The POA sent out the following press release on Friday, November 4, 2022:
Village Restaurant to Close
November 4, 2022, Hot Springs Village, AR. The Hot Springs Village announces the end-of-the-month closing of the Blue Elephant Restaurant, located at the Granada golf course. Historically, food service in the Village has been a struggle for many restaurant entrepreneurs, and the POA is grateful for those operations that are seeing success today despite numerous obstacles including a shortage of workers and rising food costs.
In the past, the POA was expending significant moneys subsidizing Village restaurants. Recently acknowledging that it lacks the expertise to manage restaurants, the POA began leasing out the various facilities to those indicating they had the experience and interest that would lead to successful restaurant operations. The POA maintains a hands-off position with the restaurants, although staff may occasionally make suggestions when it sees a restaurant struggling.
From watching and working with those Village restaurants that are achieving success, the POA has observed some common behaviors:
- Hours of operation are consistent at the restaurant so that Villagers are confident they won’t see a “Closed” sign when the restaurant indicated they would be open
- Service is consistently good and, even with the labor shortages today, restaurant staffs still provide a pleasant, positive experience
- Menus provide the type of food, at reasonable price points, that Villagers seem to prefer
- Restaurant management works hard to provide those consistent hours of operation as well as to maintain a pleasant experience for patrons
“Those Village restaurants that haven’t been able to figure out this “magic” formula for today’s Village diners have generally not been successful.”
No, the owner should not make the call on b, l and d. If that is the POA requirement the prospective lessee should decide if they want to take it on. What is important is traffic, if little traffic for breakfast then breakfast is probably going to have to be rolls and coffee and not a hot breakfast.
It won’t work if both sides don’t show flexibility. Show traffic and you have a big part of the answer. The lesse can’t make a go of it without making money over expenses. It’s really just math. Mom didn’t make a breakfast for the whole family when only 2 were at home.
I too feel bad about all the effort that has gone into Village restaurants that have ultimately failed. It’s not a win for anybody. Put profit into the mix and that will ultimately lead to an answer. The only thing you can’t do in a business is “not make money”. If you’re making money you have time to fix other problems. The numbers in this case don’t lie. You gotta make a buck.
The Owner stated that the POA requires them to be open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner…. 7 days a week… Doesn’t seem fair to the owner when the costs are high, staffing issues, etc…. Shouldn’t the owner make that call? Just asking.
The new menu at Diamanté was out for a few weeks before Madison returned. We are glad to have him back but the credit goes to Chef Nora Lee.
We are sorry to see Blue Elephant Grill close. We are- among other things- a golfing community, in addition to pickleball, tennis, fishing, hiking etc. That said, we would prefer that those facilities near the golf courses try to reflect the needs of our community and our visitors, which includes the availability of beverages and food for those that are paying close to $100 a round to golf here. We do not have beverage carts on the course, so to have access to food and beverage is a relevant concern in order to provide hospitality to our visitors. We realize that this can be difficult to achieve, but these expectations reflect the unique needs of HSV. Many of our current residents and property owners once visited HSV courses as VISITORS (like my husband and I). We are equally sorry to have Rafaella Rose at Cortez close, but thank them for their long years of service AND availability to our community. They were always willing to be open if there was a need. I believe that our current GM and Board of Directors are doing a fantastic job. We heartily endorse their current position re: governance and oversight of POA owned restaurant facilities. We are delighted that some of the transitions in management of restaurants: Caddies at Coronado, Magellan, Mulligans at Ponce, Desoto Club, The Turn at Balboa, and Isabella Grill are doing so well. Madison Pope has returned to Diamante and has also improved the menu there! The Lake Balboa Marina (which is NOT POA) also has broadened its menu. Explore Lakeside was just sold (NOT POA) but are hopeful that the NEW owners who also own McClard’s bbq will also open a restaurant. Please remember to support our facilities.
The two restaurants I believe that do well are not part of the POA. That raises several questions. First is the POA unreasonable with what they request of the restaurants, meaning hours of operation for one. I also would personally like to see a restaurant here that does not just offer chicken, cat fish and sandwiches. However, I also think part of the problem is the kitchens are so small in the POA restaurants they do not have a lot of choices as to what they can offer. I hope the POA starts to be grateful for someone leasing the space and give them leverage to run the business in a professional manner as the lessee’s see fit. We have only been here a year and half and I can not believe how many have closed down and have changed hands. That tells me there is a management problem within the POA.
Having no experience in the business, I feel safe in believing it is very difficult. For many reasons. That being said, I suspect that rude, unpleasant patrons only add fuel to the fire. In addition, We are a population of about 16,000 on roughly 26,000 acres of land. We are spread fairly thin. It is about 15 miles from East Gate to West Gate. Speaking for myself and my husband, we really don’t eat out much. Add in the pandemic and inflation and there is no surprise that restaurants don’t do well.
As my husband says, the food business is HARD, and anyone wanting to be involved must have boundless optimism, deep enough pockets and endless faith and a thick skin. You also have to be on your ‘A’ game everyday. (He had a smoked BBQ business that thrived then dived) We have nothing but respect for those that try to serve our community. We loved both of the restaurants that have recently closed. We look forward to successful new ones taking their place.
Well said, Catherine Barton!