Soup To Nuts Diner, which was featured on Season 5 of Restaurant Impossible has closed as of yesterday after the close of business. People on Facebook and Twitter have been saying that they were closing after yesterday, and I also got a few emails notifying me that they were closing. Also, the owner Sharon posted on Facebook Saturday, "Come to Soup To Nuts Diner tonight for the car show...LAST car show!!!"I called the restaurant yesterday to confirm that they were closing, and the person that picked the phone up did confirm they were closing, and were closing for good. When I asked the reason, I was told, "I think she's had enough," referring to the owner Sharon.
The restaurant had suffered from bad reviews, and here is the original update from the show. The show originally aired on March 17th, so the restaurant closed less than 2 months after the original air date. This is the 2nd restaurant from season 5 to close, with the Dinner Bell closing just closing last month.
This now puts the total amount of restaurants from Restaurant Impossible that have closed at 17, and I have updated the Restaurant Impossible Page to reflect that. I may have another update later today though.
Update - A local article stated, "Owner Sharon Whitmore said Monday that she couldn't keep up with "ballooning" mortgage payments and high employee-payroll taxes. She said she's moving to Maryland to be close to her 6-year-old granddaughter."
That's okay...I'm sure her customers have 'had enough' too. She was a real whack job!
ReplyDeleteAren't they all?
ReplyDeleteCrazy Amy from Kitchen Nightmares has really raised the bar though.
No surprise there. I'm just amazed she made it as long as she did.
ReplyDeleteThe owner seemed flaky on the show. I'm surprised the Lake County Board of Health didn't shut down the place before the make-over considering the condition of the filthy kitchen.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the owners of failing eateries go back to the same things that made them fail before RI made over the place.
ReplyDeleteWith so many restaurants closing, or those that stay open getting only " marginal" reviews why do we think this show offering " business saving" strategies is credible?
ReplyDelete"Employee payroll taxes" - what?! I run a business with employees myself and this is a negligible cost (literally about 0.5% of our total costs, and about 0.1% of revenue) - if that's what drove this restaurant out of business, then this was a severely mismanaged restaurant from the start... or she's just one of those people that likes to complain about taxes.
ReplyDeleteDump.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes feel they are using this show to get free renovation to sell the restaurant instead of trying to make the restaurant really work for them.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of sad Sharon seemed nice
ReplyDeleteAs a previous resident of Tavares, and customer from years back all I can say is where was Lake Counties Health Department? They were so busy building the Sea Plane City they didnt care about the trash these people will encounter. The city officials will reap what they have sewn for years in Tavares!
ReplyDeletenot surprised! 'different' type of clientele in this area! never mind the lack of contemporary culture etc......i live in the area and am still waiting.....a couple of reasonable places have shown up in mount dora.....
ReplyDeleteWell you have to think about the biggest problem with most of the owners. They have been losing money for years. A lot of them are so deep in debt and they are months away from closing. For most its too late for them to keep their business open. They are a few owners I've seen on the show that have had their business for only two or three months and are only in debt for 20 or 30,000. Those are the only ones that have time to turn things around.
ReplyDeleteIts what 17 closers out of 70 odd shows considering the amount of debt the people are in its not a really high failure amount.
ReplyDeleteARM mortgages do balloon after an agreed upon length of time. Folks usually refinance before they balloon. Maybe she didn't have the money for that.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for Chef Robert Irvine. He and his staff put in much effort to remodel and update restaurants as well as revise the menus and preparation techniques. The restaurant owners that do change their menus and techniques and revise what RI tells them to do are doomed to failure. I is like when they meet him, it is their last chance. I have eaten at some restaurants featured who have continued and thrived after he left, but they did what he told them to do.
ReplyDeleteFrom my observation Sharon's personality was "emotional" with that being said basing your business on feelings/emotions will never and can never survive. Too bad Robert wasted his time and talent and the crews.
ReplyDeleteI live near by the place and was actually there on day of the work. later it was learn that they had over 170 codes violations or it was reported to be something like that.
ReplyDeleteit really never got off the ground again after it was all done.
now it been change to a new owner and name but they did change the place as well. while still new and waiting to see how new owner are doing. I hope people will appreciated what robert and crews try to do.
It is ridiculous how these restaurant owners take advantage of Food Network & Chef Irvine. I think that a contract should be drawn up stating that if these crooks sell their restaurants before at least a year or maybe even 2 years after RI comes in and remodels these dumps for them, then they should have to reimburse Food Network the $10,000 they spent on the makeover, plus have to pay at least a minimum wage salary to all of the volunteers that came in and devoted several hours of their time to help them. Then maybe these moochers would think twice about trying to take advantage of somebody.
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You must live in a state with less payroll taxes. Some states kill business owners like me with payroll taxes. Mine runs from 3.6 to 5% on a regular basis. Keep that in mind.
ReplyDeleteRemember that Food network is airing these shows and selling advertising at a profit. Mr. Irvine and his crew are being paid for their work. the restaurant owners are not taking advantage of anybody. $10,000 is a pittance in the world of television.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could have said something and Robert could have helped someone more appreciative instead.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree!
ReplyDeletePretty sure the owner Sharon planned to close, seems as though she didn't attempt to even try after RI and Chef Robert came to help, Such a shame!
ReplyDeleteWe went there before and after the remodel. It was a classic tale of a owner deciding to ignore all of the advice given to them. The owner reverted back to the original menu mere days later removing all trace of Robert's dishes. My family really like the remodeled look, but the food was beyond dreadful.
ReplyDelete