Trader Vic's, Dallas, TX (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

K Kenike Tiki Socialite McKinney, TX Joined: Jul 24, 2003 Posts: 1207	K Kenike Posted posted on Wed, Jan 27, 2010 9:52 AM On 2010-01-27 09:15, Limbo Lizard wrote: Alas, note the opinion of Matthew Mabel (a local restaurant management consultant): Matthew Mabel, president of Surrender Inc., is skeptical that Trader Vic's will be able to sustain a successful volume of diners in a market he calls "the hotbed for proving every restaurant in America." "Trader Vic's is a dated concept that works well in hotel concepts around the world," Mabel said. "While it will probably have an initial retro/kitsch appeal, it is going to be a stretch in the Dallas dining market. "There are so many aggressive concepts coming, and '60s nostalgia does not run rampant among the dining-out crowd." But they never played up the 60's nostalgia angle. They tried to be just like everybody else and still failed. Who knows if it would have worked? I think if they really tried to set themselves apart from everybody else they would have been more successful...instead they did the opposite. I can drink beer and watch football and listen to disco ANYWHERE. Who knows how long it would have lasted? Longer than 2 years and 9 months perhaps? Thanks for pulling out that quote. Puts things in perspective now.

On 2010-01-27 09:15, Limbo Lizard wrote:

Alas, note the opinion of Matthew Mabel (a local restaurant management consultant):

Matthew Mabel, president of Surrender Inc., is skeptical that Trader Vic's will be able to sustain a successful volume of diners in a market he calls "the hotbed for proving every restaurant in America."

"Trader Vic's is a dated concept that works well in hotel concepts around the world," Mabel said. "While it will probably have an initial retro/kitsch appeal, it is going to be a stretch in the Dallas dining market.

"There are so many aggressive concepts coming, and '60s nostalgia does not run rampant among the dining-out crowd."

But they never played up the 60's nostalgia angle. They tried to be just like everybody else and still failed. Who knows if it would have worked? I think if they really tried to set themselves apart from everybody else they would have been more successful...instead they did the opposite. I can drink beer and watch football and listen to disco ANYWHERE. Who knows how long it would have lasted? Longer than 2 years and 9 months perhaps?

Thanks for pulling out that quote. Puts things in perspective now.

Post #507335 by Kenike on Wed, Jan 27, 2010 9:52 AM