Downtown Las Vegas is not the place to open a restaurant it seems for many restaurateurs. Many people have remarked that the community isn’t very loyal and the mix of lawyers and the semi-homeless junkies are very picky about what they eat. Even with Timeout Las Vegas calling Glutton one of the top 5 restaurants, and blogger routing for it, it couldn’t quite make the cut and closed today – as predicted by Scott Roeben on twitter just last week
The Chef Wrote: “What can we say about the last 18 months? We have had engagements, marriages, birthdays, anniversaries, births, and even deaths celebrated within these walls. We have been a part of your lives with our seasonal dishes, constructed cocktails, and entertaining service. You have supported us and become a part of our lives as more than guests, but our family. Closing tonight is the last thing we want for this family. Inevitably, all good things come to an end.”
LV Weekly described it not being afraid “to explore the path less traveled. The unctuous chicken liver mousse ($8) is complemented by smoky grilled bread and a sweet port wine jelly. And the Buffalo-style sweetbreads ($11) are a gateway into the awfully tasty world of offal. Essentially a play on Buffalo chicken wings, the glands are rife with Frank’s RedHot and delivered atop a sharp blue cheese mousse.”
Perhaps it’s all about a name? Eating Las Vegas’ John Curtas (who has always been insanely honesat in his reviews) appropriately pointed out, ”In terms of unappetizing names for a restaurant, “Glutton” ranks somewhere between “overeater” and “crapulence” on ELV’s scale of distasteful monikers…”
This is not good news.
First, location, location, location. Did I say location? No visibility means no viability without long term strategic brand marketing. This is especially true when surrounded by competitors that have both the location advantage and produce a fine product themselves. Second is knowing your market. This particular location is going to based on a mainly transient returning global traveler who chooses the familiarity of downtown Vegas over the Strip for their stay. They are looking for that local coffee shop, restaurant, 21 table or bar with a familiar face. Locals are valuable to keping that vibe but they are not key to your sales except in the slow periods (Always love your locals). That plays to any small properties advantage but the marketing via social media and local contacts with hotel staff needs to be solid. Another consideration is this location looked grab and go ‘ish which is a big turn off sitting basically in a parking lot on a side street next to an outdoor pedestrian mall in a desert. Most of the time it’s damn hot and although yes the seating was nice looking at it from a block away you would never know it. Finally is something I can only speculate about is my guess the real killer, the lease agreement. Only the two parties know what that agreement consisted of but in an area recovering economically I am wiling to bet there was a stiff incremental financial increase coming due in the next option of the agreement. Whatever goes in next most likely will not be pizza but perhaps will need a much higher margin to survive with a niche. Hey, there is still nothing that has filled in “The Beat’s” big gaping sad hole of caffeine emptiness.