1663 Market (formerly Sickles) in Little Silver is closing – last day is Sunday. They cite “lack of sustained community support, along with lingering negativity rooted in past failures that were not ours”. I believe it’s the same management team, so I wonder about the “not ours” part.
Yeah, I read about this last night and had very mixed feelings about their statement. Blaming “the community” leaves a bad taste - at least for me. I know it’s VERY hard to run a business; have a bunch of friends who have done it and failed and others who are successful.
I never got there; just a few weeks ago I knew I was going to be in Red Bank around lunchtime and actually asked someone who’s been there if they had a seating area and an actual menu, because I honestly wasn’t sure. That says something to me about their messaging. Certainly not enough to have to close, but it does seem… off. Still, I hate to see a local business fold after less than a year.
Went there two or three times after the revamp. It was very depressing.
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Interesting
My wife was a regular at Sickles (once-a-week customer). She’s been half a dozen times to the new market, but tells me it’s a shadow of the former Sickles – the new market never came up to speed.
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I’ve seen some people starting to claim in conspiracy theory corners that it was a purposefully weak attempt to make it look like they tried and failed in purpose to provide cover for real estate development
Not saying it’s true, but bringing back the sickles team to run the place at the start of the reboot was borderline insane move
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I only believe every word of that.
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Thoughts this needs to be shared from a Facebook group I participate in
Welcome to The Perfect Storm: Restaurant Edition
Starring: A snowstorm. A second snowstorm. GLP-1 shots and the economy is like a wooden rollercoaster at Action Park. I’m still wondering if I should’ve ignored the food game and gone into driveway salt sales, or selling plow parts, because let me tell you, those guys are printing money right now.
It’s January at the Jersey Shore. That alone can make a restaurant owner’s heart skip a beat. Today I cleaned the fryer just to avoid looking at yesterday’s sales report! I mean grease is much easier to deal with than existential dread. right guys?
anyway…
It’s farreezzing! Your driveway looks like an ice luge. There’s another storm coming this Sunday, because of course there is.
Everyone’s still in post-holiday hibernation mode.
And half the country is on that “I’m not hungry anymore” magic shot, which is great for waistlines, but a complete disaster for restaurants. (My leftover container purchases have jumped 200%) And yet… we’re still here.
Yes… The parking lot is shoveled. Plowed. Salted. So clean you could land a small plane on it. Now, I know it’s easy to stay home. I know that a microwave meal looks just sad enough to feel like a responsible decision. But if you’ve been trapped inside for a week in sweat pants for pete’s sake, eating protein pudding and wondering what happened to flavor. You are in luck!
Tomorrow night is Prime Rib NIght! or try our 3 course pre fixe menu— come in. Bring a bottle. Bring a friend to Blend on Main Bring your appetite or don’t! We have a new small plate section to handle the lighter appetites. We’re BYO, warm with a roaring fireplace, and still cooking our hearts out.
And if you can’t make it out before the weekend turns your car into an ice sculpture again, no sweat. There are other ways to keep the dream alive!
order a steak, burger or fresh pasta blendonmain.com WE DELIVER… Buy a gift card. Book your Valentine’s Day table. (We happen to have spots left at 8 pm tell a friend!)
We are still standing. Still stirring. I just happened to make a fabulous turkey pot pie and beef stew for lunch the next couple of days & we are braising short ribs, making fresh pastas for dinner.
To my fellow restaurant owners. Hang in there..we may be slowly freezing and financially unraveling, but at least we’ve got plenty of time to alphabetize the coffee station. There are only 112 days left until someone orders well-done filet tips and leaves the server 8%! Can’t Wait!!
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Thanks for posting this, @Ragtopssk - I know this is the hardest time of year for restaurants in our area, but sometimes it helps when owners speak up. We have a few small biz owners (not necessarily all restaurants) in AP who are up front about how hard it can be (this week it was about the City not clearing parking spaces) and it always makes me want to support them even more.
The surprise for me in this post was something I hadn’t thought of - the increase in spending on containers for leftovers! I know the GLP-1 revolution is affecting restaurants but hadn’t thought of that part of it.
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Agreed. I went out Saturday before the storm and loaded up at a few food spots even though we didn’t have anything pressing.
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