Post #520572 by Grand Kahu on Sun, Mar 28, 2010 11:11 AM

Tonga - I had a similar conversation at the new Chicago TV's with a fellow on the barstool next to me - he thought the place was a Trader Joe's and that night was his first visit. He and his friends were already three sheets into the wind, but I found it interesting that their female friend had "dragged" them into the place and they were more amused by the "funny drinks" than anything else. Hopefully the two-second history course I offered might have given a tiny bit of further interest beyond the novelty factor.

But to the issue of the Trader Vic's brand, I do think this relative lack of recognition, particularly in the younger bar set, combined with the higher price point of the food and attempt to maintain the semi-upscale attitude and service of th traditional TV's restaurant are serious challenges to the old model. And have been for some years. Add all the baggage of the high start-up costs for decorating a traditional TV's, the now somewhat non-PC vibe behind an "exotic" restaurant of this nature, and when there is recognition of TV's, it's more often for the drinks than the food, and you have yet more difficulties. I've been in enough TV's, including the late Dallas location, to see that the space and costs given to the restaurant portion are far in excess of what they can support. And, to hear the desire to make the restaurant highly profitable when the competition is so fierce at that price and service point (especially in Dallas, which is a foodie town, at least for higher end restaurants) is ambitious at best. My experience at Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta has been that the level of service does not come anywhere near that needed for a similarly priced quality restaurant in the same city. The cuisine runs from excellent to uninspired - and this kind of hit-or-miss experience is not forgiving of picky new diners. So, I always thought the way to go was to was a more affordable menu - the B&G concept certainly has gone in this direction, but it's lost a lot in suggesting the "brand" when the items veer more into TGIFridays land. But the curse of mainstreaming for market.

TV's was a niche market, even in its heyday, but the B&G concept is trying to mainstream the idea of a tiki bar/restaurant, copying the copiers of TV's and meshing with now more "familiar" things, whether Margaritaville or the Ron Jon shop. Exoticism, particularly of the peak of tikidays, is just too intimidating for the marketing types who fear the dark, somber, and pagan. If you want to see how a firm has tried to polish up tiki for modern audiences, just look at pictures of Disney's Polynesian Village Hotel from c. 1972 and compare that to the place today - complete with bright colors, boffo graphics, and the clear intention to bring "freshness" to a place which was once much more in keeping with the late 1960s tiki aesthetic. This "fear""along with the cost of a high-density tiki installation, is what has made the old tiki aesthetic passe. Ugh.

The TVBG concept will probably be profitable and expand their market to those seeking casual, more affordable cuisine (in itself not a bad thing), but I'm not of the belief that it will hurt the TV's identity beyond those reading here and a few others who recall with nostalgia the old days of TV's. What IS their wider identity, if at all known? The Mai Tai and tacky? Those are the things I get from non-tiki types.

If I were king of the tikiworld, I'd take the old TV's model of decor, double the bar space, drop the restaurant space by half or even more, craft a Asian-Polynesian fusion menu not too far from the Pei-Wei model of fast food, complete with take-out, and promote the heck out of the art of the bartender (offering a rotation of vintage - TV's and others - and new cocktails). More casual attitude, recalling the soul of Hinky Dinks... Niche market still? Yes, but more in tune with what is popular today. My 3 1/2 cents worth...

GK