Local Restaurant Thread

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by cracher

Agree that Farm article is terrible. The "poor optics" exists only because of irresponsible reporting. This city is overflowing with accounts receivables gone bad. Don't get why they chose to spotlight her and not one of the many medium-sized EPCs that did a lot worse than $3k.

I don't know of many medium-sized EPCs in the City that stiffed creditors then opened up a new EPC in the same building with the same management and potentially some of the same assets. I do know lots of EPCs that stiffed creditors and legitimately went out of a business though and shut the doors for the foreseeable future.

The optics of what went on here are nothing short of horrendous, regardless from a legal standpoint if they are correct or not, and because the same person is associated with both ventures, there's going to be fallout.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

If it had been a "real" bankruptcy, would she have had to liquidate all the equipment to pay creditors? It sounds like she folded the company, transferred everything to the new company and kept going with a new name.

Looks like they were insolvent, and never filed for bankruptcy according to that article.

[cracher]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

I don't know of many medium-sized EPCs in the City that stiffed creditors then opened up a new EPC in the same building with the same management and potentially some of the same assets. I do know lots of EPCs that stiffed creditors and legitimately went out of a business though and shut the doors for the foreseeable future.

The optics of what went on here are nothing short of horrendous, regardless from a legal standpoint if they are correct or not, and because the same person is associated with both ventures, there's going to be fallout.

Agree that the insolvent/bankrupt process is craptacular at best. There will always be people who end up eating it.

But, it is still the same game played under the same rules. Farm is at least honoring their lease on the space, instead of screwing the landlord too. I honestly do not think this is any more noxious than a certain EPC that owes my friend's company a quarter... the owner is now living in Cabo, waiting out the oil cycle. Guaranteed that owner will be back in town to do it all over again very soon.

[CliffFletcher]

Beaton's name is attached to the new business presumably because it carries some cachet. Well, that works both ways. You want people to patronize your business because of your good reputation, then don't be surprised if they turn away from your business if you earn a bad reputation.

There's an Alberta-based boardgame publisher that engaged in a similar scheme a few years ago. They took a big chunk of coin from an investor (a member of the hobby community) on the promise to republish a new edition of an old classic. But they were losing business on other publishing efforts, so before they could publish this game they shut down the company, leaving the investor high and dry.

Then they immediately started a new company with a new name and tried to get back into the business of publishing games. But the boardgaming community is small, and everyone knew exactly who they were. Nobody is supporting them. One of the principals of the company has to wear a fake name badge when he attends a local game convention because his name is dirt in the hobby.

Legal or not, the practice of leaving creditors, employees, supporters high and dry and then immediately starting a new business strikes a great many people as unethical. If your business relies at all on public reputation, expect to pay the price.

[VladtheImpaler]

I was given to understand that the way you make money in the restaurant game is:

- open restaurant, preferably by getting investors
- steal cash from the till
- stop paying suppliers
- declare bankruptcy
- rinse/repeat

There are no bigger saps than silent partner investors in restaurants...

[VladtheImpaler]

BTW, in case you are not on their email list, Alloy has their special 9th anniversary dinner on Tuesday - 9 course tasting menu and 1/2 PRICE WINE BOTTLES. We shall be there. The 8th anniversary dinner was good last year.

[JiriHrdina]

Went to Modern Steak the other day in the old Muse space in Kensington.
We enjoyed it.
Good service and our food was great across the board.
For the appetizer we had some scallops, that were great by Calgary standards.
Main course was the Filet with a huge baked potato.
My only quibble here is that they push a "sauce" add on to your steaks. A good steak required no sauce so felt like a blatant upsell. I want my steak to taste like steak, not one of your cruddy sauces.
I went sauce free and it was great.
Creme Brule for dessert was only average.
Some nice touches like being able to select your steak knife.

So good food and good experience.
But I think it is pricey. For what we paid, I would rather go to some place like Rouge which is a cut above.
For that reason we probably won't go back, despite it being pretty damn good.

[OldDutch]

Jiri, best scallops in town is Carino Reserva. Ya I know I have been a schill for them in this thread before, but the scallops risotto there is fantastic. Mainly for the scallops. Best scallops I had were in Vancouver at Forage, where they came in the shell from the ocean that day, but Carino is an honest second.

Anyhoo, if your paying Rouge prices go to Deane House. That place is excellent, and I love Rouge but for price Deane House tasting menu at $100 is a relative steal.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

This isn't semantics. It's really frustrating how people around here seem not to care at all about the details, even when they're important. It's probably just people in general, really, and CP is probably no worse (and possibly better, depressingly) than the general public but you can't just wave away stuff like that.

She doesn't owe these people any money. The company does. The company has no money to pay them.

A person and a person's company are two completely different entities. That's one of the main reasons that companies exist in the first place - to incentivize people to engage in business ventures by creating a structure where you can try to make a successful business, and if it doesn't work, you don't end up losing your house. If I have venture capital, I can fund two separate startup businesses, and if one of them doesn't work out, I can rest assured that the other will be able to go forward without disruption. I'm therefore far more likely to start both businesses.

The "nice" thing to do? I guess... why not take that money and give it to the United Way, or doctors without borders? That would be nice.

Bankruptcy laws weren't drafted at random. There are deliberate policy choices made to balance the protection of creditors with the goals of the market. Claims for unpaid employee wages in bankruptcy get very, very high priority, whether it's a BAA process or a CCAA process. They certainly outrank shareholders; if they didn't get paid, then once this company filed for bankruptcy (or CCAA protection), I can pretty much guarantee that Beaton and any other equity investors got zero dollars out of it. The problem is that secured creditors still come first, and even they tend to get pennies on the dollar... there's often not much pie left for anyone else. That's a failed business.

If we wanted, we could make sure that every employee and creditor gets paid very easily - just pass a law that sends debtors, or the primary shareholder of a debtor company, to prison for not paying their debts. Problem solved! Wait, do you suppose that might discourage people from investing in private companies and starting businesses in the first place, thereby creating the jobs that created the debt these employees want to recover? Would it maybe stop people from buying shares in anything, if they could lose not only the money they invested but all the money in their bank account as well?

Now, if she just told everyone that she filed for bankruptcy and instead just absconded with a bunch of cash, then yeah, that's both illegal and criminal. Doesn't sound like it, though.

But, you can agree there is a large difference between legal and ethical.

For the purposes of this discussion I'm going to assume everything she did was legal since I have no reason to assume otherwise.

When you build your reputation off of your name. You name your restaurant farm based on "local and ethically raised food" and want to be part of the restaurant community in Calgary, you expect more.

I, for one, will not patronize her establishments any longer as a consumer. I can get our excessively expensive cheeses at other establishments.

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Jiri, best scallops in town is Carino Reserva. Ya I know I have been a schill for them in this thread before, but the scallops risotto there is fantastic. Mainly for the scallops. Best scallops I had were in Vancouver at Forage, where they came in the shell from the ocean that day, but Carino is an honest second.

Anyhoo, if your paying Rouge prices go to Deane House. That place is excellent, and I love Rouge but for price Deane House tasting menu at $100 is a relative steal.

Interesting, thanks. Vancouver really kills it with their seafood. I had the saint Jacques at la chaumière recently (scallops and prawns). Sometimes you just have to go all out, relatively speaking.. ha

[Pizza]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Now, if she just told everyone that she filed for bankruptcy and instead just absconded with a bunch of cash, then yeah, that's both illegal and criminal. Doesn't sound like it, though.

What the article didn't mention was that Beaton's own cheese store also expanded to the Calgary Farmers Market. I find it rather suspicious that within 6 months of claiming insolvency, they also somehow found the funds to rent space, hire staff and obtain equipment to set this up:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLBrlPOD...y=jbfinecheese

new fridges, freezers, deli meat slicers and tills. Enough funds to renovate the double lot with shelves and counters too

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

At least the employees get $2k each (to the extent there's any money left in the bank account at all, which there usually is, because all of the assets have to be sold off).

Not even close. How the hell did you arrive at this arbitrary number?

[Jimmy Stang]

You are all really Beaton a dead horse here.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by calumniate

Interesting, thanks. Vancouver really kills it with their seafood. I had the saint Jacques at la chaumière recently (scallops and prawns). Sometimes you just have to go all out, relatively speaking.. ha

Going there tomorrow for the 1st time - review please.

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Going there tomorrow for the 1st time - review please.

You haven't?? It's been an institution in Calgary for years

Anyway I think you'll enjoy it.. I'll try to give you a rundown. First off, it's very french, and a lot of their staff are too. Very friendly for a somewhat intimidating restaurant at first. Their food may not make your jaw totally drop, but it's very consistent from what I've found and they stick to what they do well. French food! I've enjoyed the duck and sablefish before. To me though, a place like this is a breath of fresh air with all these new high-end 'fusion' restaurants often hitting foul balls with their experiments, or dealing with inexperienced servers that have been there for two months. Not the case here.

Now to the wines.. this is where La Chaumière absolutely destroys anything available in Calgary. I've never been into their cellar but it would be something to see I'm sure. Here is their wine list:
http://www.lachaumiere.ca/Wine.html

A lot of sticker shock to be found in there. However, their staff all seem to be highly trained in this area. If you find the right person and ask the right questions you may end up learning a thing or two. However they aren't pretentious about it. They won't blink an eye if you pick up a $500 bottle, but if you don't they won't care either. Someone else will get it, or it will sit in the cellar for another 10 years lol. They know that you'll be eyeing something up, so they just let temptation get the best of you.

Side note - I used to know a guy who worked there, and he mentioned that high rollers will come in there every once and a while just for the wine. Apparently La Chaumiere prides themselves on having high-end wines that you'd be hard pressed custom ordering for the price they have it at. The beauty of having a killer cellar I guess.

Anyway it's a place that once you warm up a bit, you'll probably find yourself hanging out there for a while afterwards and getting that second bottle. Don't kid yourself, take your time, take a cab and enjoy it

[TheAlpineOracle]

While I don't agree with what went on at Farm, and think the whole bankruptcy/insolvency industry is morally corrupt, the absolute crucifixion of Janice Beaton going on over at her company's facebook page is pretty over the top. Social Media is a such dark and negative force a lot the time. Tell the owner your not happy, don't go to the new restaurant (I won't be), but good lord that is some over the line stuff going on over there.

[Weitz]

Lots of companies employ these tactics.

There are Junior Oil companies who go bankrupt and all their wells go to the Orphan Fund while they go on with their millions and start another Junior.

Not saying its right, but other do it too. And you can most certainly vote with your wallet by not supporting the new place.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Any suggestions for any relatively new place around the Dome or on the C-Train line to hit up tonight before the Flames game?

[NuclearFart]

Originally Posted by Pizza

What the article didn't mention was that Beaton's own cheese store also expanded to the Calgary Farmers Market. I find it rather suspicious that within 6 months of claiming insolvency, they also somehow found the funds to rent space, hire staff and obtain equipment to set this up:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLBrlPOD...y=jbfinecheese

new fridges, freezers, deli meat slicers and tills. Enough funds to renovate the double lot with shelves and counters too



Not even close. How the hell did you arrive at this arbitrary number?

We don't actually know if Beaton had the money to pay off her staff at the time Farm went under. It's possible she was legitimately broke, and then had to take on a big dollar loan to re-start this current business. If that's the case, I don't think she owes her former staff anything.

The way its trending, she very well could be the next Bernard Callebaut.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Any suggestions for any relatively new place around the Dome or on the C-Train line to hit up tonight before the Flames game?

Not new but Naina's recently opened their new location on 17th Ave a couple blocks from the dome.

[Since1984]

I have recently went to Klein/Harris on Stephen Avenue and I have to say, that is some excellent food and drinks. They make all of their pasta in house daily and the burger is very very good.

I would recommend this to anyone, plus for about $15 you get the "One Punch lunch" w/ entree, butter tart and a Mocktail. You can pay extra to turn that into what ever drink you please.