Alex Pemoulie, of Thirty Acres fame, explains on ChefsFeed what went wrong with Thirty Acres and why they’re leaving Jersey City. The decision was by no means an easy one and the Pemoulies knew it was coming, so it wasn’t an overnight realization either. Some interesting quotes from the essay below:
“We had underestimated the allure that our BYOB policy held for our guests . . . our diners didn’t like our wine list, didn’t like not being able to bring their own wine from home, didn’t like they could no longer afford to eat at our restaurant.”
“We took criticism extremely personally, and I cried over every single negative Yelp review.”
“From all outward appearances, we were a success. But one day at work at Momofuku a few months after we opened, I broke down. I hadn’t been sleeping, I was stressed beyond anything I had ever experienced, and I wasn’t handling it well. I was drowning.”
“We opened our Dream Restaurant. It just turned out that in the end, once we had done it, it didn’t make us happy.”
Regardless of what you thought about the food, pricing, or BYOB policy — it’s safe to say that Thirty Acres was one of the first restaurants to put Jersey City on the culinary map. Best of luck in the Pacific Northeast! And a big welcome to Ryan DePersio of Battello who will open The Kitchen Step in the old Thirty Acres space. —ChefsFeed
(Image: New York Times)
