Monday, September 13, 2010
Food Chain / Food & Drink A Dozen or None
Posted by Mike Sula on 09.13.10 at 04:48 PM
Cook-Au-Vin front man Vincent Colombet makes quite possibly the best baguette in the city. People wait up to 45 minutes for his crepes at the Logan Square Farmers' Market. The guy could make thousands happy if he could just sell a damn croissant.
But he can't. Colombet says business has been booming since he opened his brick-and-mortar La Boulangerie last week, but a clause in his lease forbids him from selling coffee, sandwiches, or—sacre merde!-individual croissants so he doesn't compete with neighboring New Wave Coffee.
Predictably, customers are withholding precious stars and exercising their outrage—outrage!—on online food review sites. Take that New Wave.
Colombet says until his lawyer dons his cape and sweeps in with a lease renegotiation, if customers want a croissant they have to pay for a dozen upfront ($20) and then they'll receive a card with which they can redeem for the rest as they see fit. Alors!
Comments (21)
Showing 1-21 of 21
I'm happy to have both New Wave Coffee and La Boulangerie in the neighborhood.
La Boulangerie knew the terms when it chose the location. It could have gone to a nearby or adjacent building and not have been subject to the restriction, but apparently the prime corner location was worth living with the terms.
Now we have both a coffee shop and a to-go bakery to patronize, and a toy store to boot. Win-win-win.
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New Wave is Bogus! They do have good coffee - local roasters Metropolis - but you wait 20 MINUTES for any drink that isn't just plain coffee. It's totally unorganized, they get so behind they mix up who ordered what and will give your coffee to someone else, or just give you the wrong one. Not to mention the collective bad attitude of the people who work there. I hope La Boulangerie gets everything settled with this clause and gives New Wave a run for it's money, maybe then the service will improve.
New Wave charges fucking $3.50 FOR A CROISSANT. Its bullshit that this clause is here.
Sorry new wave, my coffee money is going to Mustache Cafe now, and I will buy a $20 Croissant Club Card. dicks. We could have had a great place to get baguette sandwiches and French espresso, and because of the pretentious, rude, SLOW jerks at New Wave, the community can't have CHOICES.
i'm boycotting new wave.
New Wave, you had the chance to make that corner of LS actually stylish, not just your hipster faux cool. Squelching Vincent's La Boulangerie is unforgivable: you won't be getting my business again, and the times I do drop by New Wave will be to encourage your customers to have their coffees to-go and instead enjoy delicious French food a couple doors down. I'll buy a box of 12 croissants and give them away if I have to.
You idiots.
I love it when the free market takes over and leads a neighborhood out of poverty. This must be exactly what all those realtors meant.
new wave is terrible: their coffee is horrible, the service is absurd, the space itself reminds me of a depressed teenager's bedroom, and the food is not worth talking about. I was very sad to learn about the conditions placed on la boulangerie (i had been waiting for them to open all summer). that said, i can't believe that they actually agreed to those terms... why did they not move into one of the other numerous empty store fronts on the square? it all seems rather silly, and is certainly a shame.
I go to New Wave all the time but, today I started my boycott. I went into La Boulangerie to pick up my last prepaid croissant and decided to go ahead and prepay for my next dozen. I was then told that New Wave had a problem with that as well and therefore they had to stop that program. This is total BS. New Wave, I assure you that if you sell a good product and offer good service people will keep coming back. Stopping La Boulangerie from selling coffee and individual croissants is just lack of confidence on your part. I’ve been to New Wave a hundred times and guess what, I have never bought a croissant from you. However, I have bought your soup and sandwiches. Buying coffee and a croissant at La Boulangeire would not have stopped me for buying coffee and a sandwich from you the next day. Just like having dinner at Longman & Eagle hasn’t stopped me for going back for dinner at Lula’s, Dunlay’s or Rocking Horse. It is all about having a choice. Even if it is in the same building and even if you have a no competition clause on your lease, you didn’t have to exercise it.
Damn New Wave for binding Cook-Au-Vin to a clause in their leasing contract -- a contract that Cook-Au-Vin agreed to make legally binding!
I want an unrestricted croissant!
Damn you New Wave and damn the Rule of Law!
-- MrJM
I like New Wave and I'm there a lot, but I'm really disappointed in them over this. I can't see that La Boulangerie is really competing for the same market in any major way. New Wave is for sitting in (with obligatory Macbook) all afternoon. La Boulangerie is where you go to pick up fresh croissants for breakfast and take them home. You're obviously not going to be deciding between New Wave and La Boulangerie - they do different things. I could understand why New Wave wouldn't want somewhere like Cafe Mustache opening in the same block, but a bakery seems completely different. I thought New Wave were cool - certainly the owners always seem genuine and friendly - but this is really pathetic, just so they can sell their absurdly overpriced croissants ($3.50 each!).
I was really pleased when New Wave arrived in the neighborhood, and thrilled when I heard about La Boulangerie coming along too - it seemed like that corner of the Square was turning in to a great little spot. But this totally unnecessary decision to enforce the non-compete clause is creating a bad atmosphere. I hope New Wave do the neighborly thing and let La Boulangerie sell what they want - I hate to see a local, independent coffee shop behaving like some corporate behemoth.
I'm with JoeLFCfan:
So long as New Wave (and La Boulangerie) offer decent products for decent prices, this non-compete clause really shouldn't be an issue. New Wave needs to accept its position as a pioneering business in what is destined to be an incredibly popular (and profitable) corner of a burgeoning neighborhood, and let development happen naturally.
Look at neighborhoods like Wicker Park, where there are a dozen different coffee/croissant/sandwich options within a few blocks. That is the destiny -- and point -- of a growing, free-market neighborhood: to give potential customers options. In Wicker Park, if I want to sit somewhere for a few hours with my laptop and have a cup of coffee, the new Filter serves that purpose well. In the past, if I want a top-notch croissant, I'd beeline it to Sweet Thang (R.I.P.), and now use Red Hen Bakery for that purpose. Options are good. And unless New Wave is terribly insecure that an artisanal bakery will take away business of a hipster coffee lounge (which I honestly don't see happening), it needs to welcome some friendly competition for some products offered in common.
New Wave, I will continue to offer my business to you when I'm in need of a laptop-and-coffee afternoon, and unlike others on this list, I have found your service very pleasant. But please consider your position in Logan Square as a premiere coffee retailer, and do the democratic thing. Not allowing your new neighbors (which you should be welcoming!), a French-style bakery, to sell individual croissants or coffee is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, and makes you look like complete idiots for insisting upon such a ridonkulous, self-conscious, bully move. Get with the program and either combine forces (perhaps La Boulangerie could provide your croissants that you sell at New Wave?) or welcome the competition.
Coffee is such a popular drink in this country, so it seems really crazy that one business wouldn't be able to sell it because another business two storefronts down feels threatened. Especially since there are countless kinds of coffee available.
New Wave serves Metropolis, right? Well, what if La Boulangerie wanted to serve Intelligentsia? Or Grinderman? Or Stumptown? Or whatever? Anyone who has even the slightest interest in coffee would tell you that these various companies offer different products with different tastes.
When Longman & Eagle opened, Lula Cafe didn't throw a hissy fit because food was being served on the other end of the Square. Dunlay's wasn't mad because liquor was being served.
Oh also, these two places obviously have dramatically different atmospheres. New Wave is a coffee shop and hangout for younger people. They have a Nintendo set even. La Boulangerie is a creperie. What the eff is the big deal with both of them serving coffee?
I think that for now I'll just get my coffee from Lula...or Rocking Horse, Dunlay's, Johnny's, Longman & Eagle, or Cafe Moustache or...well, I'll just get my coffee from anywhere but New Wave.
matth - You think Lula doesn't have restrictions in it's lease? Why do you think no other restaurants have opened in the vacancies in that building?
Cafe Mustache, even tho it has a stupid name, is 100 times better than New Wave. Their coffee is better, their music is better, the atmosphere is better, and the staff is nicer. Also, their pastries are cheaper.
FREE THE CROISSANT
I think folks are forgetting that this is an issue/this clause is there as we're talking about co-existing in the same building.
Comparing Lula to Longman & Eagle are irrelevant, and as La Boulangerie is the "new kid on the block," if anything they should be grateful New Wave took a bigger risk initially to get more foot traffic going to that space.
If La Boulangerie gets to the point they think they could be more successful in a different space so they could serve whatever they want, there is certainly no shortage of vacant commercial spaces on Milwaukee Ave.
La Boulangerie is riding off of the foot traffic that New Wave created. I have nothing to complain about the business itself, but I will say I'm entirely disappointed that something more original didn't take that spot. We don't NEED another business that sells a variety of specialized food. We need a business that will contribute to the artists and intellectuals that live in this neighborhood. Where is the used bookstore? Art Gallery? Hell, I would have even taken another dark lit bar that serves cocktails on par with the Whistler. Anything, but another god damn pastry shop. Crepes! Big woop, I could care less. Let's fill our minds and not our stomach for once.
Also, I would love to slap the next person who complains about New Wave's supposed "hipster vibe". Do you people even know what the definition of a "hipster" is? Complaining about a stereotype is for high school students. You are not children, please grow up and drop your pious behavior. Thank you.
New wave was there first and honestly if Vincent did not like the language in the lease then DON'T sign the lease. Someone who opens a business should consider all of the following and not cry wolf when they themselves made the mistakes. I am sure they have delicious food but there are PLENTY of other store fronts that can use a place like his. This is all about making $$$ in the best location. Don't buy into the facade of this article. I bet you all of you dogging New Wave wouldn't be saying this if this was Starbucks moving in and not La Boulangerie.
I will say that Mike ought to be hanging his head in shame for authoring this article which is now creating lots of completely unnecessary stress.
How hard would it have been to contact New Wave (or of course, stop in) to get their take on things? Mike, don't you live in Logan Square?
New Wave has good coffee, but this is one of the STUPIDEST things I've ever heard. Congrats, New Wave, you just scored a point for all the "New York is a better city than Chicago" haters. Way to hold up culture, idiots.
New Wave is wise to protect its own interests - I respect the no coffee clause - but they can't act put upon when they were in an ideal position to play hardball and clearly did.
Zoning, health codes, landlord stability, real estate prices and foot traffic are all vital issues unto themselves and impact a the ability to finance a business. Location by itself can decide if a loan is approved or not.
Those scorning Vincent for agreeing to a bum deal are ignoring the other factors, especially in this economy and with Chicago's often hostile attitude towards small business.
Looking around the Square, the range of options is decidely more limited than some claim. Several storefronts have been empty for years due to issues limiting appeal for any business, let alone food.
New Wave is in an ideal location in a stable income area, and it can't take credit for making it this way.
Vincent's sacrifice was entirely voluntary and while he may have decided it was worth it, but the crossiant issue seems like a take or leave it tactic. New Wave put a draconian restriction on one item which is not key to there profits but central to a French bakery item. If people think that was a jerk move and go elsewhere, that's part of doing business as well.
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Letters & Comments: September 16, 2010
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- Sep 16, 2010
