park RIGHT out front or I will no longer go", especially in a city like Worcester where there are SO many low-cost parking options less than a quarter mile from....anywhere really.
moisheah t1_iwccfke wrote
Worcester needs to adapt. Not having any parking available at all is one thing. Not having parking right outside the establishment door because people don’t want to walk for three-five-ten minutes is something else.
A shuttle would be nice, but not necessary imo. Afaik the wrta can’t keep up with the regular routes due to driver shortages so I can’t see them adding any additional rn.
Eta- there are at maybe 2-3? Free busses that run the complete length of green street now. I’m guessing at least 1-2 of those also run down the other street on the opposite side of the peanut. No idea how late though.
SmartSherbet t1_iwcbkhj wrote
That's gonna have to change if we want businesses to succeed in areas where rent is high and space is tight. It is neither practical nor in any way desirable for every business to provide free parking immediately adjacent to its front door for all of its customers.
Just think about restaurants - they have tons of patrons on Friday and Saturday at 7pm, fewer at other times, and zero much of the time. Meaning that for all of their weekend customers to be able to park right there, really valuable land has to be set aside for parking and go completely unused the rest of the time. That drives the cost of owning a restaurant way up - because you have to own the parking lot, too, which brings you no revenue and spends most of its time sitting empty.
Here's a video illustrating the problem.
sunshinepills t1_iwd0df2 wrote
I said this in another thread reply, but FWIW I disagree with the notion of "if I am going somewhere I must be able to park RIGHT out front or I will no longer go", especially in a city like Worcester where there are SO many low-cost parking options less than a quarter mile from....anywhere really. Even for folks who don't drive or choose not to, I know the WRTA sucks but Uber/Lyft are also insanely reasonable in Worcester.
ctsketch t1_iwdeabw wrote
And i've never seen that garage at capacity
stargazer4272 t1_iwbrqw2 wrote
I've seen no good thing about eating in the street. I avoid places that have forced out door tables like in street or parking lots.
ctsketch t1_iwde8s3 wrote
Sidewalks were shit or non existant in the area before. I see a lot more people walking around and shopping on the weekends now
[deleted] t1_iw9yg4v wrote
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Forgetful_momma_61 t1_iwa2t7t wrote
They were closed Mon-Wed. Open most Thursday, Friday & Saturday evenings, then Sunday brunch. They didn’t open today or this past Thursday. A lot of places in Kelley Square have (what I think of as) odd days/hours. I’m always checking a place’s social media to see if they’re open before I go out.
_Electricmanscott t1_iwbqbun wrote
Literally not true.
[deleted] t1_iwbrffe wrote
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guybehindawall OP t1_iwbvmzh wrote
Those hours are an effect, not a cause.
[deleted] t1_iwbwviy wrote
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guybehindawall OP t1_iwbzvpd wrote
Horseshit, they were regularly open longer hours on weekends, and on more weekdays pre-covid and even in 2020. For example: https://www.instagram.com/p/B11Xt0cnDie/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
EDIT: lol ok well since you've edited your comment from "Those have always been their hours", here's one where they posted about opening at 4 on Mon and Wed, and another about being open until 11 on a Saturday.
ctsketch t1_iwde5bi wrote
No, those hours only happened post Covid
_Electricmanscott t1_iwcaz40 wrote
So not literally never open. Just giving you shit because that word is so overused and almost always incorrectly. 👍🏿
MattOLOLOL t1_iwglusg wrote
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally
See definition 2. It was used correctly.
supersandie t1_iwaert4 wrote
Never even heard of it...
ctsketch t1_iwdemof wrote
Its a great spot. good food, and a good brunch. I've been there probably a couple dozen times
Patient_Customer9827 t1_iw9qrbh wrote
Terrible. Losing a lot of good restaurants. I use to feel like we had an abundance of places to go in the city. Now, not as much so.
APlayerScav t1_iwae22b wrote
If it's not on shrewsbury st, the city doesnt care.
pdillon69 t1_iwbjtsa wrote
What is the actual reason these places are closing? Are rents going up or is it lack of buisness?
KadenKraw t1_iwc9z6j wrote
Most restaurants fail. Its just a fact of the industry.
oceanwave4444 t1_iwc9ns7 wrote
Honestly I think it's a mixture of both? Super sad to see. Had a small heart attack when I saw Table Talk gone, but quickly learned they're just relocating until the building gets renovated.
_Electricmanscott t1_iwcc64o wrote
Table talk built a brand new facility. The little store will be back on Green St eventually.
CoolAbdul t1_iwc93bx wrote
Shame. Really liked their fun menu.
guybehindawall OP t1_iwcq3q5 wrote
I feel like these closures are getting progressively worse. Hangover had some good ideas but never operated well, Buck's had some good food, Smokestack had a solid 10 year run, and Maddi's seemed like a beloved neighborhood spot (Worcester Eats is fucking *devastated*). Gotta be worried about who's next.
CoolAbdul t1_iwcxp0t wrote
Maybe Worcester Eats is part of the problem. The people on there are BRUTAL.
sunshinepills t1_iwd0q75 wrote
Are they still up each other's assholes about a Breen's joke from three years ago?
CoolAbdul t1_iwdbqwp wrote
Yes. Exactly that.
sunshinepills t1_iwdddrr wrote
Cool cool cool, thanks for that intel. I'll keep them muted then :).
your_city_councilor t1_iwcair8 wrote
The problem is that restaurant margins are already small and the cost of labor has gone way up. People point to parking as an issue, but Shrewsbury Street has good parking, and Green Street never did. On top of that, new garages are being built in the area.
HimynameisBrad t1_iwdngsc wrote
There really isn’t any food in Worcester that I’d justify the price tag for.
Razmataz444 t1_iw9z6e3 wrote
This is very sad.
peachybabee t1_iwcs420 wrote
when we lost the park grill i knew it was going downhill
sweetheart4012 t1_iwdtjfb wrote
The parking is the worst in that area. We always had trouble.
operator_1337 t1_iw9tme9 wrote
How's that gentrification going?
orzechod t1_iw9vvrf wrote
the ballpark is revitalizing these places right out of business
Virtual_Announcer t1_iwah3fs wrote
"that stupid fucking ballpark" is how I always reference it in conversation.
Ron-Ruger t1_iwboqnv wrote
I totally agree!!!! That stupid fucking park!! What a waste of space!!
albalfa t1_iw9rri3 wrote
I also lament the restaurants that are closing of late.
The reality is that 60% fail within their first year, and 80% go under within the first five years.
A lot of work, love, and hope go into opening a restaurant. There are real people and dreams behind those statistics.