re: Why didn't Cochon survive in Lafayette?

I think Butcher may have hung in there in Lafayette.

I ate there a couple if times & thought it was ok but not anything great. Thing is, I can pick up better boudin, sausage, & cracklins at most gas stations around where I live for a fraction of the cost. Not that those items weren't good BUT when I go out to eat, I like to eat things that I can't necessarily get or re-create at my house. When I eat boudin, cracklins, & sausage, it's usually at my house. A lot of people just weren't real "impressed" with the menu & went other places.

quote:

---

With quality in this case came smaller portions and innovation. ..I.e. no crab platter for 21.99 or tilapia. It is what it is.

---

Majority of Cajun/Acadiana people don't go out seeking tilapia.

Cochon would specialize in foods that you could get at places like Billy's, Earl's, and Johnson's and Antler's. People in Lafayette, or Acadiana area in general, aren't going to fawn over food they can get at those places but for the price of going to an upper-scale restaurant.

Point blank, Ruffino's offers food and an atmosphere people in Acadiana are willing to pay money for.

quote:

---

Cochon had good food but nothing mind blowing to be honest. Service was terrible every time I went with friends. Like others mentioned, it failed because it never had great appeal as a must go place.

Social Southern Table and Bar has a very similar concept that Cochon (Lafayette) had but it has a better appeal to both old and young diners. Social has good food like Cochon did but the atmosphere there is what makes it a must go place with a group.

---

I agree with everything here. Basically what I was coming to say. As mentioned, French Press does a similar thing and they are having huge amounts of success.
Even Steven and Pats Bon Temp Grill are taking Cajun dishes and putting a new style flair on them, and they are doing just great.

quote:

---

Thing is, I can pick up better boudin, sausage, & cracklins at most gas stations around where I live for a fraction of the cost. Not that those items weren't good BUT when I go out to eat, I like to eat things that I can't necessarily get or re-create at my house. When I eat boudin, cracklins, & sausage, it's usually at my house. A lot of people just weren't real "impressed" with the menu & went other places.

---

This was the killer, iMHO. Coals to Newcastle...

When people in Lafayette go out to eat for an upscale dinner, they don't want cajun. Cajun is what you get in a $8 plate lunch or what you cook in the home. Upscale cajun food in a market known for it's plentiful and exceptional CHEAP cajun food is a recipe for a failed concept.

New Orleans, on the other hand, lacks the plentiful, inexpensive, CAJUN options that Lafayette has, so Cochon does well.

I bet Cuchon would be exceptional in Philadelphia, but a $20/plate cheesesteak restaurant probably wouldn't do quite as hot. Rule #1 in business is "the customer is always right". Rule #2 is "know thy market". Cuchon thought they knew their market, but it just wasn't large enough to be sustainable and they couldn't grow that market in the time they were in business enough to save them.

quote:

---

Bon Temp Grill are taking Cajun dishes and putting a new style flair on them

---

excellent groceries that are reasonable priced

Cochon is very much like a West Village, New York restaurant.

Might be the silliest thing said in this whole thread.

Exactly why is that..