McGowan's Pub Coming to Oakhurst
Decatur Metro | March 30, 2009Bill at the Seen Gallery reports on future plans for his old space at Scottish Rite…
Well.. Well.. Well.. no surprise here. When we were told by PRI (Progressive Redevelopemnt Inc) in July that they were looking at taking the space that The Seen Gallery occupied in a new direction.. we can’t help but wonder if this is what they knew was on tap (pun intended).
Recently posted on www.palatewinebar.com:
McGowan’s Pub Coming Soon in 2009: new sister restaurant next door to Palate Café. Comfort food in a casual Oakhurst enclave meant to evoke the experience of a Sunday lunch or supper at home. Cozy and bright interior, accessible fare, 22 beers on draught, 100 beers in a bottle; neighborhood hangout and dining destination. Will be open 11am to 1am. Sign up for email updates on the Contact page for the latest news about McGowan’s Pub.
Sounds like a type of Brick Store without the Brick store?
Great idea, as long as it avoids these 3 mistakes:
1. Charge too much for food: While I have enjoyed Palate, it always seems a bit overpriced for what you get. If the new venture is a pub then it should be priced accordingly. If I want ‘fancy’ food with my beer I’ll go to Leon’s.
2. Staffing: Palate has always excelled here (I think b/c the owner is always around), but other Oakhurst places have obviously suffered. Maybe it’s the overabundnace of hipsters from the area, but a little more speed and a little less attitude among your servers can go a long way.
3. Families: Yes, I think it’s a bit strange how we Decaturites like to take our young ones to the bar with us. But, we do. And Oakhurst is full of the little rugrats, so make sure you have a layout coducive to the inevitable (ie large booths) and plenty of working high chairs. Again, it’s a small thing, but a big deal to parents.
Oh, for an adults only restaurant (or at least age 12 and over)!
And that is just an opinion, not an invitation to squabble.
The original “McGowan’s pubs” began in Adelaide, South Australia, around 1920. They were not actually called “McGowan’s Pubs” – they had other names – but my father, E. J. McGowan, was the proprietor of seven pubs – not all at the same time – until his death in 1955. The last of these pubs – The Earl of Zetland Hotel – was our family home for most of my childhood.
I don’t get the usual complaint in this town about price of food at restaurants. Are you living in 1986?
Most people with that complaint fail to understand the crazy thin margin most restaurants have in order to operate. Food costs what it costs and the baseline predictor for that is quality. Grassfed, local, imported and smaller production food will cost more, and yes that varies according to season and weather/production issues. Labor yikes. All over the board. If you want to pay at or near minimum wage and expect to have reliable people on hand to represent your business, good luck because it won’t happen for long. Food service workers have the same bills as everyone else and expect at the end of a work day to be able to make ends meet. And finally, your space has to be large and spacious, charming on the facade and durable to withstand use and foot traffic up to three times a day. Plates, glasses and silverware, keeping every dish in your house clean and sanitized (not to mention the painstaking task of keeping your finer china and barware looking spotless), linen service, uniforms for employees, highchairs, enough highchairs (now that I have a son and see that seven out of ten highchairs are broken and that everyone wants to bring their kids everywhere in Decatur so you need a fleet of them) etc. It adds up and in order to recoup those costs prices need to reflect that. I want restaurants in this town to make better margins and I don’t care about the price of food when I eat out, because I feel I am supporting a local business, not trying to get something for nothing. I have only felt like a few items in Decatur are outlandishly priced – $7 for 2 tablespoons of Watershed pimento cheese that isn’t substantiated on the menu as local or artisanal? Please, my grandmother would slap me if she knew I paid for that. I would consider dropping that complaint about Watershed’s pimento cheese if they would for god’s sake please get a valet though. But Palate’s $10 plate of meatloaf seems like a steal. So quit your belly aching or go get a bunch of ‘Hungry Man’ dinners and eat on the patio steps of the Solarium with your kids – I mean, it is the exact same thing, right?
Lets not even discuss the profit margin on beer/wine/liquor, much less iced tea.
Missing my point Gustav. My point is that restaurants have hidden costs on those ‘margins’ that you think are such money makers. To serve that ‘overpriced iced tea’ you need to have a good quality glass, a quality person to serve it to your customer, a quality way to wash and sanitize that glass and you need square footage to store that glass. Not to mention ice, free refills, straws, to-go cups, lemons and the ridiculous amount of paper napkins some people feel they need. It seems like restaurants are villanized in Decatur because they seek a profit.
Everyone knows that it is cheaper to feed yourself and your family at home, that’s not why people go out.
Feast has about 8 or so different ‘wines by the glass’ at $5.95 plus another 8 at $6.95, I think. By the bottle prices for these wines — most really good — are very affordable. They’re nice folks, too. I like their small plates, when you don’t feel like stuffing yourself.
Thanks for backing me up! I’m feeling the love.
The only thing I would point out is that beverages are one of the few places where the markup is higher because one can only mark up an entree or a side item so much and get away with it. $2 for an iced tea seems reasonable, but in the context of profit margins, 1000% sounds greedy, right?
But restauranteurs anticipate the bean counters that say, ‘Well at Publix I can buy ground round for 4.49/LB.’ Like chip and check Mexican restaurants and peanuts are the bar, there are ‘loss leaders’ in place to get you to buy the beverages where they make the real profit.
Oh, and Gustav, with that shopping list? Don’t ever make your meatloaf out of ground round = that has been bugging me all day. Try a mix of sirloin (40%) and chuck (60%) and treat your family of four to some bacon wrapped around it.
Most of the world’s families eat for less than $10/day, so get over the obvious markup and dine out as your budget allows!
The beverages are what kill your wallet. We only get water when we go out. If they kids want lemonade, they have to bring their own money. Luckily we’re not wine drinkers, so we can eat out and support restaurants but still walk away with our wallet somewhat intact!
Those lamenting wine markups: Don’t forget that on Mondays, Watershed knocks 50% off every bottle they offer.
Yeah, as a former restaurant manager and waitress for about 300 years, I don’t see how Palate is overpriced. I have also never gotten good service there, so hey!
Grumble indeed!
Great idea about the patio steps. No, you make a good point about the ‘hidden’ costs of running a restaurant. But 2 little sandwiches and 2 glasses of wine ran us $50 at Palate. Everything was great and that’s fine for special occassions, but it isn’t feasible as a regular routine kind of place. The pub concept, on the other hand, sounds like they are going for a slightly different vibe, hence my comment about price.
This community has shown that they’ll support a diversity of dining (at a diversity of price points) and they very well may be able to succeed with a more high-end pub. To put it in Decatur terms, I’m hoping that McGowan’s will be more like BSP-lite and less like Leon’s (better than avg pub fare, but not quite gastro) so that schlubs like me can go there on a weekly basis and enjoy some new beers. Notice that I said the food should be above average (sorry, U-Joint). Regardless, I’m looking forward to checking it out once it’s open in a few months!
Very long and well thought out. A few points need addressing though. I have to take them one at a time because I’m at work. Minimum wage in Georgia is $6.55. A restaurant/bar owner is only required to pay $2.13. The employee is expected to get the remaining $4.42 in tips. I guess the employer only pays the social security and medicare tax on the $2.13 but don’t know for sure. If thats the case, then the employee not only has to pay taxes on the additional $4.42 but also their own employee taxes. I do think that the employer is required to prove that the employee makes that additional $4.42 in tips but am not sure about that. Other employers do not get this same benefit.
Meat Loaf Meal (Retail high quality): 1 lb Green Beans: $2.49 I lb ground round: $4.49 5 lb. potatos $3.49 Throw in some butter and herbs and fixins for the meat loaf for another $2.00. $12.47 for a family of 4 with left overs. Not a bad profit margin. Beats what most retailers pay wholesale.
Grumble, I think you’re encountering the Wal-Mart Mentality. It’s not unlike the Jiminy Cricket Mentality, where just wishing for something makes it possible.
Sure, we have every right to demand restaurants that meet totally unrealistic cost expectations. But don’t be surprised when that demand gets met by some multi-national conglomerate farming everything out to China.
Doesn’t sound all that “Decatur” to me.
One of the things that amazes me is how cheap some things are in Decatur. When I go to the Raging Burrito, for example, I often think I couldn’t make a good meal at home for that price. If I show up with one of those coupons from the Focus, it seems like they’re giving it away.
If you really think there’s no value to a restaurant experience other than the raw materials, stay at home.
I think my point is missed. It seems that people are always saying how restaurants are working on a small margin but they forget about the other small businesses out there who work on similar or even smaller margins. I was only pointing out the falacies in determining profit margin, not saying that a good restaurant is not worth the money. There are many factors that enter into determining profit margin which all small and large businesses share but yet it seems that it is always the restaurant that is given as an example of small profit margins, Not “By Hand South” or “Wits End” or “Taste”. I am also at a bit of a loss to understand how the ’2 tablespoons of Pimento Cheese” at Watershed is any worse of a ‘deal’ than is a green salad at Palate. People are free to order it, or not. Afterall, . If we look at ‘overhead’ no one has to look further than Chef Scott Peacock, a nationally acclaimed chef at Watershed vesus who? at Palate (as an example). It was also mentioned that Watershed did not mention their ingredients (specifcally the pimento cheese) as being local or artisanal? Watershed states: “Whenever possible, we support local organic farming”, perhaps, but perhaps not, one step up from the Dekalb Farmers Market. Even though the meatloaf at 10.50 was lauded, the Tuesday evening Fried Chicken at Watershed was overlooked (get there early. it sells out by 5:30-6:00). Or, take a look at their wine selection. And tableclothes? Watershed has them. Uniforms for waiters/waitresses? Chances are if there is a ‘uniform’ the employee purchases their own white shirt and black pants/skirt. No, I’m not a ‘bean counter” (I’ve actually never been to a Walmart, but do frequent Target) but I do believe in value, whether it be from the kitchen of a well known chef or from Palate or from Kroger and its a matter of where that value is, including quality and taste of the food, the ingenuity of the menu, the ambience, the service, and the convenience as to who I frequent. And I love Watersheds’ pimento cheese, with or without valet parking. Afterall, everyone knows its cheaper to feed yourself at home, thats not why people go out.
Scott, I think you missed Grumble’s point (or I did?).
Assuming I understood, I’m with Grumble on this! A good restaurant is selling an experience, not just providing sustenance, so it’s unfair to begrudge them a profit. You can’t just take the price of an ingredient, deduct it from wht you paid for a meal, and assume the difference is is pure profit!
Anyway, that said, I do somewhat agree with Gustav on drinks, particularly wine. There are very few restaurants in the area (to my knowlege?) selling a bottle of wine for less than a 400-500% markup (and that’s even before you end up paying an extra 20% service charge when it comes to the bill).
I enjoy wine with my dinner, and I’d say that the wine price is more of limiting factor on the frequency of my eating out than the food cost. A meal for two is basically going o double if you buy even a mediocre bottle of wine…. Come on restaurateurs; I bet if you reduced the price of a bottle of wine by 25-30% you’d gain more than that back in increased wine sales, not to mention possible increases in the frequesncy of peoples visits?
Doesn’t Feast have a lengthy list of $5 glasses of wine, or $25 bottles? Assuming it’s not Charles Shaw, they’re probably marking up about 100-150%. That’s not bad
Not to fret, Flaka. I was actually coming out in support of Grumble. That is, you can always demand lower prices but ultimately you get what you pay for. If you want a restaurant experience a couple steps (or more) above Mickey D’s, that’s something that comes with a particular — and usually fairly reasonable, all things considered — price.
I believe in Americans earning a living in their own communities. And I demonstrate that commitment as best I can with my Visa debit card. I’m with you.
Darren, it’s funny you mention Feast! I was specifically going to give them Kudos (but then figured my post was already too long!).
Feast’s wine prices were so steep when they first opened that I went a couple of times, but then avoided returning for a good two years. I can’t recall why I tried them again, but that’s when I discovered that they’d had a major rethink on the wine list. Feast is one of my favorite Decatur restaurants now!
I once knew someone who would carry instant lemonade packages in their purse, order water, and just use their own instant