I’m always happy to try to answer your emailed questions whenever I can, and one that I got today had me checking in on the Bar One situation to see if anything had changed since this report. Be sure to click on that link if you are a relatively new reader here. It is quite shocking to learn things like in order to sit on weekend nights you must order a 300 bottle of liquor. And that if you want to have a group dinner, you will be thrown out of your seats after precisely two hours whether you are done or not. Seriously, go read the first post now. I’ll wait. Okay, now click through for the update.
It seems not much has changed. There are a few really great reviews that are probably written by Bar One employees and a slew of negative ones. There seems to be a problem with stocking the kitchen. Sweet potato fries are popular but there are many reviews stating they never have them available. Other patrons could not have mojitos because they were out of mint. One report complained of no champagne in stock so they could not order the speciality drink they wanted. The reoccurring theme is that many things were not available that are regular menu items. The waitstaff actually runs through a list of what they are out of once you are seated.
People do seem to like the food they do receive. Most people like the DJs although there was some complaint about one of them as well. It is a very loud place not conducive to dinner conversation. Service was a frequent complaint, but most people found Peter personable. Patrons like the decor and the look of the lounge.
When I wrote the original article Peter was trying to open another location in Charlotte, NC. From the looks of things, that never happened. The Bar One Charlotte twitter account tweeted a couple of times in March and then faded away.
Overall, it seems Bar One is just getting by. They have decent Sunday night following and during the RHOA season they usually have a viewing party.
That’s the tea on Bar One for now.
Perhaps they should rename Bar One to Bar None. Apparently Cynthia is the one bringing home the bacon.
That is a true indicator of how well business is doing if they are out of low cost items like sweet potato fries…jesus how much does a big old bag of sweet potatos cost? If they are running out of stock like that it means that 1) business is slow and they are not ordering heavy or adequately because the ebb and flow of business is unpredictable or 2) they don’t have a nice line of credit with the suppliers. Either way you look at it I highly doubt they are making loads of money. The markup on their forced bottle purchase is kind of crazy as well. I don’t see any low end, semi-popular place doing well with that forced mandatory purchase. Peter best to bring the drama and show his ass so he can continue or maybe become a well paid house-husband since his business venture doesn’t seem to be doing so well. Might be why he is talking smack about how Halle Berry should be putting her man in his place about that fight he had with her ex.
Thanks for the update Ms. T.
Is that watch & get the hell out?
I forgot to mention an improvement people like. It seems he gives the ladies free apple martinis before 7 (or some folks say 8). The consensus is they are not that great but free booze is good!
Maybe it’s not a real business.
I watch Breaking Bad, so this has crossed my mind: money laundering.
you cant have a bar/lounge/club/restaraunt in one small space and thats the problem. they have too much going on and not enough room to do it in. he is trying to build the trump towers on a holiday inn budget and he’s always had that mentality
i wish he could just focus that into something lucative so cynthia could retire lol she works her butt off to maintain those bills while he just lives out his mid life dreams
I’m a bartender/manager who’s close to opening his own lounge, have helped two friends open their own nightclubs and restaurants respectively. I can tell you from the inside that running out of things has nothing to do with a failing business, it has to do with whoever is doing the ordering. All it takes is one bad manager to screw up the inventory..and you’ll run out of something common in a heartbeat. I’m from Hollywood, so maybe laws are different here, but that also means that if it falls on a odd day, you’re screwed…unless you send someone to the store to get the items ( which you’re not supposed to do here for certain things) ,or borrow them from a neighboring establishment that you have good ties with, because you’re only supposed to order from distributors for certain things, again, that’s here, I’m not sure how it works in the ATL. Also requiring bottle service to have a booth is standard practice on a busy night at some higher end lounges, now if he’s slow and trying to do this, then he’s honestly an idiot, better to have people in your place drinking single drinks than forcing them to get a bottle, but that’s his place, not his, and I have no clue how it’s doing. Sorry for the rant, but just wanted to put some perspective on the possible situation. Everywhere I’ve worked we’ve run out of things , but you’d never know it, sounds like he needs to get his behind the scenes business up and get someone who knows what they’re doing to take care of his inventory. I love your blog by the way, keep it up!
I agree with Bizzy and Natasha, I think that he doesn’t have a good line of credit (didn’t he have to borrow 3 thousand dollars from his wife last season for the business) and has a small place. If he had a good line of credit he could keep his places stocked and his distributors would be okay with getting paid at the end of the month but he doesn’t. In fact I bet anything he’s funding his place on what comes in and if he has a slow week then that money isn’t enough to keep the place stocked. So he cut some things in order to pay salaries and also cheat to get money out for him to showboat.
I live in Queens, NY and have never been to a restaurant that ran out of items. That includes restaurants in the outer boroughs as well as Manhattan. That restaurant has been open a while now and Peter had been a owner/manager for many years, so there shouldn’t be any stock issues.
Well if he is running out of mint and sweet potato fries, then he need to send Cynthia to the grocery store and get them. LOL.
But I agree with Don regarding a bad manager not ordering enough items. I worked many years ago for a coffee shop. The manager would not order enough products so we were always running to the store for more milk and cream. All she had to do is increase the standard order. Because of inexperience she did not know how to do this. Buying the milk products from the local grocery cost more money that ordering them from the supplier. This was Business 101 and common sense to me…. Oh well.
And i’m supposed to be making my first venture there Wednesday. Now i’m rethinking that.
Chuck, if you go, please come back with a full report. 🙂
Yes please check it out for us.thx.
I don’y own a restaurant but I eat at lots of them. And they occaisionally run out of things. But this place has it mentioned in every review with one even saying, the first thing they tell you is “all the things they are out of like sweet potato fries.” I went to a VERY POPULAR Columbian restuarant that has only like six tables. The said they were swamped the night before and did not have a few things. It wasn’t because they weren’t paying the distributor, it was because I was at Saturday lunch after a huge Friday night.
I don’t think that is the case with Bar One. How does a bar run out of MINT ffs?
In a recent episode, didn’t Peter talk about a $200 bottle of wine like it was a big deal to spend that much on booze? He’s charging his guests more than that for a bottle just to stay and finish eating the meal they’ve ordered in his “restaurant”?? How odd…
why yes, he did. Imagine that. he charges over 300 for a 50 dollar bottle. Maybe even $35 dollars.
Riunite? 😉