The one in Naco that ran 24/7 is gone? What about El Conde, it gone too?
- Thread starter JD Jones
- Start date
Chef Pepper calls it quits in the DR
I think the one on El Conde has been gone for at least 2 years, probably more.
Fit? not sure but IMO it was the management of these restaurants. Everyone, well at least me, that like a good place to go for breakfast. While in the USA they are good, unfortunately they did last here in the DR.
Trust me, I ve been flying back/forth for 10+ years and I've seen lot of business failed, it's sad. DR think US franchise is a gold mine but it's NOT. I ve a friend who run 18 McDs, it's no fun, it takes lot of responsibility and you need to be financially stable to run one restaurant. One dollar missing, your screwed. Fact.. But for DR, they screwed up because they jacked up the price and possible expensive rent. Look what happened to Dunkin Donuts when it came to DR, it didn't lasted that long.
But I was impressed Denny's lasted that long but they keep moving around and finally died.
Well, I've been coming here / lived here for over 35 yrs. (I hate keeping track since the first time I came to the DR, makes me old). The franchises have come and gone. When I first came here there was a Tropi-Burger in the Capital. That was the newest fast food. The problem with franchises here in the DR, there is an expectation of taste/service. Most do not last.
There is a Krispy Kreme in a MegaCentro kiosk. That would appear to be a viable model with a very low overhead.
In the MegaCentro food court today, the longest lines were Burger King and Wendy's. They do have a Dominos and a Pizza Hut too. The Subway closed up a few months back.
In the MegaCentro food court today, the longest lines were Burger King and Wendy's. They do have a Dominos and a Pizza Hut too. The Subway closed up a few months back.
Fair enough. Never heard of Tropi-Burger so I can't talk about it. But again, DR folks thinks its easy to do a service like cutting a birthday cake but it's not.
Thank god, Subway I got sick in 2013 when we ate there once.. Never again. BK & Wendys are popular, why? Cheap and fast to make. It does make sense.
The issue in Santo Domingo with burgers etc before the American fast food chains came in, was the meat was smelly and inedible (eating out). Now supermarket ground beef has come a long way and you can find imported beef and pork in many places. The same with cheeses. Years ago all you had was smelly, cardboard-texture fake cheddar and the wet colmado white and yellow cheeses. Pizza was another major fail years ago. I'm not a chain fan, but Papa John's blows away any Dominican style pizza joint like the infamous Pala Pizza 🤮. North Coast still basically can't make a good pie, save for two or three places in Puerto Plata, of which I only know of because of a friend who has tried basically every joint on the NC.
I bet you remember Miami Subs and the Micro Brewery next door on Kennedy.
The guy who had Denny's tried to make a nightclub with live music out of a breakfast restaurant. I went more than once when there was a table full of drunks still drinking at 8 in the morning. Digusting.
I wouldn't be surprised if the home office didn't have something to do with them shutting down.
Krispy Kreme has kiosks all over, but they all are supplied by the store on Churchill where the frying happens. I suspect that machine can turn out a ton of donuts every hour.
Speaking of McD's, the latest expansion is a new restaurant in Santiago. The 5th in that city.
I still find it odd there is not a single McD's in Bávaro/Punta Cana. Burger King has been there forever (first in Friusa and then they moved to Coco Loco.)
Distance maybe? Gotta sell a lot of hamburgers just to cover the cost of fuel.
Regarding Chef Pepper, so far everything points to the "new" management and nothing about the market. The recurring theme is that the quality went sour once management changed hands and that implies that if it didn't, it would still exist and possibly with a few more restaurants. The same chain could be refounded and built again with the initial standards that made it a success.
Well I think it is absolutely disgusting these companies that go bust and don't pay their staff their liquidation. I imagine the bosses are rocking around in the usual Mercedes and swanning it in Piantini every night despite supposedly having no money. I have run businesses all my life and have never once not paid my staff every cent and on time. Not once.