Full article in San Mateo Times
Last month, Pisces decided not to renew its lease at a Caltrain-owned building off Broadway in Burlingame. The pricey seafood establishment was overseen by executive chef Laurent Manrique, whose flagship San Francisco restaurant, Aqua, was one of only four restaurants to receive two stars last year in the Michelin Guide's inaugural survey of Bay Area restaurants. In the days after Pisces announced it was closing, Manrique was quoted as saying the restaurant was not sufficiently profitable. Manrique stepped back from that assessment this week in discussing Pisces' closure. "If a restaurant is not profitable, you don't stay open 10 years," said Manrique. "In the restaurant business, when you arrive at the term of your lease, you either sign another 10-year lease or you don't." Manrique acknowledged that the restaurant's location near the Broadway Caltrain station, which has no service during the week, may not have been ideal. And the crowds the restaurant attracted during the dot-com boom dissipated over time, he said
Running a restaurant in Burlingame is not cheap. Joan Simon, a principal and founder of Full Plate Restaurant Consulting in San Francisco, said she recently spoke with a client who had an eye-opening experience while looking into a space in the Burlingame Avenue area. "I was shocked at the rent the landlord wanted to charge," Simon said. "It was double what I thought it should be for the space and the visibility. I thought that they were asking downtown San Francisco rates."
Manrique said he is keeping an eye out for a new location on the Peninsula, but he does not think the costs of doing business in San Francisco will cause an exodus of other restaurants to the Peninsula. In his view, the important thing is finding Peninsula consumers who express a demand for upscale restaurants.
Last month, Pisces decided not to renew its lease at a Caltrain-owned building off Broadway in Burlingame. The pricey seafood establishment was overseen by executive chef Laurent Manrique, whose flagship San Francisco restaurant, Aqua, was one of only four restaurants to receive two stars last year in the Michelin Guide's inaugural survey of Bay Area restaurants. In the days after Pisces announced it was closing, Manrique was quoted as saying the restaurant was not sufficiently profitable. Manrique stepped back from that assessment this week in discussing Pisces' closure. "If a restaurant is not profitable, you don't stay open 10 years," said Manrique. "In the restaurant business, when you arrive at the term of your lease, you either sign another 10-year lease or you don't." Manrique acknowledged that the restaurant's location near the Broadway Caltrain station, which has no service during the week, may not have been ideal. And the crowds the restaurant attracted during the dot-com boom dissipated over time, he said
Running a restaurant in Burlingame is not cheap. Joan Simon, a principal and founder of Full Plate Restaurant Consulting in San Francisco, said she recently spoke with a client who had an eye-opening experience while looking into a space in the Burlingame Avenue area. "I was shocked at the rent the landlord wanted to charge," Simon said. "It was double what I thought it should be for the space and the visibility. I thought that they were asking downtown San Francisco rates."
Manrique said he is keeping an eye out for a new location on the Peninsula, but he does not think the costs of doing business in San Francisco will cause an exodus of other restaurants to the Peninsula. In his view, the important thing is finding Peninsula consumers who express a demand for upscale restaurants.
- Written by Fiona
The full article is worth reading and is subtitled "SF's costs may bring eateries to Peninsula." It talks about the high cost of doing business in SF -- not only increasingly strict regulations, but a minimum wage that is almost $2 per hour higher than the Peninsula. The owner of the Lark Creek Restaurant Group was quoted as saying "If I have an opportunity to go to Burlingame Avenue or Union Square, all things being equal, I'm going to go to Burlingame Avenue." San Mateo-based Viognier's manager was also quoted as saying "There's a lot of people down here who appreciate fine dining and want it, regardless of what's going on in San Francisco."
Posted by: Joanne | February 19, 2007 at 06:26 PM
We've also found that there isn't a whole lot of difference between the fine restaurants here and there. People who want the big city atmosphere probably still prefer making an evening out of it and heading up to the city. We still cannot compete with the entertainment. But food-wise, we really have moved up several rungs.
Posted by: | February 20, 2007 at 03:54 AM
Maybe the surplus of dark space on the avenue will cause the rents to come down a bit. It's a bit lonely on some corners. Starbux seems to do fine.
Posted by: paloma pam | February 25, 2007 at 10:47 PM