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My brother's restaurant 'La Gaviota' is in trouble...



Pavilionaire

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
30,560
My brother, who is a stubborn man, owns a restaurant but it is going downhill fast and I don't know how to help him.

He has other business interests and pays his wife a big salary to run the place while he's not around. She thinks she's running a swanky eaterie in Mayfair judging by the high prices she charges, and the place is immaculate.

My brother used to have a top chef and the Spanish cuisine he prepared was very popular, but they fell out and the chef went on to be successful at another restaurant. His replacement was also good but they also fell out, whereupon he hired a third chef. This guy had been briefly successful in London but had had something of a nervous breakdown and was eager for a second chance.

The problem seems to be the food. My brother has got rid of some old favourites off the menu and his wife seems to have gone for cheaper ingredients. The chef has introduced some strange choices and they don't seem to have gone down well with the punters. Consequently a lot of them have stopped going and the place seems very empty at times.

In fact the food, if I'm honest, is disgusting. Nothing tastes good, and I take my family more out of a sense of duty than anything else. The Sous Chef has been there a while, he's loyal but hasn't got the talent to step up. I know my brother doesn't want to have to hire another chef again, and I think he feels sorry for this one. I'm worried he's losing money and will make more bad decisions, or be forced to sell. The way things are going what used to be a wonderful, popular family-run will be turned into a McDonald's, and that would be a shame.
 






jamie (not that one)

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 3, 2012
1,362
Valencia
Sounds like your brother needs a clean sweep of the place and even consider rebranding if the reputation has been severely damaged. It may take the closure of the business to see his failings, accept them and never repeat during future ventures.
 


fleet

Well-known member
Jul 28, 2003
12,222
I'm sure that telling the world the name of the restaurant and that the food is dire will have helped enormously
 








PILTDOWN MAN

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 15, 2004
18,686
Hurst Green
Sounds like you have too much time on your hands
 


Peter Grummit

Well-known member
Oct 13, 2004
6,769
Lewes
Suggest you keep track of the views on this thread and then let him know the number of potential/former customers who will never try La Gaviota.

I struggle to understand how you thought starting this thread would help the situation.

PG
 




Peteinblack

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jun 3, 2004
3,601
Bath, Somerset.
Wait until January and add new ingredients to the menu - but then don't add them in the right order or amounts :wink:
 












El Sid

Well-known member
May 10, 2012
3,806
West Sussex
Your brother needs to take a bit of a gamble and go all-in on a top chef like Toni Highball and some top class kitchen staff who have not been borrowed from Spud-u-like. Unless tough remedial action is swift his dreams of Michelin stars will turn into nightmares about pies at that famous midlands eatery, The Bescot.
 




skipper734

Registered ruffian
Aug 9, 2008
9,189
Curdridge
Divorce the Wife, she thinks the job is Michelin Star ready. It isn't.
To run a successful business, you cannot feel sorry for anyone.
All the finance should go on the food, not the waiters uniforms, accountants and hangers on.
A sure sign of a business that will fail, is that the Directors and Managers and Staff who don't actually produce anything, buy themselves swanky new cars and neglect the paying customers.
 




Blue Valkyrie

Not seen such Bravery!
Sep 1, 2012
32,165
Valhalla
The food that chef serves up there is so bad I'm surprised the council health inspectors haven't shut it down.
 


Badger

NOT the Honey Badger
NSC Patron
May 8, 2007
12,773
Toronto
I've never been a fan of Finnish food, it always seems to get thrown together in a random fashion.
 




Rugrat

Well-known member
Mar 13, 2011
10,215
Seaford
Send the wife and her boyfriends (sorry to break the news here, but there are several) off to Canada to see how it's done there, no doubt she'll make a mess of that too but when she comes back telling you how successful she's been "take it with a pinch of salt"

Hire an experienced Chef; one who knows what the punters want and how best to deliver it, consistently. That might be a bit of a gamble but your Bro needs to take a risk once in a while!!

Have the Chef tell you precisely what ingredients he needs and make sure you get them, don't simply say "that's close enough" because the end result will be s*** all your punters will piss off and next thing is your Bro will be serving food off a stall outside the station.
 




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