7 ms·

Save Bistro Elan

79 points by revorad 15y ago

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
rbanffy 15y ago
Would there be a way for those regulars to pool their resources into a non-profit that would keep the place alive?
- ltamake 15y ago
  Was thinking about this. Sort of a "donation fund" to save the restaurant.
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    Maybe there is already a non-profit willing to preserve such things. I don't live nearby (in fact, I live in another country) so I can't really say how meaningful the restaurant is to the history of Palo Alto (I'll take pg's word) and its preservation may really interest some already existing entity.
thisuser 15y ago
The logical conclusion of the intuition to save this restaurant from rentiers is that all of the FIRE industries should be owned by the community that enables them, not private hands of a few psychopaths.
- shii 15y ago
  Psychopaths?
aarghh 15y ago
This is Kepler's all over again.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler%27s_Books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler%27s_Books
thaumaturgy 15y ago
...wait, you mean cool startups that are getting lots of help & attention & funding actually need a place to eat? Gee, it's a shame nobody's as interested in providing support to those businesses (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2609076 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2609076). It's unlikely that this business can be saved; if they're anything like most such small shops, they've been struggling for a long time without any of the kind of support that sexy YC startups receive. They likely have razor-thin margins and not a lot of money in the bank; getting their rent raised on them is just the straw breaking their back. They'll "pivot", but only as much as their meager resources will allow. I've seen way too many good small businesses just completely fall over lately, but since they don't offer the kind of investment opportunity that the next Google does, nobody cares. ...unless it happens to be their favorite little sandwich shop.
- dstein 15y ago
  How long until pg starts up FoodCombinator to help restaurant entrepreneurs disrupt the food industry?
  - shii 15y ago
    How does the food industry need disruption? Payment processing and things like that are one thing, smaller parts like menu ordering, recommendations, etc are things already being tackled all over the place...but how else would you disrupt the restaurant system? Genuinely interested in the topic and opinions.
    - thaumaturgy 15y ago
      I'm always happy to talk with anyone about this -- I have a couple of restaurants as clients, I care a lot about the health of their business, and they face a lot of interesting challenges. For problems with a tech bent, the entire POS industry that restaurants rely on is ripe for the plucking. Restaurants pay tens of thousands of dollars for truly awful software operating on antique hardware, along with support contracts and all kinds of other expensive goodies. Then there's their ordering systems: they still make phone calls to their food vendors after looking at fax printouts. For non-tech-related stuff: restaurateurs could use help with marketing. They could use help with financing. They could use help with staff training. They could use help with organization. They could use help with customer metrics. Things that we take for granted when it comes to improving our customer experience -- like A/B testing for example -- are completely nonexistent in these other industries, and they make up a hell of a lot more revenue than the startup field does. I'd really like for someone else to get to these guys before I do, because they deserve a lot better than this.
keeeeeeeeen 15y ago
This kind of thing has been happening for years in Palo Alto. Life goes on.
redtwo 15y ago
Are you asking some regulars to buy it ? Well, I hope the owners don't read you, because if they do, welcome to the restaurants bubble.
rbanffy 15y ago
I am not familiar with restaurant prices in California, but theirs seem low. Can't a raise in prices compensate for the rent? Would that make them less competitive compared to surrounding places? For how long until those places have to raise prices too? http://www.bistroelan.com/Bistro_Elan/Dinner_menu.html http://www.bistroelan.com/Bistro_Elan/Dinner_menu.html Also, can they expand and start serving dinner at the Birch St location, partly subsidizing the operation at the California Avenue place?
dagw 15y ago
On the one hand I get that losing your favorite restaurant kind of sucks, but on the other hand is it really worthwhile to artificially keep alive a company that cannot survive on its own. Also if the place is as good as pg seems to indicate then the people involved will no doubt find a new kitchen to call home and will be serving the food you love in short order. I mean my favorite Japanese place has closed down twice in recent times, but the head chef, and the reason the places where awesome, is still cooking.
- pg 15y ago
  It's doing fine as a business. The landlord is trying to take advantage of them by raising the rent dramatically. Restaurants aren't very mobile.
  - dagw 15y ago
    Restaurants aren't very mobile. Depends on what defines a restaurant, is it the building or the people. While the building itself isn't mobile, the people who run the restaurant certainly are. If the manager, head chef, sous chef, maitre d', and a few other key people where to close up shop at their current location and set up a new place serving the same food a couple of blocks down the road, wouldn't that count as mobile. Sure it will cost a bit of cash upfront, but if they can negotiate a better deal on the rent, they'll quickly make that back.
aaronblohowiak 15y ago
For a tastier and more intimate (literally mom and pop) experience, I prefer le petit bistro on el camino.
djm 15y ago
There are probably quite a few regulars at Bistro Elan who could buy the building and become their new landlord PG: Have you considered buying it yourself? I'm assuming that you are one of those regulars and can probably afford it. You said the business was doing well in another comment so I assume they could continue paying you rent at their current rate.
staunch 15y ago
Maybe some of the PayPal Mafia could "take care" of the problem. I mean, ya know, buy the building or something.

Save Bistro Elan

79 points by revorad 15y ago

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

rbanffy 15y ago

Would there be a way for those regulars to pool their resources into a non-profit that would keep the place alive?

ltamake 15y ago
Was thinking about this. Sort of a "donation fund" to save the restaurant.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  Maybe there is already a non-profit willing to preserve such things. I don't live nearby (in fact, I live in another country) so I can't really say how meaningful the restaurant is to the history of Palo Alto (I'll take pg's word) and its preservation may really interest some already existing entity.

thisuser 15y ago

The logical conclusion of the intuition to save this restaurant from rentiers is that all of the FIRE industries should be owned by the community that enables them, not private hands of a few psychopaths.

shii 15y ago
Psychopaths?

aarghh 15y ago

This is Kepler's all over again.

rbanffy 15y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler%27s_Books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler%27s_Books

thaumaturgy 15y ago

...wait, you mean cool startups that are getting lots of help & attention & funding actually need a place to eat? Gee, it's a shame nobody's as interested in providing support to those businesses (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2609076 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2609076). It's unlikely that this business can be saved; if they're anything like most such small shops, they've been struggling for a long time without any of the kind of support that sexy YC startups receive. They likely have razor-thin margins and not a lot of money in the bank; getting their rent raised on them is just the straw breaking their back. They'll "pivot", but only as much as their meager resources will allow. I've seen way too many good small businesses just completely fall over lately, but since they don't offer the kind of investment opportunity that the next Google does, nobody cares. ...unless it happens to be their favorite little sandwich shop.

dstein 15y ago
How long until pg starts up FoodCombinator to help restaurant entrepreneurs disrupt the food industry?
- shii 15y ago
  How does the food industry need disruption? Payment processing and things like that are one thing, smaller parts like menu ordering, recommendations, etc are things already being tackled all over the place...but how else would you disrupt the restaurant system? Genuinely interested in the topic and opinions.
  - thaumaturgy 15y ago
    I'm always happy to talk with anyone about this -- I have a couple of restaurants as clients, I care a lot about the health of their business, and they face a lot of interesting challenges. For problems with a tech bent, the entire POS industry that restaurants rely on is ripe for the plucking. Restaurants pay tens of thousands of dollars for truly awful software operating on antique hardware, along with support contracts and all kinds of other expensive goodies. Then there's their ordering systems: they still make phone calls to their food vendors after looking at fax printouts. For non-tech-related stuff: restaurateurs could use help with marketing. They could use help with financing. They could use help with staff training. They could use help with organization. They could use help with customer metrics. Things that we take for granted when it comes to improving our customer experience -- like A/B testing for example -- are completely nonexistent in these other industries, and they make up a hell of a lot more revenue than the startup field does. I'd really like for someone else to get to these guys before I do, because they deserve a lot better than this.

keeeeeeeeen 15y ago

This kind of thing has been happening for years in Palo Alto. Life goes on.

redtwo 15y ago

Are you asking some regulars to buy it ? Well, I hope the owners don't read you, because if they do, welcome to the restaurants bubble.

rbanffy 15y ago

I am not familiar with restaurant prices in California, but theirs seem low. Can't a raise in prices compensate for the rent? Would that make them less competitive compared to surrounding places? For how long until those places have to raise prices too? http://www.bistroelan.com/Bistro_Elan/Dinner_menu.html http://www.bistroelan.com/Bistro_Elan/Dinner_menu.html Also, can they expand and start serving dinner at the Birch St location, partly subsidizing the operation at the California Avenue place?

dagw 15y ago

On the one hand I get that losing your favorite restaurant kind of sucks, but on the other hand is it really worthwhile to artificially keep alive a company that cannot survive on its own. Also if the place is as good as pg seems to indicate then the people involved will no doubt find a new kitchen to call home and will be serving the food you love in short order. I mean my favorite Japanese place has closed down twice in recent times, but the head chef, and the reason the places where awesome, is still cooking.

pg 15y ago
It's doing fine as a business. The landlord is trying to take advantage of them by raising the rent dramatically. Restaurants aren't very mobile.
- dagw 15y ago
  Restaurants aren't very mobile. Depends on what defines a restaurant, is it the building or the people. While the building itself isn't mobile, the people who run the restaurant certainly are. If the manager, head chef, sous chef, maitre d', and a few other key people where to close up shop at their current location and set up a new place serving the same food a couple of blocks down the road, wouldn't that count as mobile. Sure it will cost a bit of cash upfront, but if they can negotiate a better deal on the rent, they'll quickly make that back.

aaronblohowiak 15y ago

For a tastier and more intimate (literally mom and pop) experience, I prefer le petit bistro on el camino.

djm 15y ago

There are probably quite a few regulars at Bistro Elan who could buy the building and become their new landlord PG: Have you considered buying it yourself? I'm assuming that you are one of those regulars and can probably afford it. You said the business was doing well in another comment so I assume they could continue paying you rent at their current rate.

staunch 15y ago

Maybe some of the PayPal Mafia could "take care" of the problem. I mean, ya know, buy the building or something.