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General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - Printable Version

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RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - boca_fish - 11-03-2015

Anyone know whats going on with the Pizza Hut On Fairway. 
I drove by today and its pretty much demo'd.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - neonjoe - 11-03-2015

(11-03-2015, 05:17 PM)boca_fish Wrote: Anyone know whats going on with the Pizza Hut On Fairway. 
I drove by today and its pretty much demo'd.

According to their site there is now a location at 2934 King St E. I know they have been getting out of having dine in locations recently.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - tomh009 - 11-04-2015

(11-03-2015, 03:12 PM)Elmira Guy Wrote: Waterloo Inn to close in December; economic factors blamed

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/mobile/waterloo-inn-to-close-in-december-economic-factors-blamed-1.2640692

Well ... not the economy, for sure.  It's really a business decision for them:
Quote:She said the hotel’s owners had decided that the only way to make the business economically sustainable was to invest a significant amount of money – or to find someone else who would take it off their hands and do just that.

They had a very strong position in the Waterloo hotel market for a long time, with the St Jacobs Best Western the only real competition.  And they bought the adjacent land from the former B-K Volvo dealership, so they had opportunity to expand and upgrade.

But they did not move on this, and they did not sign up with any of the major chains (who probably would have required an upgrade as well). Now there is a new Delta in the Barrelyards, Best Western has become a Marriott Courtyard, and there are a (Hilton) Homewood Suites and a Holiday Inn Express next to the Courtyard.  All those properties are more modern than Waterloo Inn -- and that's not even considering Kitchener (even the downtown Crown Plaza is now much-improved).

Waterloo Inn had a huge window of opportunity.  The owners didn't take advantage of it, but it really was their business decision -- they decided to cash in on the land value rather than invest in the hotel.

Let's hope that something good will replace it, whether another hotel or something completely different.  (19 acres/7.5 hectares is big enough for a lot of things, and very close to the LRT.)


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - mpd618 - 11-04-2015

(11-04-2015, 12:41 AM)tomh009 Wrote: Let's hope that something good will replace it, whether another hotel or something completely different.  (19 acres/7.5 hectares is big enough for a lot of things, and very close to the LRT.)

To me it doesn't make much sense as a hotel location right now - downtown, uptown, and the university district are IMHO much more underserved areas.

It's about a 15-minute walk to the Conestoga LRT station, though it's not a better bet than the 7 or the 201.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - TMKM94 - 11-04-2015

Ricky's All day grill on Westmount near Victoria (Old Pizza hut) has closed. Nothing has ever opened in the old Taco bell.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - TMKM94 - 11-04-2015

Speaking of the old Taco bell does anyone know what the delay is for the Highland hills mall KFC renovation? Taco bell supposedly closed because they were going to combine with KFC.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - BuildingScout - 11-04-2015

(11-04-2015, 12:41 AM)tomh009 Wrote: They had a very strong position in the Waterloo hotel market for a long time, with the St Jacobs Best Western the only real competition.  And they bought the adjacent land from the former B-K Volvo dealership, so they had opportunity to expand and upgrade.

But they did not move on this, and they did not sign up with any of the major chains (who probably would have required an upgrade as well).

Waterloo Inn had a huge window of opportunity.  The owners didn't take advantage of it, but it really was their business decision -- they decided to cash in on the land value rather than invest in the hotel.

This. They could have developed the lands, not only making the hotel nicer but also adding a tower with mixed commercial use at the bottom including shops and restaurants so that there is something for the guests to do when in the hotel. This would also have brought more people to their in-house restaurant.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - ookpik - 11-04-2015

(11-04-2015, 09:22 AM)BuildingScout Wrote: They could have developed the lands...
That would have required the vision, the will and the money.

Even if the D'Altons had/have the vision it's not clear they have the will. Consider that "[Mary D'Alton, president, managing director and shareholder] D'Alton was appointed general manager in 1986 at the age of 30 and has run the inn ever since." She's 60 years old today. Most people of that age are more likely thinking of retiring than expanding their business. If there's another generation of the family willing and capable of redeveloping the site why aren't they running the operation today? So perhaps selling off the land makes the most sense for the principals under the circumstances that I'm reading between the lines. It's what I'd do if I were in that position.

This reminds me of Buttonville Airport in Richmond Hill. It was privately owned and operated by the Sifton family for many years. Then a few years ago they decided the land (about 10x the acreage as Waterloo Inn) was far more valuable for other purposes. So they sold it to Cadillac Fairview who will now redevelop it.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - BuildingScout - 11-04-2015

(11-04-2015, 10:31 AM)ookpik Wrote: Even if the D'Altons had/have the vision it's not clear they have the will. Consider that "[Mary D'Alton, president, managing director and shareholder] D'Alton was appointed general manager in 1986 at the age of 30 and has run the inn ever since." She's 60 years old today. Most people of that age are more likely thinking of retiring than expanding their business. If there's another generation of the family willing and capable of redeveloping the site why aren't they running the operation today? So perhaps selling off the land makes the most sense for the principals under the circumstances that I'm reading between the lines. It's what I'd do if I were in that position.

I was thinking more like this is something they should have done 15 years ago, by now its stoo late. There's ample housing supply, the LRT stops too far from the hotel. A missed opportunity because of lack of vision as you said.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - tomh009 - 11-04-2015

(11-04-2015, 10:51 AM)BuildingScout Wrote:
(11-04-2015, 10:31 AM)ookpik Wrote: Even if the D'Altons had/have the vision it's not clear they have the will. Consider that "[Mary D'Alton, president, managing director and shareholder] D'Alton was appointed general manager in 1986 at the age of 30 and has run the inn ever since." She's 60 years old today. Most people of that age are more likely thinking of retiring than expanding their business. If there's another generation of the family willing and capable of redeveloping the site why aren't they running the operation today? So perhaps selling off the land makes the most sense for the principals under the circumstances that I'm reading between the lines. It's what I'd do if I were in that position.

I was thinking more like this is something they should have done 15 years ago, by now its stoo late. There's ample housing supply, the LRT stops too far from the hotel. A missed opportunity because of lack of vision as you said.

Exactly.  10-15 years ago (when she was 45-50 years old) they were in a strong position, and probably had the cash flow and business case to support a business expansion.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - panamaniac - 11-04-2015

The Subway at Frederick St Mall is now open.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - BuildingScout - 11-05-2015

This also marks the end of a period in which new hotel openings were fought by the operators of the Waterloo Inn. The Delta was supposed to sit on Willis way several years prior and all the St. Jacobs hotel properties tried to open in Waterloo proper. Had they focused in developing the property rather than maintaining a duopoly they would have been much further ahead of where they are now.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - JoeKW - 11-06-2015

What justification did they have to fight competition like that? Was it just straight up corruption at city hall?


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - BuildingScout - 11-06-2015

(11-06-2015, 04:00 PM)JoeKW Wrote: What justification did they have to fight competition like that? Was it just straight up corruption at city hall?

They lobbied strongly and their lobbying efforts were generally successful, whether they remained within the confines of the law is not for me to judge.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - tomh009 - 11-06-2015

Visited B @ Museum today. Not entirely unlike Imbibe, same layout and also a good craft beer selection. More efficient layout for more capacity and beer at $6.50 rather than $6, hopefully those will generate enough revenue to cover the higher rent (as compared to Imbibe).