Last week, Man About Town discussed a story in the D&C about the spat between the new country bar in High Falls and Daisy Duke's. What caught my eye in that piece was the $400K of low-interest loans, along with $30K of outright gifts, that the High Falls owners received.
That bothered me, but I couldn't put my frustration into words until I looked in my closet the other day. This picture shows three of the growlers I had stashed there. In addition to the obvious story behind them ("I have a drinking problem"), they have another tale to tell.
On the right, we have an Empire Brewery growler, imported directly from Germany. It came in a custom gift box along with two special Empire glasses and some coasters. Its proper name should be the "Bill Johnson Memorial Beer Containment Device", since it was financed by the last round of easy money shoveled into High Falls by our recently departed mayor.
The other two growlers are generic growlers with the name of the brewery (Rohrbachs and Custom Brewcrafters) stenciled on them. Unlike their German cohort, these domestic twins may still (and most certainly will) be refilled at their originating breweries. The Empire, unfortunately, went bust a couple of years ago.
Though my fancy friend on the right has been the source of many hours of pleasant inebriation, it is ultimately a sad symbol of an all-too-common failure. No matter how much we wish otherwise, the simple fact is that government start-up financing for bars and restaurants just doesn't work.
I could write pages explaining why, but there's some sweet beer calling my name, so I'll limit myself to a couple of the most important reasons:
First, there's an unspoken agreement between politicians and loan recipients: make a splash. While it was open, the Empire was the coolest brewpub in town. It had the best decor, the most authentic growlers, and the biggest beer selection. Every time the owners of the Empire had to choose between saving for a rainy day and spending on some bling, they chose the on-ramp to the pimp highway. When business slacked off - as it does for all restaurants - they were unprepared and defaulted on their loans. Too much easy money in the beginning kills a business at the end.
Second, picking restaurant locations isn't the specialty of most politicians. The High Falls location, for whatever reason, just is not good for restaurants. There are other spots in Rochester, such as the East End, Park Ave, and the St Paul Quarter, where restaurants seem to do well. I don't understand it, but, unlike politicians, at least I recognize it. Since local, successful restaurant owners know that High Falls is a bad spot, they don't apply for the government loans. Most of the restaurants in High Falls have been owned by out-of-town (or out-of-state) companies who don't know the Rochester market and are more likely to fail.
One final, sober thought before I open a cold one: Why don't we spend our government money where government doesn't have any competition? Nobody's lining up to build a new bus terminal, art center or school. Plenty of entrepeneurs want to open new restaurants. Let's leave the bar business to them.
