re: How mainstream BR Restaurants can survive in this economy

that is small, old pizza hut parking lot there .. we are talking about the coursey location ..

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I eat lunch there a lot and I wouldn't say it is busting at the seams .. and like I said .. it isn't that big .....

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They move a lot of people in that little place.

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it look busier than it really is ...

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Lots of to-go-orders.

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Baton Rouge has been fortunate in that the recession has taken longer to reach here. However, anyone who pays attention can see that the recession has reached Baton Rouge

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how so? What other industries have been affected?

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What other industries have been affected?

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New housing construction is certainly way down. As it is in every market I serve. The Lafayette area is the only one that is steady at the moment. I have seen a slight increase in the last couple of weeks both in BR and NO, but I am not sure if it is real or not.

It certainly isn't the fever pitch it was two years ago but that wasn't sustainable anyway. Baton Rouge has traditionally been pretty conservative and thus was not overly built in regards to housing and commercial space. As Dad pointed out above BR has some built in insulators including the chem plants, two major university's, refinery's and the state government as well as the port. While these all may reduce in spending they will never go away.

It is like anything else. The strong survive the marginal will be gone. Most restaurants and retail that close were doomed from the start and just had the momentum from the post Katrina and US ecomony keeping them going. Even if "good" restaurants close it could be for many reasons. Just because the food was good doesn't make the owner a business model. Many are under capitalized from the start and many have no idea how to run a business. That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the current economy.

Look at New Orleans, a food town. If you know anything about the restaurant scene there over the years you know that large number of great or good restaurants have gone out of business and a large number of restaurants have opened for business. And I'm not talking about Katrina. Take that out of the equation.

Restaurants come and go and it's a tough business but the good ones not only survive they thrive in times like these. Many places you do have to wait for a table on a Friday or Saturday night.

Baton Rouge is an eating out town and while some may not be spending like they used to many are. Most people don't realize just how much money there is in Baton Rouge. This place took a many hundreds of millions of dollar hit with Stanford Group and it wasn't much more than a bump in the road for the city as a whole. Now if you lost money in that, which I know many that did, you would disagree with me but as a whole this place is doing well.

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What other industries have been affected?

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Automobile sales and repairs, furniture sales and commercial real estate have all suffered. Even my clients with lawn and garden services have seen their revenues decline.

My point is that the marginal restuarants need to step up their practices or they will go out.

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What other industries have been affected?



Automobile sales and repairs, furniture sales and commercial real estate have all suffered. Even my clients with lawn and garden services have seen their revenues decline.

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Many have suffered and have been affected. But this is kind of the way I look at it. I remember the mid 80's when BR when to shite. I remember my father who was in business in Baton Rouge for over 50 years saying when I was a kid "you save the money from the good year to get you through the bad year because you will always have a bad year sometime."

His basic statement which meant "live within your means" and "always save for a rainy day."

I have always done that as have most all of my family. We will survive because that was instilled in us as kids. I have many friends that have no clue what this means. Many of them are suffering because of it. But I don't feel sorry for anyone that has ten maxed out credit cards, several large car notes on 50-100 k vehicles, a hybrid exotic 30 year mortgage on a 500k and up home and takes many expensive vacations each year and now all of the sudden they realize they have been upside down for years.

These are the reason your lawn and garden clients are seeing revenues decline. These are the ones that had those services when they really couldn't afford them. I see it in my block. I have always done my own yard because for me it is therapy, hobby and exercise and was always told I was just cheap. Well, guess who's doing their own yards now? The ones calling me cheap. It's funny.

Most people that live within their means will survive and thrive. The overindulgent will not. My habits have not changed one bit. I go out to eat as often as I always have because I have always gone when I could afford it.

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Even my clients with lawn and garden services have seen their revenues decline.

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after this years freezes.....these folks should have plenty of work in BR....my neighbor and i were discussing how everyones plants died...few survived.....and how the landscape folks should make a killin this spring.

we even considered starting a biz w/ my son and his lsu buddies.... lining up work.....for the spring/early summer only!