3 ms·

If your food is good enough, people will drive to your restaurant and pay money for it even if they don't work there. I don't know about Minneapolis, but in Atl

by novia 3y ago

If your food is good enough, people will drive to your restaurant and pay money for it even if they don't work there. I don't know about Minneapolis, but in Atlanta the downtown food courts that cater to all the business people are absolutely abysmal in quality. All the best food is outside the city center where the rent is cheaper and there are more immigrant populations.

garciasn 3y ago
There are plenty of great restaurants in the Minneapolis and St Paul proper 'cities', but specifically downtown Minneapolis is generally reserved for some very high-end restaurants, food trucks, or garbage fast casual/'skyway' restaurants (we have a system of interconnected buildings where you don't need to leave the comfort of buildings and go outside). 1. The skyways are decimated because far fewer people are downtown any longer for work. 2. The skyways had some hidden gems, to be certain, but were never a source of high-quality food. 3. About 15 years ago, food trucks hit the scene and were the first to decimate the skyway restaurants because they offered far better options. 4. Many suburbs offer some hidden gems that are open outside of the lunch hour but in my opinion, for the most part, the best restaurants are outside of the St Paul and Minneapolis downtowns and are located in areas that are the smaller neighborhoods where people live, rather than work (see: North Loop in Minneapolis and 'Eat Street' in St Paul). 5. We live 10-15 minutes out of the Minneapolis downtown area and regularly drive to Minneapolis for nice dinners out being that our suburb is particularly devoid of any high quality eating. 6. We used to live about 30 minutes South of St Paul and Minneapolis downtowns and while there were (IMO) better options within 10 minutes of our home there than where we live today, they were primarily family-owned ethnic restaurants, nothing to write home about otherwise. This is likely due to the lower cost of living and the longer distance to the other options in #4, above. --- So, to your point, yes, MSP is similar to what you describe and for the same reasons, but it's not "ALL" of the best foods. It doesn't at all change my belief that Fhima and his restaurants aren't going to succeed just because several thousand Target Corporate employees are back in the office. There are just too many other companies who have also gone WFH and none of them should change just because David is pissed off that he made a poor business decision to open restaurants where he did and his menus don't drive foot traffic above other options elsewhere.

by novia 3y ago

garciasn 3y ago

There are plenty of great restaurants in the Minneapolis and St Paul proper 'cities', but specifically downtown Minneapolis is generally reserved for some very high-end restaurants, food trucks, or garbage fast casual/'skyway' restaurants (we have a system of interconnected buildings where you don't need to leave the comfort of buildings and go outside). 1. The skyways are decimated because far fewer people are downtown any longer for work. 2. The skyways had some hidden gems, to be certain, but were never a source of high-quality food. 3. About 15 years ago, food trucks hit the scene and were the first to decimate the skyway restaurants because they offered far better options. 4. Many suburbs offer some hidden gems that are open outside of the lunch hour but in my opinion, for the most part, the best restaurants are outside of the St Paul and Minneapolis downtowns and are located in areas that are the smaller neighborhoods where people live, rather than work (see: North Loop in Minneapolis and 'Eat Street' in St Paul). 5. We live 10-15 minutes out of the Minneapolis downtown area and regularly drive to Minneapolis for nice dinners out being that our suburb is particularly devoid of any high quality eating. 6. We used to live about 30 minutes South of St Paul and Minneapolis downtowns and while there were (IMO) better options within 10 minutes of our home there than where we live today, they were primarily family-owned ethnic restaurants, nothing to write home about otherwise. This is likely due to the lower cost of living and the longer distance to the other options in #4, above. --- So, to your point, yes, MSP is similar to what you describe and for the same reasons, but it's not "ALL" of the best foods. It doesn't at all change my belief that Fhima and his restaurants aren't going to succeed just because several thousand Target Corporate employees are back in the office. There are just too many other companies who have also gone WFH and none of them should change just because David is pissed off that he made a poor business decision to open restaurants where he did and his menus don't drive foot traffic above other options elsewhere.