The bar at Rhum Portland (Maine) Prepares To Open

On 2018-01-03 11:39, bamalamalu wrote:
And they're closed:

That is a shame. I was there in October and thought the drinks were great and the food good. They weren't over the top tiki but the place had a good vibe.

I don't know if that is bad or good.
For tiki that is.

Do feel bad for the owners as they put a ton of money in that place, AND don't kid yourself the landlord will want every dime of the rent until the place is rented again.
In this day and age these sharp landlords try to get you into a ten year lease too, some want profit sharing, if you are stupid the lease will kill you before you open.

BUT I don't think I would have gone here much at all.

There is a group of tiki folks that went and posted this where not many could see it....
"Good times and definitely worth a return trip. Photos linked below.
Remember to show them some love on Facebook folks! That seafood tower was on the house after all"
And these people hated the Taso Kahiki era until they gave some money to help some tiki thing.

SO I ask you this is it better to be honest and say "this place is not so great" or is the price of your integrity a "Seafood tower"
I'm sure this place thought that this group would pack their bar to the gills.

Now there are places that I have gone to and try not to say anything so I can keep honest.
AND people would PM me and ask about a place and I could tell them the truth.

I liked the Tropical Bistro but that was because I liked Theag and Soung plus they gave me booze and that is the way to my heart, BUT I would tell people that I liked it for those reasons but that it was getting better.
AND it was five mins from my house and right next to the Lowes hardware I went to all the time.

For me I don't want to be the reason somebody takes a long trip to some loser tiki bar and it's not so great.

So what do you say?
"love EVERY tiki bar" (especially the ones who give us money)
Or "Tell the truth to your fellow tiki nutz" so they don't get burned buying crappy frozen Kahiki food, or driving from afar to see this crappy place.

They lost $10k in stolen tiki mugs?!? Damn.

They lost $10k in stolen tiki mugs?!? Damn.

At what point do you say "Lets lock these mugs down and sell them with the drinks or you don't get a mug"

To me the number is fat or the people were not keeping track of what was going on in their bar.
Nobody says "we went out because we did not do a good job and blew it"

It is harder to make it that business today I will say that for them.
Rents are higher, payrolls are higher, theft is higher, integrity and honesty is lower.

But damn one year? How many mugs did they order?

"The initial run will be around 200, and each mug represents dozens of hours of active work and kiln time; the artists "anticipate it will take us about four weeks for the two of us to complete from start to finish." Lest guests try to pocket the unique cups — as is so often the case at bars"

I was under the impression that the entire point of mugs was to have something that your patrons could take home with them. Looking at the comments, seems there was more going wrong than just some mugs going missing over time. Shame.

Those mugs were not slip cast. Or if they were then each one was modified by hand. If they charged them $50 a piece and they did order 200 then there's your $10,000 in mugs.

Well I would guess not EVERY mug was stolen.
They had to sell at least a few.

And a mug wholesale to the bar could not cost $50.00 bucks, damn they need to make something what did they sell for.

They were cool mugs, I would have bought one or more.

And damn they say right there in the article " Lest guests try to pocket the unique cups — as is so often the case at bars"
So it's not like they were blindsided.

Things change in the restaurant everyday and especially at the start so you need to adapt so you don't lose money.
If they were a success would they just go on losing ten thousand a year in mugs.

How does three Dots Do it? they have many different COOL mugs there must be a solution.

"each mug represents dozens of hours of active work and kiln time"
This is a recipe for disaster here as two people could not keep up with demand at some point they would get tired of that.

It's the bartenders that do the real stealing most times, they give the place away in free drinks and heavy pours so that free drink and heavy pour turns into a heavy tip.

On 2018-01-04 07:07, tikiskip wrote:
Well I would guess not EVERY mug was stolen.
They had to sell at least a few.

And a mug wholesale to the bar could not cost $50.00 bucks, damn they need to make something what did they sell for.

They were cool mugs, I would have bought one or more.

And damn they say right there in the article " Lest guests try to pocket the unique cups — as is so often the case at bars"
So it's not like they were blindsided.

Things change in the restaurant everyday and especially at the start so you need to adapt so you don't lose money.
If they were a success would they just go on losing ten thousand a year in mugs.

How does three Dots Do it? they have many different COOL mugs there must be a solution.

"each mug represents dozens of hours of active work and kiln time"
This is a recipe for disaster here as two people could not keep up with demand at some point they would get tired of that.

It's the bartenders that do the real stealing most times, they give the place away in free drinks and heavy pours so that free drink and heavy pour turns into a heavy tip.

^^^^^^^^^^The Truth has been spoken. You all know my take.

Has anybody run across any of the mugs from this place?
They say a bunch were stolen so you would think some mugs would pop up for sale since this place has closed.