Simply What? Simply Discussion.
Tom Callaghan, former owner of the building in which Simply Red once served meals to Trumansburg, placed the following note here at Finding Ulysses as a comment. I’m putting it here as an opportunity for people to discuss the closing of Simply Red, what they know, what they believe, and what they would like to be.
I certainly don’t know the truth of the matter firsthand. It is clear to me that Sam and Gary Izzo have been welcome contributors to cultural wealth of our community, and they have my regard. I don’t have any grudge against Tom Callaghan either, though, don’t have a stake in the matter.
From Tom:
“Enclosed is a little piece I have ciruclated that fleshes out a few details of which you apparently were not aware. Hope you find it helpful.
Tom“Simply Realityâ€:
The Truth About Selling 53 East Main Street
by
Tom Callaghan, the previous owner of
53 East Main Street provides
details missing from or
distorted on the
Simply Red Bistro website.In January 2006, Ms. Izzo, of Simply Red Bistro asked if I wanted to buy her restaurant business. Apparently, the roles of new mother and proprietor were hard to reconcile.
Simply Understandable.Already a gainfully employed professional, I declined.
Simply No Thanks.History: After I bought the building in 2003, I continued to provide Ms. Izzo with rent that was 35% below market. I thought that this would facilitate her getting the business off the ground and keep me from having to scout for a new tenant.
Simply Wrong.Even though I declined to buy the business, I honored the clause to convey the lease term to another buyer who passed credit scrutiny. Maybe someone wanted a foundering restaurant named after an eighties alt band.
Simply Whatever.Regardless, I worried about Mz. Izzo’s perpetual ambivalence (she’ll stay open, she’ll close, she’ll stay open, she’ll close, stay open,, close, open, close, AAAAHH!!!..). I thought, “Perhaps it’s not smart to wait and see if Ms. Izzo will renew her lease in November.†I decided to sell the building instead.
Simply Prudent.I contacted a local real estate agency to discuss options. The agent calculated the price that the building was offered and eventually sold.
Simply Market.Following the lease terms, I gave the Izzos right of first refusal to buy the building. They declined, making no counter offer, let alone two, as the Simply Red Bistro website claims. Simply Bogus.
Even though she was supposedly closing, Ms. Izzo surmised she might exercise the option in her lease to renew, regardless of sale, 60 days before the original lease expired. Then she decided not to renew.
Simply Enough Already.The building was listed in the Ithaca Journal Classifieds. Within a week, five parties showed interest at the what the Simply Red Bistro website complains was an “inflated†price., Within another week, two parties were bidding!!
Simply Hot.The next week, a contract was signed. The sale closed in September. Simply Fabulous.
Apparently, the new owners offered Ms. Izzo the opportunity to remain, and to raise the rent to the $1 per square foot that everyone else in T’burg pays for commercial space.. Simply Free Ride’s Over.
The Simply Red Bistro website reads like Ms. Izzo was driven out of business by a conspiracy to make her fail. Simply Not.
Long and short, Ms. Izzo initiated the building’s sale by saying she wanted to close. After three years of paying the cheapest rent in town, what’s left is…
Simply Dead.”
Wow, I beg to differ but you know what it really doesn’t matter anymore…..does it
“What We Didn’t Say About the Sale of 53 East Main Streetâ€
Gary Izzo
Former co-owner of Simply Red Village Bistro
My wife showed me this little ditty from Tom Callaghan today, and I felt compelled to comment.
Tom Callaghan’s nasty and sarcastic response to our letter to our customer email list on Simply Red’s closing last month was never conveyed to us personally.
The short answer is that our letter intended to defame no one, and only served to explain to our loyal fans why their favored restaurant was closing. The dirty details were deliberately left out. Our feeling was that customers as a rule don’t really care to hear the machinations of the deal, just that the restaurant was closing, a simple explanation, what to expect next of Sam and what is next for the space.
I think that fact is borne-out by the noticeable lack of response to Tom’s posting. We received no negative feed back from the nearly 400 recipients on our email list.
I’m surprised and insulted that we did not hear personally from Tom. We’d have been happy to correct any misconceptions in our letter. Perhaps passive aggression is being modeled in T-burg school’s guidance offices, “Now Tommy, don’t you think it would be better for you to talk directly to the person who upset you instead of bad-mouthing them all around the school?â€
I don’t usually respond to this kind of vitriol, but when my wife’s reputation is being attacked, I make great exception. And so follows my reluctant, though thorough rebuttal:
Sam asked Tom if he wanted to buy the business because it was a requirement of the lease [#23. …Lessor retains right of first refusal to purchase Lessee’s business…]; not because she gave a diddle about Tom and his profession. The clause was entered at Tom’s request in the first place. The “gainfully employed professional†probably forgot about it.
The flippant tone of Tom’s letter cannot disguise a truly vicious and unwarranted attack on Samantha; a woman, most would agree, who is passionate about supporting the T-burg community, and has done so by struggling daily to keep a gourmet level restaurant open in a town of 2,300. Most don’t realize that Sam never took a salary from Simply Red in her four years of 80 hour work weeks, endeavoring to create a destination restaurant in Trumansburg. Tom knew.
And the cutesy, over used motif of that tired old “Simply …†metaphor used in his whiney little letter is indeed laughable; as if we could have titled a business “Simply Red ‘ink’†and not gotten the joke. It’s our joke, thanks for reminding us Tom… “simply feebleâ€.
Here’s our tale… the one you didn’t get in our original email, because we were too polite to include it.
The common consensus in the restaurant world is that you cannot run a gourmet/upscale restaurant in a town the size of T-burg. Sam didn’t listen, lucky you. The winter of 2005/2006 was financially devastating, and with the baby coming we couldn’t see any other way out but to put the business up for sale, recoup our debt, and get Sam on to her next venture.
As per our lease, we informed Tom of our decision not to renew, and asked for his support in our conveying the business to new owners by agreeing to assign and extend the term of the lease. He refused to extend the lease term. Our broker valued the business at $75,000 (a revenue based assessment, from tables for restaurant sales in this area), enough to cover Sam’s $30,000 debt and provide some capital for the next venture, even if we sold it at a substantial discount. Tom’s answer was the only logical answer for someone who bought a building intending to flip it in two years anyway, “Oh, uh, I’m going to sell the building.â€
Here’s how it works, you buy a building on the cheap, hoping the hard work of the tenant will raise the “good will†of the location (from dive dinner to popular upscale bistro is a nice move) thus increasing the value of the property, then you sell it to cash in. So when Sam announced her leaving, the time was right for Tom to sell as fast as he could. We’re not stupid.
Much can be said of Tom’s real estate advice, not much can be said for being a supportive member of a community. Truly, you could call it fair business practice, and you’d be right. You could also call it the naked greed of a lizard-minded capitalist, and you’d also be right. I could be wrong, but his “agent calculated price†giving him a $60,000 profit for two years of holding a property must have had to do with more than a new sidewalk in front of it. We thought some of that 46% profit had to do with Sam’s $270,000’s of annual revenue generated out of her business, making the property more valuable to a buyer. But gosh, that price wasn’t Tom’s doing… more passivity from Tom Callaghan.
To say the least, this put an immediate halt to our plans. We couldn’t sell the business without the building to put it in. So we asked him, “Look, you’re going to make out on this sale, why don’t we work together to get a good price for you AND a buyer for Simply Red so that Sam’s four years of sweat equity won’t be lost. Heck, a package deal might be very appealing to certain buyers.†Tom mumbled a response along the lines of “… well I don’t know how that would work… got to talk to my lawyer…â€, and that was that. Thanks for your support Tom. I’m just sorry I never got the chance to spill wine on you.
In a later conversation I even said, “Tom, Sam will lose her –ss on this if you sell to some one other than a buyer intending to hold it as a lease property. So we would really appreciate it if you could settle on a buyer of that ilk, rather than some one who intends on running a business themselves.” I further added, “Look, we have $75,000 at stake, if you find that one offer of a potential lessor of Simply Red comes in lower than an offer from one intending to open their own business let me know, I’d be interested in ponying up the difference to be able to get a long term lease from a new owner so that we can at least sell and recoup. If I have to put out $10,000 to save the $75,000, I’ll do it. Whatdaya say? Help us out??” His answer was much the same as the previous answer.
Tom says we didn’t make an offer to buy the building, exercising our right of first refusal. Yes, we declined; subsequently we made two offers 150 and 175 respectively. Were they written offers? No, they were verbal. Why go to the trouble if the verbal answer is “that won’t nearly be enough.†Whatever, I’m sure you’re all fascinated with these details by now.
As for being “wishy washy†in the months prior to closing Simply Red as Tom asserts, guilty as charged. Our plan was straight forward: sell Simply Red, equipment, recipes, consulting, sales history, good will and all. Our plans were thwarted by Tom’s sale of the building. Given Tom’s odd behavior, we felt no compulsion to explain ourselves after a while. We were trying to make the best of a very bad situation.
Ironically, that very buyer situation I spoke of actually came about. Tom himself told me of his two offers, one a woman he thought wanted just to hold the property, the other a couple from Philly who wanted to open their own restaurant. The Philly offer was about $10,000 higher. Tom made short work of accepting the higher offer from Philly, done deal.
I called Tom again and asked if he would at least convey to his buyers that we were interested in selling either the whole concept with good will or equipment on site to help pay off our debt. He agreed to tell them “at the appropriate time.†We came to learn that “appropriate time†meant not at all. He never told them. They never knew, even up to our first meeting with them after they had closed. They were very surprised; they also declined any purchases.
Yes, they offered a one or two year lease at a significant increase in rent, since they didn’t want to open their place just yet and needed to cover the mortgage. We certainly didn’t blame them for that. But, it was essentially working for no pay and more debt to build some one else’s business. Not what we had in mind. Tom seems to have missed that point.
Some of you may say, and quite rightly I admit, that Tom owed us nothing, that it was pure business, that he had every right to sell when and how he wished, but you know what? He COULD have helped us, he could have decided to support a nice little business in his home town, and it wouldn’t have cost him any of his precious profit. I thought T-burg was that kind of place, in fact I know it is. Just not for Tom Callaghan.
The last thing I expected was to find this cowardly, venial sniping about my wife on the internet. If you have a beef with me Tom, pick up the phone, or is this the kind of conflict resolution that is counseled in Trumansburg Central Schools these days?
Hey, if something in our explanation email was wrong, we’ll admit it, change it, apologize for it, but you have to make the call dude.
The best defense of Samantha’s business practices can be found in the multiple offers Sam received for new projects, once Simply Red closed. From partnerships, to waterfront space in Ithaca, to capital backing, she was barraged with appeals from business people who recognized her great talent—no fewer than six substantive offers. She settled on opening “Simply Red Lakeside Bistro at Sheldrake Point Vineyards.â€
The site is being renovated to her specifications by the very supportive owners of Sheldrake Point, and Sam is already hard at work putting together a new and improved Simply Red just ten minutes north on Rt 89, to open on Easter Sunday 2007. Richie will be there to continue Monday nights, we hope those who miss Simply Red with take the extra few minutes drive and check out the new digs.
So much for “Simply Dead.â€
I must mention that the couple from Philly are good people who did not know that they were effectively forcing a popular local restaurant out of business with their purchase, they deserve a chance, like the one you gave Samantha.
Gary Izzo
I find Mr. Callaghan’s (supposedly) witty little “But honest, it wasn’t MY fault Simply Red closed!” piece very sad. Although he states that there were never any offers from Sam and Gary for the building, he can get away with that untruth only because they weren’t put in writing. But let’s face it, Mr. Callaghan was in this to make quick money from that building from the get go. I think it’s called “flipping.” If he was, at one point, charging rent that allowed the restaurant to continue, good for him and good for Sam. Stop whining about it now. All of us want to make money, but, for most of us, we’re not willing to do it by dragging down the businesses and reputations of others in the process. Unfortunately for the new owners of the building who will be facing their own trials in starting up another restaurant, they are the ones who are likely to suffer because of Mr. Callaghan’s quest for the almighty dollar. But, hey, why should he care? He’s got HIS money. (Is that a whole $10,000 more than Sam and Gary offered?) And now we can drive up the lake a way and bask in the glow of Sam’s new venture in a more hospitable environment, but we miss her in T’burg.
Martha Ullberg
Dropping it would be good. Many of us look forward to the new Simply Red at Sheldrake Point.
Not being part of this, it is one word for another, and I do not truly know either parties. I do know that Sam’s restaurant raised the bar for a community that would like to be a boutique town. Like many other communities, small business prosperity is nearly impossible without the sponsorship of other businesses and people webbing together to create a safety net to keep the costs down.
Let’s hope that Sheldrake Point provides this!
What would be most unfortunate is for this feud to continue and create a dark cloud over the lovely town. Now that everyone has said their peace, let’s go have some dinner.
-KD Henderson
It’s disheartening to see this public debate – it comes off petty from all angles. I’ve been a big fan of Simply Red over the years, but I’m also a business minded person that would tend towards making serious business decisions before committing to charity. All in all it sounds as though it was rather unfortunate that Simply Red assumed they would be able to sell their business after they decided to close – they should have seen this coming. Even those who are community minded want to make a living too.
Sam –
Rest assured, we’ll come find you at your new digs soon after Easter Sunday! Keep on keepin’ on, and don’t waste your time with this guy — get cookin’!
Loyal Fans,
Mike & Laurelyn
Addison, NY
Tom- you would have been much more effective by NOT using those ridiculous “simply’s”, but since you did, It’s very easy to draw a conclusion about you…….. Adolescent and unprofessional. Sam and Gary are so much better off wihtout. CHEERS TO SAM AND GARY, Best of luck with you new venture and keep up the good work! As they say: ” Don’t let the turkey’s bring you down!”
Gary – Very well put!!
we will most definately frequent the ‘new simply red’
all the very best to you both!
Whata sad story of human unkindness. but it seems if it will truly be onward and upward for sam and gary. so glad the sheldrake thing is a go – cannot live without that fied chicken dripping with butter and honey. looking forward to the first monday in april!