What's the deal with Mission Restaurant Group???

[Henry Whalley]

Seems unable to create a successful restaurant.

Bandit Tavern in Royal Oak closes after less than a year in business

https://www.freep.com/story/entertai...s/74335915007/

[sirrealone]

I went and read all their Yelp reviews after I saw they were closing. From what I surmised, it seems like their prices are the problem. It's pretty good food, but there are a lot of places nearby that also serve pretty good food and are 20% cheaper. They can get away with a $22 burger in their restaurants in tourist towns [[e.g. Traverse City) but that model isn't going to work in locations that depend on repeat business.

[Richard]

Strange ,where I am at a real hamburger is that price with fries and drink,considering it’s only a couple of dollars more then fast food crap.

I have a customer that sells specialty hamburgers that are over $100.

I did not read the reviews but my guess the standard reply is - I can buy hamburger and make it myself cheaper at home.

[Henry Whalley]

Is Mission Restaurant Group a publicly-traded corporation?

[Richard]

Search - It’s a private management company,they do not own the restaurants.

[Zacha341]

Hah! That expression used to be the hallmark of someone being cheap, but now with this economy, weakened us dollar and inflation sometimes it IS cheaper to cook at home!

...I did not read the reviews but my guess the standard reply is - I can buy hamburger and make it myself cheaper at home.

[Henry Whalley]

It’s a private management company....

Just curious as to whether it owns or simply manages the Avalon Bakery.

Its website refers to investors: "...our mission is to ...ensure substantial returns on investment for our restaurant owners & investors..."

Also, I wonder if it's a Ponzi scheme since it uses all the high-flown jargon that one learns in JC business school [BS] but its ventures routinely fail.

P.S. I'm skeptical by natural disposition.

[K-slice]

They manage, own, or whatever, some of my favorite resturnts! I've been going to North Peak since they first opened in the early 2000's. They were one of the first breweries/resturants in Traverse City back when it was a lot sleepier than it is today. Same with Blue Tractor, and I love Avaolon and Jolly Pumpkin.

The company technically has been in this space since 2017. Bandit was more of a re-brand than a totally new resturant. Looks like that may not have been the best idea.

Overall, they seem plenty successful to me.

[Henry Whalley]

...Traverse City back when it was a lot sleepier than it is today.

Thanks. I love Avalon, too.

Talk about a sleepier Traverse City: Stacey's Grill on Front Street had a self-serve cash register near the front door. The policy was pay your own bill, make your own change, refill your own coffee, get your own doggy bag. The waitresses were tough old broads who always deserved large gratuities IME.

Customers must have been honest because AFAIK Stacey's flourished for 3-4 decades. Now the space belongs to an upscale brunch house with overpriced mediocre food and gestapos guarding the cash register.

[Richard]

Just curious as to whether it owns or simply manages the Avalon Bakery.

Its website refers to investors: "...our mission is to ...ensure substantial returns on investment for our restaurant owners & investors..."

Also, I wonder if it's a Ponzi scheme since it uses all the high-flown jargon that one learns in JC business school [BS] but its ventures routinely fail.

P.S. I'm skeptical by natural disposition.

By design the information they provide is enough to lure you in to contacting them to get more details.

But it appears that they offer a range,if you have the money and concept they implement it and manage it for you,or you can invest with them and they will implement and manage a location for you of their concept or they can just take over the management of an existing restaurant for you.

You see a lot of these closings based on COVID and no it’s not because of that even in the states that had insanely strict COVID measures,it’s just that those with means are not feeling the pain as those without means and it is a down economy that’s going to take a few years to recover,so we are going to see a lot more closings and adjustments no matter what sector it’s just following the 10 year cycle as it always has.

[Henry Whalley]

...the information they provide is enough to lure you in to contacting them to get more details...

No thanks. I've got no money to lose.

[Richard]

There was a company by me that was doing something similar,they were attracting investors and buying up restaurants and other small business and then installing their management teams,even offering stock options to the employees.

So a percentage of your salary as an employee went back into the company.

On the restaurant side,that would be waitresses,bar tenders etc. people that really needed every penny they made and were in no position to be trading wages for stocks.

Because they were invested in multiple different businesses across the spectrum,the concept was if one had a slow month or took a little time to build up into profit the others would carry the burden and offset the loss.

Like these large franchises do,underperforming stores do not matter because it is more about market share and the other stores can carry the losses.

In an up market.

When the market switches to a down market it’s time to dump the underperforming stores.

So that’s what is happening with the company I mentioned,most of the business that they acquired have now shut and the employees that jumped on the bandwagon of that socialist experiment have now lost their “investment” in those stocks and learned a lesson.

The thing is,you do not really need to have any money to make money,you just have to have a plan and those with money are always looking to make more money as long as it’s at a higher rate of return as they can get with normal investments.

It’s easy to do when the money is rolling in but when the market goes down,you get what you are seeing now the easy money stuff fails and the stuff that was based on a solid foundation will struggle but make it through to the next rise.

Pretty much everything in life is a Ponzi scheme of sorts,look at the lottery,but if it’s government controlled it’s legal,if somebody tries to infringe on their scams then it becomes illegal.

The biggest Ponzi scheme is the suburbs and sprawl,without new money coming in they are not sustainable.

[JBMcB]

Seems unable to create a successful restaurant.

Let's see their list.

Avalon is outstanding.
Blue Tractor is excellent.
North Peak is great.
I haven't been to Jolly Pumpkin but I know quite a few people who really like it.
I've heard Mash is good.

I don't know, looks successful to me. Not every restaurant is a home run.

[Richard]

Restaurants have always had a high failure rate,outside of long running ones that have managed to become generational,very rarly do you see them as a generational thing.

Most restaurant owners are committed to 70 hour work weeks,it’s a hard way to make a living.

With the current situation where I am at,you either have to be high end or budget,where if you do not have volume you are not going to make it.

Then there are the fads,first it was tacos - then breweries,they were on every corner and have been dropping like flies.

The avocado and toast fluffy ones are closing faster than anything else.

[Henry Whalley]

...it’s a hard way to make a living.

Agreed it's a hard way. Employees will rob owners blind, if they dislike work that leaves workers impoverished.

chris rock on minimum wage - Yahoo Image Search Results