Post #774549 by AceExplorer on Mon, Mar 27, 2017 12:50 PM

I think something else entirely is going on, but I can't put my finger on it. We know they do care about tiki, as they have an ongoing commitment to selling some pretty cool stuff on their web site. But that may not be the end of it despite our limited visibility.

In their defense, the restaurant business is tough, and the specialty restaurant business even more so. It's not easy to find a good location and a good landlord who won't pull the footings out from under you when you ramp up and become successful. I'm guessing (and hoping) that Trader Vic's has some sort of quandary with US locations which they will eventually be able to overcome. Maybe they will make a comeback in "secondary" locations where they can be successful more easily without fighting cocky landlords.

Or maybe they see their current niche is the international market and not the domestic market and they're focusing on that until times change more in their favor in the US.

You can clearly see the love we all have for Vic's. Let's hope they come back at some point in the near future, maybe to pioneer the "waffle houses" of tiki and put up little places instead of the grand palaces we all are used to seeing. Who knows... Just wild speculation going on here...