98 replies to this topic

[Suzanne F]

Ratner tastes and likes (or not). (Is everybody going to hate him more because he dissed L&B Gardens Spumoni pizza?)

A quote that could be taken on its own merits or as a slap at the other local businesses that are represented:

Francine Stephens, an owner of Franny's in Prospect Heights, practically around the corner from the arena, was approached by Levy [the concessionnaire] last year. "It just wasn't a fit," she said. "We're not able to mass-produce the food that we do, and we're not at a place in our lives that we're willing to compromise."

You who know her better than I (which is not at all): which is it? Honest self-assessment, snark, or both?

[Sneakeater]

Both. (And don't forget self-righteousness.)

But they could NEVER do fast food.

[joethefoodie]

Also, how about working your ass off for Levy/Ratner et.al. to make bupkis (I'm guessing).

[Sneakeater]

You think Danny Meyer is making bupkis at CitiField?

[Sneakeater]

This actually also illustrates a point I've been trying to make to Adrian for a while.

He's frequently said, with reference to the Hooters etc. controversy regarding chains coming into Park Slop and Prospect Heights to serve the arena's clientele, that someone should force them to be "local" chains as those would be more palatable to the neighborhoods. I've tried to say that, while arena management can control what food businesses operate inside the arena, there's no central authority that can control what businesses operate outside the arena.

And here you have it.

Bruce Ratner understands Adrian's point -- and also the cachet that local Brooklyn food businesses now have worldwide -- and is acting accordingly.

But he and his associates have no control whatsoever over what opens on Flatbush Avenue.

And what opens on the outside is really what matters to the neighborhoods.

Frankly, we really don't care what food businesses operate inside the arena. THAT doesn't really affect the character of our neighborhoods.

[Stone]

I guess they're not even pretending that a working-class New Yorker could afford to get into the arena.

[Adrian]

This actually also illustrates a point I've been trying to make to Adrian for a while.

He's frequently said, with reference to the Hooters etc. controversy regarding chains coming into Park Slop and Prospect Heights to serve the arena's clientele, that someone should force them to be "local" chains as those would be more palatable to the neighborhoods. I've tried to say that, while arena management can control what food businesses operate inside the arena, there's no central authority that can control what businesses operate outside the arena.

And here you have it.

Bruce Ratner understands Adrian's point -- and also the cachet that local Brooklyn food businesses now have worldwide -- and is acting accordingly.

But he and his associates have no control whatsoever over what opens on Flatbush Avenue.

And what opens on the outside is really what matters to the neighborhoods.

Frankly, we really don't care what food businesses operate inside the arena. THAT doesn't really affect the character of our neighborhoods.

I think I agreed with that! I though that the Hooters was part of the whole Ratner development (and was wrong).

[Sneakeater]

No no no no. The Hooters thing was completely private. (As I see you know.)

[joethefoodie]

You think Danny Meyer is making bupkis at CitiF

No, not at all. But Francine Stephens is not Danny Meyer. My guess is that Meyer has higher profit margins outside of the stadium.

[Stone]

What's she worried about? That the Nets fans leaving the station will log on to Yelp and give her clam pie a bad review?

[Sneakeater]

She lives in the neighborhood. She's worried about the same things we're all worried about.

Although she also has to worry about competing with Ruby Tuesday's -- not just living up the street from it.

[Stone]

The neighborhood's going to change whether or not she sells 500 mini-clam-pizzettes a night to drunken basketball fans for $20 a pop.

[Sneakeater]

I really believe she cares about quality, and knows she couldn't serve her best pizza under arena conditions.

[Sneakeater]

I mean, look at Franny's. There are like ten thousand things they could have done to make it cheaper, faster, and more universally palatable. But they didn't.

It took them like seven years to restore meatballs to the menu, after they'd decided that the ones they'd served upon opening weren't up to spec.

[Wilfrid]

...there's no central authority that can control what businesses operate outside the arena.

I can't say how sorry I am to hear that. In the East Village, there's a community board which determines what we can eat and drink, and when.