RIP Marie Callender's.............. (Phoenix, Chandler, Paradise Valley: buy, bankrupt, income)

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

I completely agree with you. The businesses that are failing are the ones that were doing ok before just getting by with their mediocre offerings. Good and popular restaurants are still doing great...I went to Cibo this week on Wednesday and waited around 40 minutes for a table! They are always packed because their food is excellent. If anything, the recession is just weeding out the mediocre places.

That's how it's always been in this city. People are willing to pay for quality. I was at Joes Farm Grille in Gilbert two weeks ago on a Friday night. There was a line that was the length of a football field waiting to order. It's a very popular place and the food is great. I would say that business is thriving.

The reality is the competition is increasing. There are more quality restaurants to the degree that these chains are suffering.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

That's how it's always been in this city. People are willing to pay for quality. I was at Joes Farm Grille in Gilbert two weeks ago on a Friday night. There was a line that was the length of a football field waiting to order. It's a very popular place and the food is great. I would say that business is thriving.

The reality is the competition is increasing. There are more quality restaurants to the degree that these chains are suffering.

There is indeed fierce competition. We are over-commercialized in the Valley - way over commercialized. There probably isn't another place on the planet with the concentration of places to shop and spend your money of that in the Phoenix metro area. Callender's will never be missed. There's 10 more similar places within a two mile radius I am sure.

[Finger Laker]

Yep - I don't think they fell victim to the prospects of AZ ... i think it's just that the AZ prospects swallowed them up .... a dozen other places came in at their price point and did something similar that was better .... they couldn't adapt and didn't make it

ponderosa - that is something that sticks out when I have visitors in - just the sheer concentration of businesses

also, HX there are plenty of excellent places in Glendale - it's a large city with a lot of choices

I do agree about cibo though - although I've never had too bad of a wait there as they do a really nice job at getting food out and turning tables without rushing people through

azriver - i completely agree about chains in more remote areas .... back where I grew up options were limited - the chains were a good 40 minutes away and had massive waits .... there were some decent local options in the surrounding towns, but the repitition could be mind numbing

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by sierraAZ

The only one left in Tucson is closing, too. I guess that's it in AZ.

Ha, they even took AZ off their map of locations. That was fast!

Marie Callender's - Find Us

Closed up here in the Seattle area too. Actually KICKED the customers out in the midst of their meal.

VERY BAD FORM.

Ken

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

It's also poor strategy on their part. These places are not going to survive in large metropolitan areas because there is too much competition and better options now. Places like Bennigans and Ruby Tuesday should have been targeting small town America 10 years ago. Seriously, Olive Garden opened in Sierra Vista and there was a 2 hour wait. People in these little towns love chains because having a chain is better than having nothing.

Different type of business of course, but what you espouse is exactly the way Walmart grew into a giant - by focusing on the smaller towns with few other options THEN they moved into the larger metro areas.

It's a pretty good suggestion you make and I agree that some of these restaurant chains should be doing that.

Ken

[Kimballette]

The Arizona angle is just a small part of the story. 58 locations closed, and only five were here. Marie Callender's closes all Arizona locations

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Callendar's is just the latest in a long series of closings,business failures, and canceled plans in Arizona since the recession. Expect more to come. Arizona's future is bleak and these businesses know it.

The NATIONAL parent company filed Chapter 11. It isn't like the only locations closing were in AZ --65 of them all over the country.

EDIT: Whether it's 58 or 65, this is not another "Arizona's bad economy" story.

[azdr0710]

too bad....so many employees now scrambling....

gotta say, though, that they'd gotten a bit quaint and dowdy....

and I heard their pies weren't made in-store anymore....

the small town vs. large metro area discussion here is a good point.....I'm sure Marie Callendar's would do well only in small towns, but "corporate" probably has $$ in their eyes when they see big metro areas

[mistygrl092]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

too bad....so many employees now scrambling....

gotta say, though, that they'd gotten a bit quaint and dowdy....

and I heard their pies weren't made in-store anymore....

the small town vs. large metro area discussion here is a good point.....I'm sure Marie Callendar's would do well only in small towns, but "corporate" probably has $$ in their eyes when they see big metro areas

I think anytime someone starts selling their foods in the frozen section of the supermarket, its' not a good sign.

I've heard some great things about other chains in Phoenix, but they too have pursued the mass marketing angle. I wonder if their demise will be the same.

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by mistygrl092

I think anytime someone starts selling their foods in the frozen section of the supermarket, its' not a good sign.

I've heard some great things about other chains in Phoenix, but they too have pursued the mass marketing angle. I wonder if their demise will be the same.

I'd think I'd agree with that - though not necessarily because it's a bad sign in of itself, but rather because any expansion into a new area (in this case frozen foods) carries with it new risks along with that new opportunity.

Some years back (the early 1990's) there was a successful restaurant here in Seattle called Mary Pangs. They were doing very well and eventually branched out into frozen dinners. Unfortunately their son Martin was a scumbag who fancied himself to be a combination Bruce Lee & Ladies Man. When he took over the business as they went into semi-retirement he ran it into the ground with his high living. Eventually he cut back so much on the restaurant quality that he was simply heating up the frozen dinners & serving it as "freshly cooked". When business dropped even more he staged a fire at the food processing plant for the insurance money. Sadly 4 Seattle firefighters died in the Mary Pang fire when the floor gave way beneath them & they plunged into the burning basement. It remains one of the biggest most infamous fires in Seattle history. Today Martin Pang remains in prison after pleading guilty to 4 counts of manslaughter.

Ken