Downtown Bagger Dave's Closes

**313WX** · December-29-15, 10:56 AM

I'm not surprised. The burger I last got from there was trifling. Nothing like Five Guys.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ent...oses/77990846/

**belleislerunner** · December-29-15, 12:45 PM

It's a sign of poor management.

There is no such thing as "underperforming" anything - it's a scapegoat used for management had projections of X for the restaurant based off pricing/demographics etc and those assumptions turned out to be not accurate on which business decisions were made. In essence the location becomes the cause and not the underlying logic/management that made that decision.

It's a publicly traded company - so a good idea for activist investors to get involved and provide some adult supervision to the management, or mismanagement, of that Company.

But in my books - renovated building - something else will go in there - win for Detroit.

**detroitsgwenivere** · December-29-15, 12:48 PM

I'm not surprised either. I ate there once and never went back. Food was bland and basic, and the place always looks empty. I just hope whatever replaces it offers another food option for us, because the lunchtime pickins is slim in these downtown parts...

**Honky Tonk** · December-29-15, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

I'm not surprised either. I ate there once and never went back. Food was bland and basic, and the place always looks empty. I just hope whatever replaces it offers another food option for us, because the lunchtime pickins is slim in these downtown parts...

I hope it's a Greek hamburger joint.

**Scottathew** · December-29-15, 01:38 PM

I've gone there twice and really enjoyed it. I only went there when a vendor was paying the bill. It was simply too expensive for a casual lunch.

**Bigdd** · December-29-15, 02:41 PM

The vary A LOT.

I have been to the Bagger Dave's in Novi at Novi Rd. and Grand River a few times,.. and it was always excellent.

Then they opened one at Maple and telegraph,.. and it is HORRIBLE. First time I ate there I waited 10 minutes and no one came to ask me what I wanted. This in a restaurant where I was one of 3 customers,.. and was SITTING AT THE BAR,... some 5 feet away from where 2 bar / wait staff were talking with a manager. Finally I had to yell over to them and one begrudgingly came over. the hamburger I had was with mushrooms,.. but they smelled like feces.

I tried the place twice more [[hoping they were just working the bugs out of a new location). The next two times I didn't even manage to get food. 15+ minutes in a nearly empty restaurant and no service. not even after I walked around the place looking for someone. These last two times were at 6 pm on a weekday,.. when the place should have been full of people eating on the way home from work.

Their signage is also terrible. Small sign on a place that's stuck behind ther large Andiamos [[formerly Machus Red Fox of Jimmy Hoffa fame).

Five guys is fine,.. so long as you like your burgers VERY well done. They put so much stuff on top of the burger that it becomes hard to tell how over-cooked the patties are. To think of it,.. I might stop in one today.

**TTime** · December-29-15, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by Bigdd

The vary A LOT.

I have been to the Bagger Dave's in Novi at Novi Rd. and Grand River a few times,.. and it was always excellent.

Then they opened one at Maple and telegraph,.. and it is HORRIBLE. First time I ate there I waited 10 minutes and no one came to ask me what I wanted. This in a restaurant where I was one of 3 customers,.. and was SITTING AT THE BAR,... some 5 feet away from where 2 bar / wait staff were talking with a manager. Finally I had to yell over to them and one begrudgingly came over. the hamburger I had was with mushrooms,.. but they smelled like feces.

I tried the place twice more [[hoping they were just working the bugs out of a new location). The next two times I didn't even manage to get food. 15+ minutes in a nearly empty restaurant and no service. not even after I walked around the place looking for someone. These last two times were at 6 pm on a weekday,.. when the place should have been full of people eating on the way home from work.

Their signage is also terrible. Small sign on a place that's stuck behind ther large Andiamos [[formerly Machus Red Fox of Jimmy Hoffa fame).

Five guys is fine,.. so long as you like your burgers VERY well done. They put so much stuff on top of the burger that it becomes hard to tell how over-cooked the patties are. To think of it,.. I might stop in one today.

I had two completely different experiences at the Berkley and Detroit locations. Berkley was excellent in every aspect from the service to the atmosphere and the food and the Detroit location couldn't have been worse. I went a few times and there was absolutely no one in there and the staff was bad. Oh well, I'll keep going to their other locations but Downtown was not a fit for them.

**warsaw7** · December-29-15, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

I just hope whatever replaces it offers another food option for us, because the lunchtime pickins is slim in these downtown parts...

You are joking right?

**Jimaz** · December-29-15, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Bigdd

... but they smelled like feces.

I tried the place twice more....

**JBMcB** · December-29-15, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by TTime

I had two completely different experiences at the Berkley and Detroit locations. Berkley was excellent in every aspect from the service to the atmosphere and the food and the Detroit location couldn't have been worse.

Berkley is the original location, so it's probably run fairly well. It was started by a franchisee of Buffalo Wild Wings, which is based out of Minnesota. The holding group that owns the BW3s franchises and Bagger Dave's is HQ'd in Southfield.

**TTime** · December-29-15, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by JBMcB

Berkley is the original location, so it's probably run fairly well. It was started by a franchisee of Buffalo Wild Wings, which is based out of Minnesota. The holding group that owns the BW3s franchises and Bagger Dave's is HQ'd in Southfield.

To be fair to the Downtown staff I couldn't tell if they were bad because there were no customers and they weren't making money or if no one was in there because the staff was bad from the get go. Also, the Downtown location certainly had the advantage of a cool physical building but I guess that doesn't really matter when there isn't enough foot traffic to be drawn in by the building.

**Scottathew** · December-29-15, 04:37 PM

Originally Posted by TTime

To be fair to the Downtown staff I couldn't tell if they were bad because there were no customers and they weren't making money or if no one was in there because the staff was bad from the get go. Also, the Downtown location certainly had the advantage of a cool physical building but I guess that doesn't really matter when there isn't enough foot traffic to be drawn in by the building.

We were clearly be wined and dined by a vendor and the waiter kept coming over and making large amounts of unwelcomed small talk. You could tell the vendor was getting pissed because they were paying a lot of money for our time and the waiter was stealing it.

**Dbest** · December-29-15, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by Bigdd

"the hamburger I had was with mushrooms,.. but they smelled like feces."

"I tried the place twice more" .

You're pretty brave....

**detroitsgwenivere** · December-29-15, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by warsaw7

You are joking right?

When you eat down here almost every single day for lunch like many of us workin stiffs do then, yeah, the pickins is slim...

**401don** · December-29-15, 10:11 PM

Maybe it's because I'm getting old[[er) but I miss the days when downtown had a few diner spots. You know the kind of food like you get in Bob Evans/Big Boy, etc. Sometimes you don't want to choose between various ethnic foods. You just want a grilled cheese or chicken salad sandwich, bowl of soup, piece of pie, etc. Heck even the lunch counter at Kresge's was great.

**401don** · December-29-15, 10:20 PM

I posted on the Wahlburger thread, as many here stated, there's not enough traffic for Bagger Dave's and it was dumb opening next door to their own BWW, which struggles on non-game days. Now the company is trying to blame the Tigers poor season for its closure. If they needed the Tigers to win every year to be successful, especially in that location, they had a very poor marketing plan. The Tigers drew 2.7 million, 9th in the majors.

~http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...wings/78030704

**softailrider** · December-29-15, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by Bigdd

The vary A LOT.

I have been to the Bagger Dave's in Novi at Novi Rd. and Grand River a few times,.. and it was always excellent.

Then they opened one at Maple and telegraph,.. and it is HORRIBLE. First time I ate there I waited 10 minutes and no one came to ask me what I wanted. This in a restaurant where I was one of 3 customers,.. and was SITTING AT THE BAR,... some 5 feet away from where 2 bar / wait staff were talking with a manager. Finally I had to yell over to them and one begrudgingly came over. the hamburger I had was with mushrooms,.. but they smelled like feces.

I tried the place twice more [[hoping they were just working the bugs out of a new location). The next two times I didn't even manage to get food. 15+ minutes in a nearly empty restaurant and no service. not even after I walked around the place looking for someone. These last two times were at 6 pm on a weekday,.. when the place should have been full of people eating on the way home from work.

Their signage is also terrible. Small sign on a place that's stuck behind ther large Andiamos [[formerly Machus Red Fox of Jimmy Hoffa fame).

Five guys is fine,.. so long as you like your burgers VERY well done. They put so much stuff on top of the burger that it becomes hard to tell how over-cooked the patties are. To think of it,.. I might stop in one today.

I can't understand how the Maple / Telegraph location stays open. That place is never busy at all, most of the time it's almost empty. Ate there once, there wasn't a problem with the service but I don't remember the food being memorable. We never did go back.

Hogan's which is just North of Maple is always pretty busy, and the food there isn't anything to write home about.

**archfan** · December-30-15, 04:10 AM

It sounds like the company is focusing on their BWW franchises, as they're now the largest BWW franchisee. They seem to be sunsetting the Bagger Dave's concept - keep the ones that are profitable open, but close the ones that aren't keeping up. This was in their September filing:

In the year ahead, we plan to focus our resources primarily on growing our BWW portfolio, which represents the overwhelming majority of both our revenue and adjusted EBITDA. Accordingly, we will not commit to any further development of Bagger Dave’s beyond the two restaurants currently under construction. We currently have two additional Bagger Dave’s under development, one of which will open in November of 2015 and the other in the First Quarter 2016.

**belleislerunner** · December-30-15, 07:54 AM

Bagger Dave's problem was their a la carte pricing alienated the lunch crowd.

You don't get fries with your burger there - you had to pay extra. So by the time you paid $10 for a burger, $3 bucks for fries and then a drink you were looking at $15-20 bill just for lunch, as you had to tip. That's not a sustainable business model with the lunch crowd.

The total bill can't be more than $10.00.

For $10 you can eat lunch at Potbellys, Bellacinos, Orchid Thai, Coneys, Golden Fleece, Al Karar, Compuware cafeteria, Bucharest Grill, Five Guys - there was no need to pay more just to go to Bagger Dave's for less food.

**stasu1213** · December-30-15, 10:46 AM

Let's face it. The average lunchtime working crowd downtown do not want to bust their wallets and purses paying over $6.00 for lunch on a daily basis. That is why The Ham Shoppe, American and National Coney Islands, A Birmingham Coney Island in the Millender Center have a steady flow of lunchtime customers dining everyday. Sometimes bad management and poor customer services plague some of the restaurants and cafes in the downtown area. The location was not really good for what was next door to it. I somewhat agree with detroitgwen. I would add AFFORDABLE lunchtime pickins are slim. Gilbert, whom had brought downtown back to life, only allowing expensive restaurants to open in his buildings. Panera Bread, I was told, is just now beginning construction on it's site inside the RenCen due to long contract disputes that most up and coming retail go through while trying to open in the city. Downtown had more diners that working white collar/blue collar stiffs downtown had frequented daily with putting a large dent in their wallets. More affordable diners need to open in the downtown area. The Ham Shop has good $6.00 specials as well as Plaka. BBWW, Beggar Daves, Punchbowl, Central, and Townhouse are not frequented by the lunchtime crowd who want to save a buck

**Lowell** · December-30-15, 11:04 AM

Add me to the 'not surprised' crowd. My pathway took me by the place a couple of times a week last year. The place was frequently empty or had only a few customers. It seemed a bit repetitive with Buffalo Wild Wings next door which had more entertainment, but it too always seemed under-attended.

**Baselinepunk** · December-30-15, 11:59 AM

I've found Bagger sucks pretty much everytime I've went there -- mostly the Berkley location.

Way over priced for what you get and fucking pretentious as hell.

Personally, getting a little tired of overpaying for a low to mid level meal just cuz I sit my ass in one spot for around an hour.

Give me good, quality food at a reasonable price with well managed service.

I don't care what color the walls are; or what the fuck is on them. Just don't have any of that fucking country music crap playing in the background and we're all good.

Thank you in advance.

**stasu1213** · December-30-15, 12:37 PM

A la carte doesn't do well for any restaurant catering to the lunch time crowd. Give me the lunchtime specials such as sandwich, fries, and a beverage for under $6.00

**Bham1982** · December-30-15, 04:03 PM

No restaurant using fresh quality ingredients is going to provide lunch for $6 these days. If people want to save money they can brown-bag it like most folks. It's anecdotal, but the people at my work who make the lowest salaries are always going out for $10 lunch and complaining they have no money, while high paid managers are eating sandwiches and leftovers from home.

Restaurants open and close all the time, regardless of downtown's relative fortunes. It isn't a referendum on the city's relative prospects. It's just the reality of a low margin business. Downtown isn't "thriving" if Cheesecake Factory opens and it isn't "hurting" if it closes.

**detroitsgwenivere** · December-30-15, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

I would add AFFORDABLE lunchtime pickins are slim.

Yes, that's what I was getting at. If lunch requires me to sit, costs more than $10, or isn't good quality, it's probably not gonna happen for me or many others apparently. Brown bagging is a difficult habit to keep when you work as much as many of us do.

Bham, I don't think your assessment is incorrect when looking some of the other busy areas, but times are changing, and I don't understand why it has to be that way for us in the CBD. If the demand for the kind of options we're talking about is there, then shouldn't market mechanisms work to bring us the type of eateries we want?

Not saying I have a problem with the places we currently have, I just cant afford to eat at many of them and wont pay for crap. I'm tryin to stay in my lane, which is ok, plenty of other people seem to enjoy eating at these spots, otherwise they would shut down shop like Dave's is doin.

The ala cart thing is a barrier, true. When Olga's changed their meal set up to something similar, forcing us to pay more for less, I stopped eating there and so did many others.