- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Dinner Lab shut down immediately
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:06 am
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:06 am
Nola.com reporting Dinner Lab just shut down.
Any scoop?
dinner lab.com
nola
From Dinner Lab
quote:
Dinner Lab, the New Orleans-based host of pop-up dinners, has ceased operations "immediately." The news was announced Thursday (April 14) on the company's website.
Any scoop?
dinner lab.com
nola
From Dinner Lab
quote:
Three-and-a half years ago a few of us came up with a novel idea; bring together random people, in an unconventional location, and give an up-and-coming chef a chance. The idea was meant to be pretty simple - give a newcomer, an underdog, someone that no one else believed in yet, a platform to showcase their culinary talent to the world. We have always wanted to be an organization that rolled the dice on people and innovative concepts before the rest of the world took them seriously.
This post was edited on 4/14/16 at 11:09 am
7
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:13 am to Oenophile Brah
mother frick
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:14 am to Oenophile Brah
Wow, that sign-off letter.
Crazy.
I always kinda wondered how they did financially. There is only so expensive you can make the meals, and they weren't cheap... on top of the $125 membership fee.
But with waitstaff, bartenders, cooks, event coordinators, etc. all needing to be paid hourly, I always figured they weren't turning a big profit. Restaurants have the luxury of having tipping customers for a huge % of their staff's pay.
Crazy.
I always kinda wondered how they did financially. There is only so expensive you can make the meals, and they weren't cheap... on top of the $125 membership fee.
But with waitstaff, bartenders, cooks, event coordinators, etc. all needing to be paid hourly, I always figured they weren't turning a big profit. Restaurants have the luxury of having tipping customers for a huge % of their staff's pay.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:14 am to Oenophile Brah
While the 'immediate' shut down is surprising, I think this was a long time coming. Once they opened up membership I could tell they were desperate. They had a good run.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:17 am to REG861
quote:
Once they opened up membership I could tell they were desperate
seemed like they were having issues make numbers work even though events were always full....
still odd given how fast they seemed to be growing
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:17 am to NoSaint
quote:
seemed like they were having issues make numbers work even though events were always full....
yea the events were always packed. The overhead must have been out of control.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:19 am to REG861
quote:
While the 'immediate' shut down is surprising, I think this was a long time coming. Once they opened up membership I could tell they were desperate. They had a good run.
Agree. When they first arrived in BR, the dinners sold out immediately. But lately, I've been getting emails almost daily trying to sell remaining tickets to planned dinners that have not sold out.
I loved the few I went to, but I do look back on the membership purchase and kinda feel like it was not worth $125.. though I understand why they charged the membership fee.
One of the founders is a friend of friends, and she told them months ago that everything was going down the shitter, but you definitely didn't need "inside" info to see that.
quote:
yea the events were always packed. The overhead must have been out of control.
Well you pay the guest chef, pay your kitchen team, pay the waitstaff, pay the bartenders, pay your executive level employees, pay the person who scopes out locations (this is a specific job title at DL), pay the person who plans the event, plan the person who acts as the "manager" like a GM at a restaurant for the event, etc.
I looked into working for DL a couple years ago, and they had a specific position for pretty much everything.
This post was edited on 4/14/16 at 11:21 am
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:19 am to Oenophile Brah
quote:
Any scoop?
I believe they have been the victim of massive fraud recently. Something like $40,000 + charged to them. There was an article on it not too long ago.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:25 am to LouisianaLady
The jargony, buzzword filled sign off letter.....oh, please. The concept didn't appeal to as many ppl as they'd hoped. Must be nice to burn through piles of other people's cash, buy similar businesses to lay off workers, then quit. I never saw this thing as scalable as the cheerleaders did.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:25 am to LouisianaLady
quote:
Well you pay the guest chef, pay your kitchen team, pay the waitstaff, pay the bartenders, pay your executive level employees, pay the person who scopes out locations (this is a specific job title at DL), pay the person who plans the event, plan the person who acts as the "manager" like a GM at a restaurant for the event, etc.
I looked into working for DL a couple years ago, and they had a specific position for pretty much everything.
i know several of the people and have worked with them before - it was a lot of positions, but between all that (and they planned private events).... it was A LOT of work. Venues got like $500 to host which is about $5 a head out of the price too.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:25 am to BugAC
I believe they got that money back, but I do hear murmurs of upper management being irresponsible with funds as well.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:26 am to BugAC
quote:
Something like $40,000 + charged to them.
Someone hacked their account. Usually the bank covers the money. Must be something else going on.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:27 am to NoSaint
quote:
it was a lot of positions, but between all that (and they planned private events).... it was A LOT of work.
Oh for sure. I am not saying the positions weren't warranted, but I also definitely see where they weren't bringing in enough money to pay for all of those positions.
I actually work in one of the offices a dinner was held
Luckily, I didn't work in here at the time.Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:31 am to LouisianaLady
quote:
But lately, I've been getting emails almost daily trying to sell remaining tickets to planned dinners that have not sold out.
because they came with some crappy menus lately.
I have no idea how I'm going to win their crawfish boil next year.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:32 am to hungryone
quote:
The jargony, buzzword filled sign off letter.....oh, please. The concept didn't appeal to as many ppl as they'd hoped. Must be nice to burn through piles of other people's cash, buy similar businesses to lay off workers, then quit. I never saw this thing as scalable as the cheerleaders did.
To be fair, I believe most of their dinners were still selling out. The numbers just don't work when you really think about it. Dinners are ~$60-$70/person and you probably have ~200 per dinner (two seatings). That's not a ton of money when you think about all of the people that need to be paid to put that dinner on. Especially when they are only doing 1-2 dinners per month even in the really large cities.
They switched a while back to where their hourly employees only work when planning for a specific event, but for a long time, their location scouts and event coordinators were paid more regularly (some full time, some part time).
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:38 am to Oenophile Brah
That sucks, I enjoyed the events and the food most the time, though the menus have been slipping the past 6 months.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:38 am to Motorboat
quote:
because they came with some crappy menus lately.
I tend to agree.
The $70/ with menus filled with inexpensive items kept me from attending lately. They priced themselves into a fix by serving solid food at higher end prices. You can spend the same amount and dine at many other restaurants with better food. They were selling the "experience" and that requires new bodies (NOLA is small) or unique experiences. Unique experiences are very difficult to create.
This post was edited on 4/14/16 at 11:39 am
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:44 am to Oenophile Brah
quote:
I tend to agree.
The $70/ with menus filled with inexpensive items kept me from attending lately. They priced themselves into a fix by serving solid food at higher end prices. You can spend the same amount and dine at many other restaurants with better food. They were selling the "experience" and that requires new bodies (NOLA is small) or unique experiences. Unique experiences are very difficult to create.
i think people dont do well weighing the value either which makes it a tougher sell. Back out tax, and would be tip, and include a few drinks and it was pretty cheap for the food itself. but people see $70 and it seems pricey. (though nola does have some great values on the quality of food served)
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:46 am to NoSaint
I don't know if I would call it cheap.
$140+$25-35 for an Uber is a lot to go out to dinner in Baton Rouge.
$140+$25-35 for an Uber is a lot to go out to dinner in Baton Rouge.
Posted on 4/14/16 at 11:46 am to NoSaint
I wonder if other cities were having trouble filling seats? Everything I saw 6 or 7 dinners were full in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. I also noticed that they used to have 2 meals per day for 2 days, lately that has not been the case. Dinners have been a single evening in a city.
Page 1 of 3
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News