In the Dec. 27, 2017 Gazette there is an article about the Critical Mass Brewing closing in St. Albert. In the article Philip Starkman states that he doesn't know what caused the Critical Mass Brewing to close but he "blames the community for not supporting the restaurant." I can only imagine how difficult it is to close a business and I am sure that there are many different reasons to have to do so.
I have visited all of the local restaurants in St. Albert and some I won't visit a second time. I don't think it is fair for anyone to blame the community when a restaurant fails.
When a local restaurant is not doing well they first have to look at themselves. Is the interior warm and inviting, does it match their target audience, do they offer something different from the rest or something signature that keeps people coming back?
Restaurant's business management need to look at their business model, ratio of staff to patrons and, quality of the food. It may be that some local restaurants do not fail because of a lack of community support; they fail due to mediocre food, lacklustre atmosphere and, a million other reasons that make the restaurant business one of the most difficult businesses to be successful in.
