Owner Linda Todd (no way to verify it is her, but sure looks like it is) went to Urbanspoon to write the reason why in a review titled "Shame on you." Her statement pretty much blames everyone else such as her 'worthless employees' for her closing the restaurant and says she looks forward to having some free time for her 'kids and grandkids.' Read the full review below:
"For all you haters of The Whistle Stop Restaurant in Hot Springs ...you won't be able to write ugly reviews anymore cause I (CLOSED) the doors ....I got tired of working 7 days a week and you didn't appreciate it...Worthless employees didn't show up and didn't bother to call in and they go out and talk about you behind your back....but you know who they call when they are in jail or need money ...
Maybe you should all go out and put in your own restaurant and then people will complain about you cause nothing you do is ever good enough for people.... you are the biggest whiners in the world....go anywhere in town and see if you can eat good food for 8.00 for lunch and 11.00 for diner ..
I am glad to close the doors maybe I can have a life just like you do...I can spend time with my kids and grandkids instead of being up there working my A.....off cooking for you while you are enjoying you family,
I feel sorry for all you people that only think of yourselves and never anyone else and complain all the time...shame on you for being such unhappy people
Linda Todd"
Are you surprised at all with the closing of the Whistle Stop? I am not too surprised.
I plan to get something up soon that will keep track of all the restaurant impossible updates and closings. Stay tuned...
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame. Really pathetic. She did it to herself.
ReplyDeleteSo what does that make the tally of failures? At least six I think, but I'm thinking that number is low even.
ReplyDeleteThat would be awesome. And to ask for more, but a similar gathering of the "Chef Wanted" post-mortems would be wonderful as well :)
ReplyDeleteI might take you up on that as well
ReplyDeleteWhat a toad. I guess she thought she was going t come in and just count the money, the money the help didn't stal, and leave.
ReplyDeleteSeems go me when your the owner its a reflection of you... Robert came in and changed everything... If you couldn't maintain what he gave a "gift" then you deserve to go...Wow..
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA what a stupid woman i hope she starves
ReplyDeleteWow, you all SHOULD be ashamed of yourselves. This is a woman, a human being just like us, and all she was trying to do was help some people she cared about. Yeah, she was stupid and didn't know what she was getting herself into, but she did it because she cared about others more than she cared about her own self. I'm sure some of you have been in financial crises and felt like no one was there to help you. I'm sure some of you have tried and tried your best and still no one thought it was good enough. I can't believe you all are calling Linda "pathetic," a "toad," saying you "hope she starves," and implying that she didn't try to make Irvine's "gift" work. YOU are all pathetic for the way you're writing about this. This is sad. This is someone's LIFE, the last 10 years of it anyway. She put blood, sweat, and tears into that place and those people and tried her best to make it work. She's someone's mother, grandmother, and all you people can say about this is that "she did it to herself"?? Well, all I can do is pray for you all and your cold hearts.
ReplyDeleteWow. And she looked at these people like 'family'.
ReplyDeleteI agree...
ReplyDeleteShe's right people in this world now days don't care about anyone but their selves, the ones on this site bitching about her food would probably bitch about a tight hanging rope!!!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I do believe Linda saw the error of her ways, and not too sure
ReplyDeleteif it is just blaming others... I'm thinking it was too little too late
for her, and that the staff was in fact not willing to buck up and lend
true support. Giving hearts and foolish minds, are the down fall of
many. I love this show, because it at least gives people THAT chance,
either a last hurrah or a new start. I wish Linda well in her personal life, I truly do. ~ Nathan
INDEED! :/
ReplyDeleteLove this show and Robert, his crew get put through a great deal. Some people can't be helped as the case with Whistle Stop owner. Accept it and move on. How bitter can one person be? I am sure the customers picked up on this.
ReplyDeleteI haven't ever seen an owner of a restaraunt this inept. I think she should take what money she has (if any) & seek professional help. She needs to b fitted for one of those white dinner jackets that tie up in the back & have a strap running thru the crotch. Don't know why she thought she had ANY reason to complain about her employees because the problem started and ended with her. Stopped in there once while on vacation there, and ended up quite ill that night. It's a good thing she closed when she did as she wasn't far from having lawsuits filed against her for serving food that should have had warning labels attached to the plates. Good riddance!!!
ReplyDeleteSadly, Linda likely did try. The bad thing about a restaurant suddenly taking off, is that it gets very busy... I know that means more money, but a busy restaurant pushes the staff harder. Linda wanted to care for people more than she wanted to hire a capable staff and it ended her restaurant. Even good employees can struggle under high stress and from what I could see, she had a weak staff with a low frustration tolerance and underwhelming work ethic. Linda, I'm sorry you lost your restaurant and I feel for you regarding the response you got from your staff. You clearly cared about them, the problem is a business doesn't care about how good a person you are, it cares about the bottom line. The bottom line is you were too kind to be a restaurant owner... that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Never lose the kindness in your heart, but beware of those who would take advantage of you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for putting those shameful people in their places. You are right, this poor woman put everyone else before herself, imagine how she must feel after all that hard work and she was unable to keep the restaurant open. She did her very best, it definitely didn't help that some of her employees were dishonest.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.
I also agree to!!!
ReplyDeleteRestaurant owners are given the tools to make it. Unfortunately sometimes its not enough and stop following the plan.
ReplyDeleteI think Robert Irvine shouldn't be blamed for restaurant closings. He gives a remodel and some advice. Some owners benefit and some are too far gone or too deeply in trouble to benefit. It is not likely that $10,000 and 2 days can "save" all of these businesses. Of the ones that benefit it is because they took some advice and built upon the little lift that the show is able to provide.
ReplyDeleteRobert is trying to teach this woman how to run a restaurant when she doesn't even know how the basics of a restaurant work. It's like trying to teach a first grader how to multiply before they can count (let alone add or subtract). I don't blame Robert for saying during the show "This one might be the one I walk away from." If the foundation is not there then the whole building will fall and that's probably why this restaurant did not succeed. :-/
ReplyDeleteoh well she was warned about her staff i had eaten there previous xs before restaurant impossible went in and found the food very good however i had not been there a in a year prior to the makeover.....very sad to know now that they are closed and will never reopen their doors
ReplyDeleteThe commentors lamenting all the harsh comments directed at the former owner need to get a better grasp on the real world. This woman took her kids' inheritance (not a nice thing to do) and bought a business about which she knew virtually nothing by her own admission, because all these people"feel like her family."
ReplyDeleteLet me restate that: She stole her children's inheritance to become the boss of a group of misfits in a business she knows nothing about! That isn't sweet and having concern for others above yourself. That's talking advantage of her own family and risking their future for the sake of fulfilling her "boss complex."
Absolutely no surprise she blames all those who previously called her "Momma." This woman is tremendously dysfunctional. The business was doomed from the moment she took over, and she destroyed all those relationships in the process. All of you taking up for her are just as dysfunctional and don't want to see all the havoc this woman created under the guise of being everyone's mom. Scary manipulative, coercive and passive-agressive. The farewell rant is the icing on this cake of pathology. I hope her kids get away from her and learn how to actually be caring and selfless rather than creating that illusion to set up power play.
She tried to help some people, and the first step towards that was to steal her children's inheritance. It all goes downhill from there. There was a lot more going under the superficial guise of trying to help people?
ReplyDeleteIf she was really motivated to help people it should have started with taking the money for her kids and making sure it paid for their educations. She needed to be a parent to her own kids rather than taking their money and blowing it trying to be "mom" to her adult co-workers.
She was destined to fail, and in the process she betrayed her own family, risked their futures, and when it all fell apart she turned on the people who she was supposed to care so much about in an online rant blaming all the failure on them and taking no responsibility herself.
This is not the sad tale of a well-meaning caring person. This is the pathetic story of a controlling, manipulative woman who got in over her head and doesn't have the character to accept the blame, instead putting it all at the feet of her "children."
Somehow I also neglected to point out, not only did this woman steal her children's inheritance. Not only did she turn on all those employees she "thought of as her family" (based on her theft from her kids the last thing anyone should want is to be part of this woman's family), she has the outrageous gall and unmitigated temerity to blame HER CUSTOMERS! How are the customers *ever* to blame for any business' failure?! Every single customer who walks in the door is one more person giving you some of their hard earned money in exchange for quality products and services. That is the ONLY thing they owe you! Doing your best to earn that money is the least they deserve from you! That this woman finds a way to twist the reality of this situation in her own mind that she thinks her customers are in any way responsible for her failure is all anyone should need to see to understand how twisted, manipulative, controlling and dysfunctional this woman really is. I just can't get over how outrageous that is, and how deluded and probably dysfunctional all those defending her must also be. I am STUNNED!
ReplyDeleteShe played an act on that show, she wasn't as friendly as she tried to make herself out to be, heck you can tell during the reveal when she tries looking excited for audience but it's so obviously fake.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised many of these close, not that all owners are like her except in the one similar thing they don't have any restaurant experience. Why do people open a business they have no idea how to run?
I agree, but of course I worked at Whistle Stop before RI came. I completely understand why the business closed, actually i believe she sold it, because there is a different restaurant open there now, she got some money out of it and I think even some of the employees transfered over to the new place. She was extremely hateful to me and most everyone else I saw her interact with. I even saw her get into a heated argument with a customer, she was cussing at the customer which drove most of the other customers that night a way.
ReplyDeleteTreating people whether they are employees or your customers in such a way is totally uncalled for no matter the circumstance. Ultimately it is the owner's responsibilty how the restaurant is run and how it turns out.
Give me a break. She STOLE her kids inheritance and admitted to it! That is NOT a loving or caring act. My mother did that to me too. As a mother myself, I would not DREAM of stealing my kids inheritance for any reason whatsoever! And worse yet, she did so to buy a business that he had NO CLUE how to run. She didn't help anyone by allowing a business to fail. Apparently, she never tried to learn how to successfully run a restaurant along the way. To add insult to injury, she hired people who were also inept. How did any of that help anyone? Anyone exercising even the slightest bit of common sense would have seen that this "idea" was doomed to fail.
ReplyDelete