TKC QUESTION: SHOULD KANSAS CITY DONATE TO FAILING RESTAURANTS?!?

As always, the first caveat is: Do whatever you want with your money.

Nevertheless, as property taxes rise in Kansas City and the upcoming recession looms, we'll see more and more restaurants ask for help beyond better tips or more frequent visits. Is it worth it or simply delaying the inevitable???

First and foremost, this place has a strong following and many local customers so we're linking simply to lament that the eatery is in trouble and needs a hand to build a better establishment . . . Take a look:

You Say Tomato Launches GoFundMe Account to Keep Up With Restaurant Repairs

After trying to find a buyer for their beloved neighborhood restaurant, You Say Tomato, Randy Parks and Mark Wingard approached their longtime employee and bookkeeper, Annie Clark Rousis and her husband, George.

Comments

  1. Really nice place. They serve some of the best soup in the city. Don't mind giving them something extra at all!.

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  2. Based on the failure rate of restaurants in the KC area, most of Kansas City is already donating to "failing restaurants" every time we eat out.

    Very few places that (a) serve the food people want (b) with the service they expect (c) at the prices they are willing to pay go out of business until they start failing to deliver one or another of those three basics.

    "Trendy" places depending on some sort of "gimmick" and a "creative Chef" are always in danger of failing as the "cool crowd" flocks to the "newer and shinier" joint that just opened in the next block.

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  3. sucks local taxes have raised the barrier to open new businesses. If you say tomato goes under the building will most likely sit there vacant for years. A big loss for the city. Taxation is out of control here

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  4. So many people go into the restaurant business who have no idea how to run one. They don't train staff correctly so the staff treats the customer like crap. The food changes all the time, one night it's great the next night it's awful. Friends and I use to meet and eat out together all the time but not anymore. We got tired of the rudeness and frankly food that wasn't worth the price being paid. We have now gone to doing our own dinners at each other's houses enjoying our time together and making meals we like at a fraction of the price to eating out and tasting so much better.

    Also what is the deal with so many places nowadays having the music up so loud you can't hear the waitress talking to you let alone carry on a conversation with anyone at your table?

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  5. ^^^ The music helps drown the complaints from the ripped-off customers.

    Or if you're a "hipster" it "creates an air of excitement" and "enhances the ambiance", or at least that's what you've been told to believe.

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  6. ^^Jesus, old, bitter, washed-up geezers like you post the lamest posts. You really need to find some friends or family to talk to. If not, call your doctor and sign a DNR. You serve no purpose Debbie Downer.

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  7. I see what you did there, Tony! Thank you--for letting folks know You Say Tomato as back and open!
    First of all, it was not "failing", it went thru change of ownership.
    Second, it's a local jewel...communal tables, great food. If you loved the Corner Restaurant in the 79's in Westport, it's like that...(I miss Steve.) They still have newspapers for folks to read. You can even get one fried or scrambled egg and a piece of toast, CHEAP!

    Chalkboard menu, no waiters. Like a trip to the West Village or a Boston kitchen. Without the airfare or the sass.

    Third, hooray for Annie and George Roussis. For saving You Say Tomato. Creatively and with determination and flair. Those two sure love the heat. He is KC's world class blacksmith artist. He wears a kilt. He's eccentric and wildly talented. I own a $5000 sculpture of his, "Perched", that defies gravity. Plus several smaller works. And now Annie is in a hot kitchen. Good for them. Two darling girls, who played chess from an early age. Urban pioneers, living east of Troost.

    So treat yourself often--and affordably, TKC readers. Go to You Say Tomato, the only retail operation within half a mile--2801 Holmes for breakfast or lunch, except Tues/Wed. (Much like ABC Cafe, the dim sum place on 87th west of Joco library--closed when not so busy.)

    The handles to the communal bathroom were hand-forged by the husband of the new owner and cook. George Roussis.

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  8. If the food is so great at these Trendy places, why are they having trouble keeping the doors open? They should get their hip, trendy, customers to show up every stinking day and leave copious amounts of money in the till. The BLT that is pictured with the story looks so ordinary. Are people supposed to get excited about this?

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  9. The reason they need money @5:57, is that what you're seeing isn't a BLT.

    That shot is of the "House Special", a Tosted Tofu, Cabbage and Watermelon Surprise! Tracy says it's Yummy!

    And the servings must be YUUUGE, nobody's ever finished one.

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  10. Tracy nails it again!
    NOTHING brings in the "cool crowd" like hand-forged bathroom door handles!

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