Restaurants
■ Dominique’s Bistro in Oakwood, which opened in 2003 as C’est Tout Bistro, changed its name (but not ownership) in 2014, and closed for good in mid-July. Chefowner Dominique Fortin came to the Dayton area in 1999 to serve as executive chef at the now-defunct, former Mobil fourstar fine-dining restaurant l’Auberge in nearby Kettering before launching his own restaurant. Fortin said slow business and high overhead costs were the driving factors behind his decision to shut down.
■ Crazy Mango Bar & Bistro at The Greene Town Center in Beavercreek, which also shut down in mid-July. Owners Bob and Judy Silva operated Bahn Mai Thai Cafe in Washington Twp. for eight years before opening Crazy Mango in 2013. Judy Silva said that lower than expected sales, high rent, increasing material costs, constant employee turnover and high training costs contributed to the decision to close. “We have no plans to open a restaurant in the future,” she said.
■ The El Pueblo and Sammy’s Gourmet Burgers & Beers dual-concept restaurant in Springboro, founded in 2010, closed its doors a few weeks ago, although owner Samuel Flores said he will look for two smaller locations in the Miamisburg and Springboro areas to open separate restaurants. Flores said the high overhead involved in operating the 280-seat restaurant was the main reason the restaurant shut down.
Other recent closings include the original Patriot Steakhouse & Tavern in Lebanon, founded in 2010; the House of Kabab in Centerville, which also opened in 2010; the Underground Sports Bar & Grill in Troy; an OinkADoodleMoo Barbecue restaurant in Dayton near the border with Huber Heights; Anticoli’s Giuliano Tavern in Miamisburg; and Soular Flair Bistro in Xenia. A second OinkADoodleMoo location in Kettering is scheduled to shut down at the end of August after its owner and the landlord were unable to agree on terms of a lease renewal.
Each restaurant had a different set of circumstances that prompted its owners’ decision. But the current overall business climate poses challenges to all restaurant owners, the MVRA’s Morgan said.
High food costs — beef, pork and eggs have all seen spikes in the past year — have eroded restaurants’ bottom lines, as have costs associated with the Affordable Care Act and a rise in the minimum wage, Morgan said. And increasing competition — especially from chain restaurants that can save money by buying in bulk and spreading out other costs — have impacted this region’s independent restaurants, she said. Fine-dining restaurants have been especially hard-hit, the MVRA president said.
Technomic’s Tristano agreed.
“The current climate for restaurants this year calls for higher levels of (sales) growth, but also a significant increase in chain restaurant expansion,” Tristano said. “We are finally seeing sales growth with many lowerand middle-income consumers finding their way back to restaurants with greater frequency, but this seems to be helping brands like Denny’s and Cracker Barrel.
“Higher-income consumers seem to have more good choices to dine out in some of the polished casual chains that have check averages in the $25 to $50 range,” — at the expense of higher-end fine-dining restaurants that have check averages above $50, Tristano said.