This means war.

Seriously, I'm not kidding. I'm going to take some m-fers down if it's the last thing I do.

Two doors down from my restaurant, which is an Irish Gastro-pub by definition, there's an old book store which has been sitting vacant for over 2 years. We knew that a local chef wanted to put a Gastro-pub in there, which I'm fine with, but what we didn't know is that he's putting in an Irish Gastro-pub in, and has apparently performed enough fellatio on city council members to get a variance to allow him to put up a rooftop deck (which is deemed illegal here in old-town Alexandria due to the historic significance of the architecture) and to put a permanent awning over public property to provide additional outdoor seating (also illegal due to architectural planning laws). We tried to get both of those for our restaurant 4 years ago when we opened, but we denied. This SOB comes in and has the PR department and apparently the ability to suck a golf-ball through a garden hose and gets them to "forget" about the laws for him.

I'm taking him down. Plain and simple. I'll out price him, out cook him, and make him regret the day he decided to open this close to us.

GO TALLEN!

Same thing happened with me this past year. Someone started that blog to try and compete with us for news coverage of the UCF area and started acting like the TMZ of the campus, posting rumors and being super sensational.

We finally beat them down at the end. Reduced them to just covering Greek life and posting press releases. Nobody would talk to them.

Anyway, long story short, I'll just get a freelancing gig at the Alexandria Times and say I saw a waiter rub their gootch on the salads while writing a review.

Problem solved.

Also, skinhat.

FreeEnterprise wrote: ahem,

Methinks you didn't read his last sentence, Captain Capitalism.

FreeEnterprise wrote: ahem,     Free Enterprise...   Business has way too many regulations put on them by 'well meaning' boards. Why don't you quit whining and go get a variance and build one too? Precidence has now been set... And today governments are actually concerned with KEEPING any business they can get...   I would think you would like a little less government intrusion on what you do to YOUR property... But, what would I know...   go get em tiger. Maybe you can get them to ban customers in the future too... Cause them having customers certainly wouldn't be fair.

FE, buddy, I know you're from Ohio, so that means you can't drive for crap, but I thought your reading comprehension would be better!

My argument against this guy involving any kind of regulation is that the council voted to allow him to put a rooftop deck on a historically significant building along with their decision to allow a permanent fixture on public property, both of which required a variance from them. We've repeatedly attempted to get the same variance, but we don't have the PR machine that this guy does. To put it simply, he's a "rockstar" chef. He's not really that good, but he's got a fantastic PR machine that makes him look like he craps Foie Gras and pisses La Grande Dame.

That said, the architectural board must now approve these fixtures. They've got a history of dicking people around Apparently the shops located opposite from this new restaurant on Wales Alley are fighting the awning decision tooth and nail, and the guy who owns the buildings across the street has now declared that he's going to fight the rooftop deck. As I stated, I'm all for another restaurant rather than a vacant property, but step into my territory and try to copy me? I'm gonna mess you up. I got to where I am by being a hard-nosed SOB in the business world, and I'm ruthless when it comes to protecting my income. I don't stab people in the back when it comes to competition, I knife them in the face, just ask the prior exec of my restaurant.

Really, just massively weaken the structural integrity of his building.

choopie911 wrote: Really, just massively weaken the structural integrity of his building.

A few termites goes a long way.  Unless it's a brick building.

Mack wrote: FreeEnterprise wrote: . . . go get a variance and build one too? Precidence has now been set...  This part is actually pretty good advice.  It would be interesting to see how they could deny you one after approving one for the copy-shop two doors down.  If denial still occurs for some other reason (like not having two many awnings on one block) then you get to break out the paperwork from the previous applications and play the "I asked first, why did he get approved instead" game.  If you have bored local news reporters and provide them with documentation this can be quite entertaining for everyone involved except for the newcomer to the restaurant business and his friends on the council. Plus, putting up your own deck/awning lets you copy him back just to piss him off.

This.

I still really want to go to Tallen's restaurant/pub.

Benjichang wrote: I still really want to go to Tallen's restaurant/pub.