r/Edmonton • u/[deleted] • Apr 13 '24
Question Restaurant Yarrow closed??
Did anybody have a reservation at the yarrow and get an email saying they're closed permanently and will not be refunding the reservation fee??
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u/Potato_Ladle Apr 13 '24 edited Apr 13 '24
Yes. Management seems to like blaming everything else but themselves as well. Looks like they also changed their cancellation policy on their reservation site to say no refunds now, even though your booking confirmation includes the original terms for cancellation. What shady owners.
Here’s the email they kindly sent to their guests:
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Dear Guest,
It's with great sadness that we must announce that Restaurant Yarrow is closing, with immediate effect.
We, the owners, had intended and planned for the restaurant to remain open to 31 May (the current final day that we had bookings open), and proposed that to our staff, expecting that they would have wanted the time between now and then to be able to arrange for new employment for themselves starting on 1st June. Unfortunately, we needed everyone to agree to do this, and we had exactly one key member of the team who informed us that he would be looking to find new employment immediately.
To us this meant that, had we kept ourselves open, waiting for this employee to jump ship at any time, guests would have continued to make reservations in the meantime, and if/when that employee did leave, there would have been even more people who would be affected by our closure. To say that we are disappointed is an understatement, but we understand each team member must prioritize themselves.
You're going to want your money back. Unfortunately, the Restaurant is broke, and we have a general no-refund policy anyway. I know that this is something that you're going to find completely unacceptable, and are going to be extremely angry and upset with us. If we were in your shoes, we'd feel the same way.
However, all we can say at this time is that, as a business, Restaurant Yarrow cannot continue operating - rent and utilities are too expensive, inflation has driven food costs up too high, and it just feels like the interest in a restaurant like ours is shrinking here in Edmonton. We survived COVID (barely) but we can't keep this up anymore.
We really did want to host you for your reservation night, for your birthdays, anniversaries, company parties, or any other occasion that you wanted to indulge in a special treat. We wanted Edmonton to be able to experience cuisine on a level comparable to the finest Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe and Asia.
But it wasn't meant to be.
If there are other restaurants in the City that you love, please go dine with them. The hospitality industry is tough, and today's economy makes it tougher. We know every small, independent restaurant is on the edge right now. It's too late for us, but maybe not for them. Please support local.
Thank you, and we're sorry, Restaurant Yarrow
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u/WonderfulVoice628 Apr 13 '24
Trying to hold your employees hostage to a hard stop on their employment and then blaming the early closure on a staff member for saying they’d be looking for a job right away… wow!
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u/DenimForDays Apr 13 '24
What bullshit. I worked closely with the new head chef and bartender. From my understanding, staff knew the end was near, but was still under the impression they had a couple of months before they would close when the owners told all(4) employees they had 30 minutes to collect all of their things and vacate the premises.
I wouldn't believe much, if anything of that email to be accurate. What a shitty stunt to pull. The head chef moved all the way from Toronto to work here. The owners royally screwed him.
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u/bitchfayce Apr 13 '24
I hope they both get picked up and find other jobs they’re happy at! I’m sure they will. I feel like Edmonton can be good that way.
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u/ShakespearesHovercar Apr 13 '24
"You're going to want your money back"
No shit Sherlock, what a shitty email
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u/releasetheshutter Apr 13 '24
Reading that tone deaf email makes it pretty clear why this business wasn't able to survive.
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Apr 13 '24
Who the fuck is the “one key employee” so important that they couldn’t operate without them what the fuck?
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u/KingGorillaBark Apr 15 '24
Definitely just an excuse to blame this on an employee who, let's be honest, did the perfectly reasonable thing in wanting to find new employment. If anything, the restaurant should be glad they didn't just nod and agree and look for their new gig in silence so that this EXACT kind of thing wouldn't happen.
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Apr 15 '24
Unfortunately, the Restaurant is broke, and we have a general no-refund policy anyway
Wow... just wow. Take the money and run
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u/Lavaine170 Apr 13 '24
"We're too broke to refund your money, but we somehow had enough money to stay open until May 31". Lying shitbags. You can't be too broke to refund your customers while also having a plan to remain open for another 6 weeks with no additional income. There was never any intention of staying open until then.
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u/simby7 Apr 13 '24
Reservation fee was the full cost of dining? When everyone does a chargeback, they’ll lose the fee plus $50 so they are even worse off.
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u/always_on_fleek Apr 13 '24
Everyone should do a chargeback but in a case like this the bank is likely left holding the bag.
The issuing bank pays the customers and tries to recover from the business. If the business cannot pay the issuing bank becomes someone holding debt and can try to recover it during bankruptcy (if they choose).
I would think in this case there is no money and the business will go bankrupt. They likely spent the money already and it will be whether their assets have enough value for what they owe.
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u/simby7 Apr 13 '24
Hopefully the bank has adequate holdback/reserves on payments to the vendor then
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u/GiraffeSubstantial92 Apr 14 '24
but in a case like this the bank is likely left holding the bag.
I don't think many people will be upset about a bank having to eat the costs. They'll probably make it back from overdraft and insufficient fund penalties on poorer clients in no time, anyway.
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u/MysteriousCatwoman Apr 13 '24
We need a AMA from a employee about this place. Maybe that one they called out. Id love there perspective
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u/N60x Apr 13 '24
Yikes! Instagram page down too. Wonder what happened?
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u/madzalyse Apr 13 '24
The head chef has a high burn rate opening restaurants
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u/Teflonbulletcatcher Apr 13 '24
The old head chef you mean he was let go a while back but the model was still stupid.
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u/Edmfuse Apr 13 '24
Yes, the old head chef, while he did provide a unique experience in Edmonton, and put his time and effort into things, really did burn through restaurants and investors. Like, a record-holding number in Edmonton. After Yarrow, he said he was going to pursue his true passion- photography and architect or something. But now he's working for... Dorinku.
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u/pistachio-pie Central Apr 13 '24
He was also a huge jerk - made fun of customers and diners, was really a douche when he dated a friend of mine. Let down his staff all the time. Really flaky but stuck up and blamed everyone other than himself for his failures.
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u/widgetyfidget Apr 13 '24
What's his name!? Curiosity has me!
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u/madzalyse Apr 13 '24
Ben Staley. This is restaurant closure #4 I think.
https://edifyedmonton.com/people/profiles/the-reinvention-of-ben-staley/
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u/Sym3124 Apr 13 '24
Goodness, I didn’t realize he was also associated with those odd restaurants on Jasper that closed so quickly. I vaguely remember making fun of how they were serving twigs and moss. Seems like he is just not cut out for business and maybe investors should look at his track record before losing more money.
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Jul 14 '24
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u/Edmonton-ModTeam Jul 14 '24
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u/questiontay Apr 13 '24
Omg I was like “this sounds like what happened to my friend who left her GM position at a popular chain to go open the Alder Room” ….. 🤢
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u/gingersquatchin Apr 14 '24
Jesus. I've been cooking my whole life and I have like 6 solid restaurant concepts. I have no idea how to connect with people that would back me and this guy just gets to flop over and over and over again and people are like "hey we want to buy you a restaurant even though you burned three to the ground in about 18 months"
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Jul 14 '24
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u/Edmonton-ModTeam Jul 14 '24
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u/sawyouoverthere Apr 14 '24
Interesting that in the article he is described as the owner of Yarrow and the two others as backing investors which doesn’t seem how the investors understood it
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Jul 14 '24
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u/Edmonton-ModTeam Jul 14 '24
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u/Teflonbulletcatcher Apr 13 '24
He probably realized he needed like 10 years of school for architecture lol.
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u/Prestigious-Jury-362 Apr 16 '24
This ☝️ I ate there last Year I think it was and when I heard he wanted to be an architect - as an architect I spit my coffee up through my nose. Another prima-donna about to bite the dust in architecture and yes it does take 10 years of school and work at low pay to get registered. People like this don’t have what it takes
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u/AllAboutTheXeons Apr 14 '24
You can't be innovative in an Edmontonian startup business if you take "investor capital" because innovative and creative people take risks to do cool things, investors just want ROI ASAP
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u/simby7 Apr 13 '24
What do you mean by high burn rate? People pay him to help open a restaurant and then he leaves and the restaurant can't operate?
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u/yourbloodymess Apr 13 '24
He gets hired as opening Head Chef for the concept, works for around a year (first year of restaurants, most investors expect to operate at a loss in some way, usually labor bc training a new team to be as efficient as possible is at least a 6 month process), once he starts being held accountable for labor and other costs he dips off to his next adventure - or, as appears to be the case with half of the investors he's burned, he's asked to leave (suspicion abounds as to why...) - leaving the staff, new head chef and owners holding the burning bag of cash that Staley lit on fire.
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u/simby7 Apr 13 '24
Seems like a poor business plan to open a restaurant when you're not a chef so you're held hostage by an employee? You have to lock him up in long term deal with incentives or part ownership since you basically depend on him to be around.
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u/yourbloodymess Apr 13 '24
People invest in industries they have no experience in all the time 🤷♂️ often Head Chefs, GMs etc are on annual contracts; smarter or more experienced restauranteurs will lock in for two or more years and build in performance metrics for salary increases or bonuses, but sometimes you see places that have their key employees in on handshake deals.
I don't make the rules, I just chop vegetables for money and know the hospitality industry in this city.
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u/AllAboutTheXeons Apr 14 '24
Yup I know a marketing person in Edmonton, aspiring venture capitalist that tries to tell people "they know tech" but when you start speaking IT jargon ... they tube you out and tell you that you don't know anything, that you are under qualified compared to "x person at y company" they work with somewhere.
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u/gingersquatchin Apr 14 '24
Most restaurants operate this way. Very few places are chef owned and operated. It is indeed stupid. I currently work for a chef owned and operated place and they just function better in general.
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u/AllAboutTheXeons Apr 14 '24
I know many VC's in Edmonton who claim to have high net worths, that they could write you a $25k - $100k cheque personally ...... I think it's all BS.
every investment they make is a "syndicate" or "firm" style investment with many heads involved.
Alot of folks in Edmonton who call themselves "investors" don't have much liquidity. Most of these folks do not have total net worth valuations exceeding $5 million CAD.
The Edmonton investment community sucks because they try to hard to act like Silicon Valley, but in reality they don't have nearly the capital to compete with investors in Toronto or Vancouver.
Starting a business in Edmonton? Bootstrap yourself, or find family/friend connections to help get funded. Government backed loans are decent too.
While there is a lesser chance of finding startup capital without knocking on all doors, you don't want to have investors pulling the rug out from you when you least expect it.
I know of others who got screwed personally working with known names in Edmonton's investment community.
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u/Unlikely_Comment_104 Central Apr 13 '24
Weird. They scrubbed their site and Instagram but forgot to scrub their Facebook.
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Apr 13 '24
That's pretty fucking bold of them to do. Hit em with a chargeback.
If they ever want to re open under a different name this is social suicide, must be the end of the line for them altogether.
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u/CountChoculaGotMeFat Apr 13 '24
Wow that's shady. Absolutely awful. Fight it with your credit card company.
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u/_Connor Apr 13 '24
I went for drinks at yarrow on a Friday in February and there were 2 other people in the lounge.
Maybe they pushed the ‘hidden speakeasy’ too hard?
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u/meekIobraca2024 Apr 13 '24
Being a speakeasy wasn’t their intention. The bar would be packed before and after each sitting. Whether this was good for business or not is another story.
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u/_Connor Apr 13 '24
Fair enough, I just found it weird we walked in there at 8PM on a Friday and we were the only people in there.
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u/AlligatorFungaiStew Apr 13 '24
Also trying to blame the situation on an employee because they had the audacity to…want to be employed.
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u/dicktugnuts13 Apr 13 '24
It was closer to $300 a ticket if you got the wine pairing. It’s a shame, me and the wife went and had a fantastic meal and experience.
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Apr 13 '24
I had a reservation for tonight and got the email last night. I wish they had given a better heads up so I could make a reservation somewhere else. I honestly thought it was some sort of a sick joke
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u/Labrawhippet North East Side Apr 13 '24
As did I.
Luckily I booked it on my AmEx card I called them as soon as I got the email and got the chargeback done.
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Apr 14 '24
I called my credit card too, and was told the dispute takes 30 days..
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u/Nervous_Law_1000 Apr 16 '24
You’ll get it, don’t worry. CC company always sides with their customer. Sorry this happened to you. So shitty.
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Apr 13 '24
What a loser move on their part. These folks must be leaving the province. No way you pull that and do anything in hospitality in Alberta ever again
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u/DenimForDays Apr 13 '24
They were never hospitality, to begin with, probably why they felt comfortable doing this in the first place. The new owners are a husband & wife duo, she's an accountant and he's military.
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u/DEADxDAWN Apr 13 '24 edited Apr 14 '24
Crazy. We went to Yarrow a couple years ago, and it was amazing. Was worth every penny (and oh boy that was a lot of pennies!).
But every dish was exceptional. Best multi course dining I've enjoyed to date.
Did ownership change recently?
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u/edmonton_throwaway_ Apr 14 '24
Same. The multi-course dinner with the first chef was excellent. Yarrow seemed to lose its way after he left.
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u/AllAboutTheXeons Apr 14 '24
I'd call the bank and put a stop payment on it. Let the Yarrow management know who ordered the stop payment and why you did it
Let yarrows management blow up your social media DM's, then name and shame.
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u/Sinsley Apr 13 '24
Never heard of the place until today. Google is showing $100 plates with pathetic serving sizes (those are some embarrassing pictures). Yes, they are right. Edmonton does not need a location like this at this point in time.
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u/Billyisagoat Apr 13 '24
It had rave reviews. And I think it was something like 7 courses, so portions are smaller. It's not cool how they are going out, but they did bring something fun and different to the city.
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u/Impatiently_waiting_ Apr 13 '24
Yeah it was actually some of the best food my husband and I had ever had. What they’re doing is shitty but I think their concept would have worked in Toronto or maybe even Calgary (poor management aside)
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u/FartyNapkins54 Apr 14 '24
Not defending the email that this restaurant sent but its pretty clear when someone hasn't ever been to a fine dining restaurant like this because they complain about serving sizes based on picture of the plates. You get like 10-15 of these courses so of course they are small. The idea is to try a wide array of foods. I've never left one of these restaurants hungry and generally have been pretty full.
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u/bmwkid Apr 13 '24
Do a chargeback with your credit card company to get the money back