The Next Restaurant to CLOSE? your opinion/thought (Sarasota, Bradenton: leases, credit card)

[LeBreque]

Another one bites the dust : CARMEL CAFE @UTC, last day was yesterday


Of course POLO GRILL in LWR...gone a couple of weeks earlier


My opinion, no real loss, another Outback "off-shoot"


Who's NEXT?? who needs to be next?

[d4g4m]

I don't know how some of those places pay the thousands of dollars a month rent and the electric bill.

[LeBreque]

Originally Posted by d4g4m

I don't know how some of those places pay the thousands of dollars a month rent and the electric bill.

The fact is a few of these places with leases with Benderson Development (in particular) are paying ASTRONOMICAL monthly lease payments and other assorted fees....some well well over 30k per month plus/and in some cases percentages of gross sales. It's unsustainable for most, even if they are part of huge national or regional chains. Publix also operates and leases spaces in a few of their owned plazas but they are hardly as punitive.


If I told you how much 'Burger and Beer Joint', 'Rusty Bucket', or 'Acropolis', et al (all marginal to inferior food/service) are paying in their leases, you would faint and fall off your chair.

[gypsychic]

No wonder some of those places charge so much.... I liked Carmel Cafe at first, but then they jacked up their prices and we quit going....

I would like to see some more interesting restaurants come to Bradenton, surely the rent can't be as high as the over-priced city of Sarsota....Every time I go downtown (Sarasota) there is some restaurant that has closed with another in its place.

[photoman_6]

the turnover in this area (sarasota/manatee) is horrendous. Back in Long Island, restaurants lasted for years and years. I think the fact that restaurants down here live and die for the season is a big problem.. They have to make their money in four six months and hope to survive the summer.

[choff5]

I read that Nokimos Crab House is closing which makes me sad. We were told it was the best place to get anything like Chesapeake Bay crab cakes in the area and we didn’t make it there before we left. Was planning on it next fall but so much for that.

[sware2cod]

Originally Posted by choff5

I read that Nokimos Crab House is closing which makes me sad. We were told it was the best place to get anything like Chesapeake Bay crab cakes in the area and we didn’t make it there before we left. Was planning on it next fall but so much for that.

Darn. I have been meaning to go there for steamed blue crabs. They are one of the few places around that offer them. Wonder if Pincher's Crab Shack impacted their business. Pincher's opened this year 1 or 2 miles away from them and Pincher's sells blue crabs too.

[d4g4m]

Checkers tried to make a go at it on the property owned by Doctors Hospital, Bee Ridge/Cattlemen. They did ok for awhile but when their lease was up, the new lot space rent was increased so high they decided to give up the space. Space is now occupied by Starbucks and First Watch. Chili's is doing ok but I don't know how Taco Bell stays open.

[LeBreque]

One of the largest franchises of APPLEBEE's,, based in Atlanta, filed for bankruptcy. Nationally, the parent company is planning to close up to 80 new restaurants. That franchisee is RNH Holdings, with 163 stores!


In the bankruptcy filing, the company said it owes between $100 million and $500 million, and it has assets within the same range, which means of course they're BROKE.


The bankruptcy filing occurs about two months after the company revealed a major security breach at all its locations that exposed customers’ credit cards to hackers. Malware was found operating on the software of the company’s cash register system between December 2017 and January 2017.


The company said the malware was designed to collect names, credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and card verification codes. These point-of-sale attacks can give thieves the ability to steal credit card information from customers.


It is unclear whether the bankruptcy filing is related to the security breach.



A number of major restaurant chains revealed credit card breaches last year, including Arby’s, Chipotle, Sonic Drive-In and Shoney’s.


Like many restaurant chains in the United States, Applebee’s has not been immune from changes in customer tastes, with younger diners in particular tending to avoid sit-down eateries like Applebee’s and opt for fast-casual options instead.


Dine Global Brands, Applebee’s parent company, closed nearly 100 locations last year and said it planned to close between 60 to 80 additional sites this year.

No loss as far as I'm concerned, most Applebee's pretty much suck.

[LeBreque]

I don't know how Demetrio's at Lockwood/Univ stays in business at that expensive location either, and their parking lot is seldom even one-half full, and their food is average and nothing special, and I've had better pizza at Pizza Hut - a lot better.