"Men of the South! It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!"R.I.P. Picante
- Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919)
I'd heard the complaints about the fluctuating prices. I'd heard the complaints about fluctuating quality. I could even do some complaining myself.But now, with the news of Picante's demise, I'm left with a burning hole in my heart rather than my wallet or stomach.
Why?
Say what you want about this so-called "Fresh-Mex" joint, it was open late and had a central location off Náměstí Republiky, not far from Old Town Square.When drinking heavily in the area, it was the fast food place to stumble into and fill up on quesadillas or burritos before heading home.
Sure, I only ended up there a few times a year. But it was good to know it was there when I needed it. I have some warm, but foggy memories of the place.
The grapevine speculates that Picante was done in by some of the negative factors mentioned earlier, but also that this small shop had the misfortune of being located next to one of Prague's biggest construction projects, The Palladium shopping mall.Tram service was cut off for a long period of time, and sidewalks and streets were blocked off, as well.
And now they are dead. Via con dios, muchachos!
Restaurant In Peace
3 comments:
I just don't think it makes any sense to conclude that it was the 2 yrs. of construction which did them in. Why deal with the losses for that long and then close as the construction in concluding (Autumn)?
If anyone has some harder information, I'd love to hear it.
This is not really hard information, but I do remember chatting with the owners a while ago and them painting a rosy scenario of opening a picante in every panelak town and on every namesti miru ... That never materialized and you can draw a couple of conclusions, I think ...
1. Possible partnership problems ... opening new stores takes continued commitment from all involved parties. They probably didn't have that.
2. The business plan didn't really pan out. After they ran the numbers on Revolucni, they realized it may not be viable as a business model. Better to lose money on one store and close it down than to open a lot of stores and go down in flames ..
Like I said .. not hard info, but possibly what may have gone wrong.
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