VOL. 125 | NO. 30 | Monday, February 15, 2010
A story from The Memphis News
On newsstands throughout the city
Couple Opens Up About Restaurant Closure
By FREDRIC KOEPPEL | Special to The Memphis News
Richard and Barbara Farmer, who opened Jarret's in 1994, closed the restaurant on New Year's Eve. Photo: Bob Bayne
Richard and Barbara Farmer opened Jarrett’s in 1994.
The restaurant on Quince Road in the Yorkshire Square shopping center served its last meal on New Year’s Eve, a victim of the economic downturn.
Rick Farmer cooked in many kitchens before he and his wife launched Jarrett’s, named for their son.
Originally from Memphis, Farmer traveled extensively for a decade before returning to town in 1988. He cooked with Jose Gutierrez at Chez Philippe in The Peabody hotel, and was the original chef at La Patisserie Bistro.
“I was at La Patisserie for lunch and at Chez Philippe for dinner,” Farmer said.
He cooked at Riverside Restaurant at Number One Beale from June until November 1990, when that place closed, and then was offered the kitchen at California Café at Winchester Road and Kirby Parkway, with Barbara running the front of the house. When California Café closed, Farmer moved on to the kitchen at Café Max.
The couple agreed to talk to Restaurant Insider about their experiences in the local dining market and the history of Jarrett’s.
Q: Why did you decide to open your own restaurant?
Rick: I was disgruntled with working so hard for other people. I wanted more control over a kitchen and restaurant.
Barbara: I was working for General Mills then, and I agreed with Rick that we should create a place that would be where we wanted to eat.
Q: How long did it take to get the restaurant open?
Rick: It took a long time to find the right place with the right deal, which turned out to be where Patisserie Bistro had been. We were offered that space, and because it was in bankruptcy we were able to negotiate with Trammell Crow for a good lease.
Q: What was your conception of the food you wanted to cook and the image you wanted for the restaurant?
Rick: Oh, I was full of piss and vinegar in those days. I wanted to do a much higher level of cooking than Memphis was ready for, but I had to adjust my ideas and concept without compromising my art. Basically, I wanted to serve food that we liked, a good piece of fish, a good steak.
Barbara: Our concept was to have great service and treat people as if they were guests in our house.
Q: What’s the most difficult part of keeping a restaurant going?
Rick: Keeping things interesting for the guests and controlling costs when costs are always increasing. Literally, everything became more expensive. And location was a constant concern. We always had to remind people of where we were.
Barbara: We had a lot of advantages at Jarrett’s, a good space that could be expanded, which we did. Good parking. But the marketing aspect was difficult. We were marketing to a population that gradually became oversaturated with restaurants.
Q: In January 1999, you became a partner with Thomas Boggs and some of his investors in Cooper Street Bar and Grill, in the space where Dish recently closed. The restaurant lasted about 18 months. What happened?
Rick: I always respected those guys and what they accomplished with the Huey’s restaurants. I really admired their management concept. I wanted to learn from them, and I thought we would do well, but … I guess they just had a different idea of how much money a restaurant should make. We decided that we needed to focus on Jarrett’s. I mean, I never figured out how to be in two or three places at the same time.
Q: What’s the most expensive part of running a restaurant?
Rick: Controlling labor costs. You know the old saying, “Volume cures all ills.” The minute you start having two soft days a week and then three soft days a week, then things start getting difficult. You have to adjust schedules, cut down on salaried employees.
Q: When did you realize things were getting “soft?"
Barbara: Eighteen months to two years ago.
Rick: To be honest, it seems that nothing was ever the same after 9/11. Before that, we didn’t have a care in the world. After that, things just changed, not drastic, but it became difficult.
(In February 2008, Barbara Farmer left Jarrett’s and went to work in marketing and event planning for the March of Dimes.)
Q: When did it begin to seem inevitable that Jarrett’s would close?
Rick: I don’t know. I probably pushed it too far, thinking that things would turn around. Six or eight months ago I started getting my head around the possibility of closing. Before that, it had been unthinkable. We had too much money in it, too much work. The bottom line is, the restaurant wasn’t profitable.
Q: Was it just the economy?
Rick: You know, perceived value is important. We always struggled with the idea that we did not want to be “fine dining.” We wanted to be more of a bistro. We wanted people “to come as you are.” You could spend as much at Houston’s as at Jarrett’s.
(Rick Farmer is now teaching at L’Ecole Culinaire and will be involved in opening the school’s restaurant this April.)
Q: Would you ever want your own restaurant again?
Rick: If I could find the right deal at the right place, certainly. I love what I’m doing now, but I’m not getting out of the business.