Chef Charly Pierre sounds the alarm on summer
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Chef Charly Pierre appeared on season 21 of "Top Chef." Photo: David Moir/Bravo via Getty Images
Fritai chef Charly Pierre puts the reality of running a restaurant in New Orleans pretty bluntly: "The math ain't mathing anymore."
Why it matters: Summer has always hit New Orleans hard but, Pierre says, it's gotten even harder in the past few years, and your favorite restaurants could use your help.
The big picture: City business has always slowed down in the dead of summer, but local residents are feeling the squeeze, too, and seem less able to prop up New Orleans restaurants during the hottest months of the year.
- As a result, each of the past several summers has been marked by restaurant closures.
- "It's been even more of a growing concern," Pierre tells Axios New Orleans. "The summers have been slower than ever before," and August has traditionally been Fritai's slowest month.
Zoom in: About a week ago, Pierre made his case plain with an Instagram post that's now gotten more than 170,000 views.
- Pierre titled the video "Is the restaurant industry in New Orleans dead?"
- In short, he says, no, but it does need help. New restaurants might have the interest driven by new experiences, but established places need a boost just as much.
- Expenses, he says "are just constantly increasing," but "nobody wants to pay $40 for a burger or anything like that."
The intrigue: One point Pierre wanted to make especially plain is that restaurant owners aren't pocketing any price increases.
- "Most business owners are ... broke, y'all," he says in one video, while detailing just what goes into his restaurant's prices in another.
- One way to mitigate summer losses is to close, which Fritai will do for 10 days starting Aug. 16.
The bottom line: "There's a lot of people who don't have the money," Pierre admits, "but there are people who do have the money."
- "And if you do have the money in this city, go spend it in the proper places. Go spend it at your favorite local neighborhood spot, big or small, doesn't matter. Just go spend it with them."