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Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	7/30/2011 1:39:04 PM

Momma Goldberg's will be packing up the trailer and moving on after Sunday. The original plan was to build a permanent building to replace the trailer but it looks like the number didn't support that plan. They may be back for the start of the the season next year but not sure at this point.

With 20 something Momma G's around the state you can't blame this one on service or quality. It is a PROVEN business model, the only thing missing were the consumers. On the other side of the coin the lodge and smokehouse seem to be doing well

Name:	alabound -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	7/31/2011 8:35:38 AM

Service at the Smokehouse was terrible the one Saturday morning we went there. Not very busy either. At least two couples got up and left.

Name:	Kizma Anuice -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	7/31/2011 11:09:15 AM

Terrible location. No lake access. you have to eat in a parking. the food is prepared in a trailer and it is among a group of other food places.

If they had a shack on a dock around piney woods it might have made it.

Name:	lucky67 -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	7/31/2011 3:48:43 PM

who wants to eat outside when its 105"' ???

Name:	RadioActive -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	7/31/2011 11:10:54 PM

Isn't the "Smokehouse" that you mention the inside eatery? How does your experience there have anything to do with Momma G's?

Name:	RadioActive -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	7/31/2011 11:13:24 PM

It is indeed sad that it appears that Lake Martin residents have run off another proven eatery. I guess unless you serve, "1 meat and two veggies", that one has little chance of making it in this market.

Name:	muddauber -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	8/1/2011 9:44:51 AM (updated 8/1/2011 9:46:35 AM)

You got that 100% backwards. What, just because you open a restaurant people owe it to you to go there? Every business must earn its customers. KA described it right. A trailer in a parking lot does not make a restaurant. The OP cited some 20 other locations. Any of them in a trailer? My family went there several times, and I was not impressed at all. On the other hand, I've gone to Nicks several times and not experienced the problems others talk about.

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	8/1/2011 10:09:44 AM

The trailer that so offends some of you is being moved to the AU Alumni PARKING LOT where it has a proven track record of producing sales. And the temporary trailer was set to be just that, temporary. As I understood it the plan was to leave it here and build a new building over the winter, as mentioned in the OP. Now they have told me that that plan has been tabled. Maybe I am biased having been a fan of Momma G's for many years. The convenience to me most certainly plays a part in how I feel about it also.

As for the location? Once again I will state that competition doesn't hurt business, it creates business. If you offer a superior product and/or service at a fair price you will always do well, especially in a crowded market. Ultimately the market will decide the winners and losers, unless of course you are of a liberal slant. Then you feel it is the governments job to pick the winners and losers i.e. affirmative action, gov contracts, set asides, benefits, etc.

Name:	Kizma Anuice -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	8/1/2011 11:10:04 AM

Well Lifer, you are arguing against yourself.

You state that Moma's has 20 locations that do very well thus they must produce a good product.
You also argue that the trailer did well in Auburn, i presume on or near campus
You also state:
If you offer a superior product and/or service at a fair price you will always do well, especially in a crowded market. Ultimately the market will decide the winners and losers,

Well you can't have it both ways. It can't be a good product in a good location (for that product) and fail, according to your logic.

So what is it, a bad product or a bad location?

I have been eating at Moma's since back when it was Solom's (yes they had the signature steamed sandwich) I think they had a good product, but a lousy location. If you want to sell food to the lake crowd be on the lake where people can drive up in their boats. Not three blocks up the road on the wrong side of the Blue Creek bridge. Maybe with right adds and gimmicks you could make it work.

In the case of Momma G's, they should have incorporated it into the smokehouse place, assuming no legal constraints. They could have parked the trailer as close as possible to that jackass that hates music. then they needed to advertise to people in boats. They could have an add that targeted bimini topped boats that said for instance, "Drop your top for beads, (or maybe beer)" They could have had some cheap Mardi Gras beads made up to give away. The add should also state the height of boat that can get under the bridge.
Then put some beer kegs out on the docks with some scantily clad babes who bestowed the beads on all boaters who had to drop the top on their boats to get under the bridge.

They also could have had babes on jetskis that would bring a phone in order under the bridge to boats that would not fit.

McDonalds is a successful franchise they would go broke with a trailer at the location Moma's had.
BTW Chickfila decided not to put a trailer at the Horseshoe Bend intersection in Alexander City after doing some market research.

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	8/1/2011 1:36:14 PM

I agree with a lot of what you said, especially everything about scantily clad flatbellies. I thinks the startup expectations were just to high. It is a mobile unit for that very reason it is mobile. Apparently they feel like they can produce more revenue with less labor on campus. I think a permanent structure would do better of course. I also agree it would make more sense to integrate it with the smokehouse but I don't have a clue what his franchise structure is. If it is forbidden to his franchisee's then he certainly couldn't do it himself. You could actually dang near set one up at the outside bar of the smokehouse.

You just should have been around on saturday for the paddle board races with the miller lite skanks, err I mean girls.

Name:	Wakely -	Reply
Subject:	Another one bites the dust!
Date:	8/2/2011 3:02:36 PM

The AU Alumni parking lot? Let me guess, they do bang-up business on Autumn Saturdays, and not so much besides that. Let's see, what's the main difference between a Fall Saturday on the Auburn campus (or Alabama campus, or Georgia campus... you get the picture) and a parking lot that is NOT accessible to the large body of water that makes the area so attractive in the first place?

You speak of business models; surely you can't compare a trailer in the parking lot of a college campus and a trailer in a parking lot of a sparsely populated area the same business model? All parking lots are not created equal.

I'm sorry to see them go, but I can think of a dozen ways they could have done more business.

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