Hannah and Mason....the end?

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Their website is now gone as well. It's a real shame to see them go - same as the past few business that occupied the same building.

The community has to really stop griping about the cost and/or offers of our local businesses. I'd rather pay an extra 50 cents for coffee to the Blue Rooster than drive to Wa-Wa for the same thing. I'd use the same reasoning for Hardware, or Pizza or Ice Cream or Dinner.

Unkind words from locals are what really kill these businesses. It takes a lot of guts to rely on income for your livelihood to come from a small town. Cheers to you Hannah & Masons - you made a great try of it !

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Is Hot Wok closed?

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If you don't find the person friendly or don't liket the price or don't like the food or product you don't have to go. However, bashing the place serves no purpose other than to possible cause another town business to lose patrons. That means money and that means we risk losing more businesses. It's better to remain silent and not patronize the place.

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Teddy's has been in business for many many years. The Blue Rooster is new. If people hear people complain about the BR and never went there, then they are less likely to do so. Where as with Teddy's it's been around so long that no one cares.

Yes word of mouth dooms restaurants. How do you think they get most of their patrons?

I don't understand the appraent self justifcation or entitlement posters feel to bash a place. The business is a Cranbury business and we as residents should either support it or just say nothing. Bashing them becuase one feel's it's their right is inappropriate.

I will say this though for all the supposed complaints, half of which have no basis, the BR is crowded on weekend mornings.

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It's really all about quality for money. Using cars as an analogy, if you pay for a basic Honda, you get a basic no-frills car. You know what to expect, and it's good value. If you pay for a high-end BMW, you get a very nice, high performance car with many amenities. It is also a good value.
Now, if you pay for a high-end BMW and get a basic Honda, there is a problem. Blue Rooster uses great ingredients, has a great atmosphere, and prepares food with care. Teddy's uses less expensive ingredients, and well... it's Teddy's. both are good values, and that's why they are popular.

Sure, a Deli in town would be nice, but it's a completely different thing than the BR. Both would do very well in town.

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Off-topic, but my Honda has more/better frills/amenities than the comparable model BMW or any equivalent brand. That's why I got it -- I looked at the BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and Acura among others and was shocked to find them missing some of the best features...

As for "bashing" H&M, I don't buy the argument that people can't do it. I've never done so myself as I never ate there -- which had nothing to do with hearing bad word of mouth but the menu not appealing to me in the slightest (had they stuck with what Ramsey suggested I would have gone as I do now to the Blue Rooster, BTW).

First, it's a free country. Short of slander or defamation, anyone is entitled to say anything they want about the place. What, do you want a “Negative Comment Protection Act” enacted – buy American and thou shalt not say anything bad about our businesses no matter what they do or else? I didn’t think we lived in Communist China.

Second, there’s no evidence that “bashing” is what did them in. It’s not like they were a new restaurant that quickly went under. Perhaps word-of-mouth might have mattered then. This place had years to get it right. Most locals I know did sample them and decided for themselves. So the reality is not enough people had an experience that compelled them to return often if at all.

Third, this is America – you live or die on many free market criteria: How good is your product, is it priced right (which doesn’t mean at a price people like but one that is not a barrier to their continued patronage), how efficiently do you run the business, etc. The bottom line is they didn’t appear to accomplish any of those hallmark requirements. Not enough people either wanted their product or liked what they tried and they clearly didn’t seem to run the business well. The show demonstrated that, when they admitted they couldn’t even cycle a table twice in a night. The owners even admitted in an interview that they had been hoping for business tips from Ramsey.

Fourth, there are plenty of success stories in this town when you get those criteria right. In the food category alone, Teddy’s, Cranbury Pizza, Gil & Berts, etc. (probably too early to call on the Blue Rooster and I can’t tell if the Hot Wok is getting enough business).

Fifth, the free market works like evolution, which is a messy process. There has to be lots of failure along the way but the end result is the strongest, most-resilient, best adapted for the local environment businesses. H&M wasn’t best adapted for our environment. Gil & Bert’s by comparison was brilliant – filled a perfect niche, great location, low cost to operate and low price for consumers. They didn’t need any “gag order” to make it because they had the right product in the right place. In the long run the notion of artificially supporting businesses that can’t make it on their own through a ban on any honest comments is doomed to failure – that business won’t make it if enough people don’t want it to and you’re only slowing down the trail-and-error process of either them getting it right or dying and making room for the next attempt…

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Great post! My feelings exactly.

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Your post is B&W and removes any type of respect or neighborly consideration from the equation. What one has a right to do is not what is always the proper path.

If we're talking about complaints on Honda or Acura or McDonalad's, Macy's, etc... that is fine. However, where local business or our local neighbors are concerned the appropriate thing in my opinion is to remain silent if we don't like them because these are businesses and neighbors in our own community and in our small carve out of NJ. They are not big companies or chain restaurants. We should no more complain about them in public then we would go up to our next door neighbor and tell them that their cars are a disgrace in front of my home or that they themselves are annoying.

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Criticism is not necessary bad for a business. It can help a business improve. Not listening to customers' complains is not a good way to run a successful business (unless your business is Turnpike toll collecting).

Are the complains posted here baseless?

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No I'm just tired of hearing people complain about local businesses. The hardware store was too high priced, the pharmacy was too high, Hot Wok was bad food, now it's the BR. I'm tired of seeing business come and go and hearing complaints. not that we don't have a right to complain, just that we should balance complaints with respect for our fellow neighbors.