Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year, By Georges!


Philadelphia Restaurant Row stalwart Brasserie Perrier out. Le Bec Fin, Dubai in? What a way to say goodbye. A harbinger of the eventual demise of Chef Perrier's empire or just a sign of our economically downtrodden times?

2 comments:

TWG said...

Probably both, but the landlord was apparently looking for a large rent increase. Would you want to commit to a large increase in your fixed costs in this downturn with all the new restaurants around?

David McDuff said...

Agreed on both counts, Tom, though I've sensed a slow but sure downfall of Perrier's empire for years now. Of course I wouldn't want to commit to a huge cost increase in general terms; however, based on the info in the Insider's piece, it seems as if the rent at Brasserie had been well below the standards of the neighborhood for quite some time, so they have to have seen this coming and, theoretically at least, should have had plenty of time to formulate a bail-out plan. The really crappy thing about the decision is the complete lack of notice given to the restaurant's employees, something that's sadly all too common in the food and beverage industry.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin