Posted on 01/05/2019 5:48:25 AM PST by raccoonradio
...the restaurant will close on Jan. 12 because fewer customers are coming through the doors and costs have risen.
Manager Kenneth Thimothee said the state’s new minimum hourly wage, which rose from $3.75 to $4.35 for tipped workers and from $11 to $12 for other employees, is partially to blame. And Durgin-Park will not be the only high-profile restaurant that will close this year, said Bob Luz, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
“We’re going to have a number coming up in the not-too-distant future,” Luz said, although he declined to say which ones.
“It’s a confluence of a number of things creating an environment where it’s nearly impossible for restaurants to remain profitable,” he said. “Ninety-five cents of every dollar that comes in the door goes out to pay expenses. The rents are crazy, the cost of doing business is skyrocketing, and there’s more restaurant seats in the marketplace than ever before.”
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
Remember the democrats are your friends
I remember eating there when I was young when we would visit my Dad’s family in Massachusetts. The waitresses were kind of rude - but that was part of the experience. Good prime rib.
First Hilltop Steakhouse then Durgin-Park. Hillbilly Ranch and Inn Square Men’s Bar (Ladies Invited) long gone.
Nothing lasts forever.
Meanwhile...Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, etc. laugh maniacally as they mow down the competition. I will never understand the enduring appeal of that overpriced junk, but you can’t deny the full parking lots.
We can start fixing this by killing the illegal alien labor market.
How?
Well glad you asked....
Pass a law making it ILLEGAL to pay a ILLEGAL ALIEN less than 10X the current federal minimum wage. And the illegal alien who is not getting paid this can get a $1,000 bounty if they report their employer that doesn’t pay them 10x min wage. Allow employers to register for a illegal employee tax ID in lieu of a SSN for the illegal alien. Also make it illegal for an employer to not buy an illegal alien the top notch medical plan ( this helps with hospitals paying for illegal alien health care).
Basically make it so prohibitively expensive to hire an illegal alien that NO ONE WITH HALF A DAMNED BRAIN WOULD DO IT!
We could probably GOAD one of the dimwitted new new deomcrats like occasional Cortex into proposing such a thing.
Santoros in Saugus closed too. If buy it if I was ten years younger.
The rude waitresses are part of the “charm”. I ate there once, the food was terrible.
The bad news is you lost your job.
The good news is that you would be paid more if you hadn’t lost it.
There are a few factors when a restaurant slips. You see it all the time. A major one is they lose their base, those that come often or would travel far. They do that by cutting corners on those aspects that made customers loyal. Another factor (around here anyway) is that some restaurants had to get smart. If the population or the surroundings shift, they have to know to find a new, probably nearby, location that will keep them coming back.
I drive by Ken's Steak House on Route 9 pretty regularly and I *never* see any cars in the lot.I'm always wondering how they manage to stay in business.Outback only lasted a few years right across the street.
Did the demographics of the area change?
re: those chains. I occasionally endure them. Both Outback and Longhorn have a relatively low priced option with a 6oz steak. I think they follow the rule of having a menu choice which keeps the loyal customers coming back, then have choices that entice them to spend more.
“I ate there once, the food was terrible.”
And such small portions!
/ancient joke
I ate at Durgin when I lived in Boston. Mediocre food, decent clam chowder. But there were so many better restaurants in that city, I never bothered with the place (and the only reason why I went was that my friend was a food writer and was doing a piece on the restaurant, and I got to eat free.) The only truly great restaurant in Boston, when I was there, was the late great Turner Fisheries in (I believe) the Copley Hotel. Maybe it was the Weston. Phenomenal place, and so much better than the over-priced swill-palace, Legal Seafoods.
Ark restaurant group changed a great deal when they took over Durgin Park. From portion size, items on the menu, ingredients etc. they turned durgin park into just another restaurant
Their attempt to modernize the place killed it
Yeah, that's a real mystery. I get all the fresh lobster and oysters one can eat at the summer house in Maine, and for the rest of the year, the lady friend can cook pasta and I can grill steak better than any restaurant we've ever eaten at.
Homemade pizza is problematic, you really need the ovens, but in CT you can get the very best in the nation (not olive garden) if you're willing to drive ten or fifteen minutes in any direction.
There’s a limited market for really old-school American dining these days. Especially in a hip-aspiring, young people’s city like Bosotn.
Gotta do it cheap as something of comfort-food, diner revival, add a new-dining chef’s flair to it, or really win at the nostalgia marketing game.
That is, DP either had to at a modern, gourmet flair to their menu and give up the old-school angle — or get a crack marketing team in to make it hip with the college crowds flowing through town.
Not surprising that it didn’t hold up. But a shame. Nothing like a good Indian pudding to finish off a meal!
My grandfather always ate at Durgin Park when he had to travel to Boston for supplies. I went to college in Boston and we’d go there for the Indian pudding. The staff didn’t especially appreciate it when a group of college kids got seated and then just ordered dessert. Last time I went there was in the 80s. Loved the atmosphere.
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