Restaurants in Downtown

Blogreader,

All this talk of downtown revitali-whuzzits-whozzits-and-wherezzits. It can be a bit abstract and I have panic attacks when I look at abstract things.
(I once had a religious experience when I saw a Rothko painting. It was an out-of-body moment wherein my out-of-body had a panic attack.)
So, let's bring it down from the broad to the narrow.
Restaurants are a huge part of downtown. With the construction of Florence Little Theatre and the soon-to-be constructed Performing Arts Center, upscale restaurants will be needed by those who don't wish to eat a meal at Quizno's Subs in evening wear.
So, what is the current state of fine-dining in Florence and what are the hopes for fine-dining with the downtown revitalization?
We asked Tim Norwood, owner of the only fine-dining joint in town Victor's Bistro, to give us some feedback.

First, what do you feel people are looking for dining-wise? As an independent restaurant, how do you compete with chain restaurants which offer similar dishes?
There's a need for the upscale fine-dining restaurant in Florence. Since I've been involved in the business five years, our sales have have tripled. We need a product that fits Florence's need. We have the tapas menu, which is something. If all the entries are $28 to $30, you're going to limit your clientel, so we started the tapas menu: the price points of which are comparable to Outback or Olive Garden. Every restaurant has their own clientel and some people may think that Victor's Bistro may be too upscale. They may feel they may have to wear a coat or a jacket or something, which you don't, of course. It's all about how you market yourself and the products we provide the customer and we can compete with the Olive Gardens and the Red Lobsters.

Florence has an abundance of chain restaurants. A lot of people have questioned what such restaurants do to the local dining flavor. Do you think chain restaurants have hurt the viability of locally-owned restaurants, most specifically fine dining establishments?
I think all restaurants are hurting, even the chain restaurants. When the gasoline gets up to $4 a gallon that takes a lot of discretionary money out of everyone's pocket. It's not just locally-owned restaurants, but everybody's hurting right now. Restaurant business is a tough business and with chains that have a lot better buying power and a lot of marketing power it's tough to compete with them, but I think, like, Starfire (Grill) and Red Bone (Alley) are doing great. I think chain restaurants have some unfair advantages because of their size, but I think we're able to compete locally on that.

How, exactly, do locally-owned restaurants compete with big chains?
Specialized service and unique, different foods and, for example, with our tapas menu - that's something different in the marketplace. We've been doing that five years now and sales have been great and growing. We also have our clientel, (which) is more business-oriented, pharmaceutical, medical community, the manufacturing facilities, and our service area is not just Florence. We have clients come from Marion and Marlboro County and Williamsburg County. We have a different clientel that we are after at our restaurant. Just like Red Bone has their own special environment and atmosphere. Everyone has their own special environment and atmosphere. So, what we feel is that when a chain comes in, if a Carraba's opened up next week, we would feel a pinch for about three months. Everybody would want to go try it out and then it kind of settles down and you've got to be able to hang in there and keep doing what you're doing.

Then, what do you think has been the reason behind many fine dining establishments closing their doors in recent years in Florence?
I'm not sure what their reason for closing was. I think, in general, not keeping up and providing new products to your clientel. The same-old, same-old they get tired of. We've invested in our business. 150 different wines and that's something we didn't have five years ago and we change the menu three or four times a year. So, I think those are the things we do to stay ahead of the market and some of our competition might not have done those things.

Now, let's talk about downtown revitalization. The hope is to bring downtown to a position where enough traffic is generated in that area to attract private business. Currently, would you be willing to invest in downtown?
I think we'd all love to see that project take shape and grow as all the pieces get put together with the fine arts center opening, the Little Theatre's opening now, but it's going to be a while before the restaurant industry wants to invest in downtown until there's more people down there. I think, long-term, it's a great project. It gets started and we get some investment in there - I think it'll be successful, but it's a while away. I wouldn't be willing to invest two million dollars right now.

Currently, would Florence we able to handle another fine-dining restaurant?
I hope not (laughing). It is a limited market here. I'm not sure Florence is big enough to handle another fine dining restaurant, honestly.

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