Bravo's The Real Housewives of....

[Bright Eyes]

 

I forgot about that site. Used to visit it all the time. Just went on a binge read of some blind item reveals.

[Chris B]

@DaytimeFan I believe that stuff as well. It’s no fault of her own, but those restaurants have been shut down for a long time with no return in sight. I do wonder if they couldn’t have opened them for takeaway and delivery? Is that not allowed in LA? I notice with Vanderpump Rules that the cast keeps mentioning *if* the show will even return. Like you, I hope she has her personal finances in order. 

[DaytimeFan]

 

I can't speak to what the rules are right now in Los Angeles, but I don't think takeaway or delivery would make any sense for LVP's restaurants. Delivery and takeaway is hard for even a modest restaurant to make money on, but the cost of producing food, at venues that were always better known for the drinks/atmosphere than the food, would wipe out any income production because of staff and ingredient costs alone. 

 

Vanderpump Rules also remains an unknown entity. The recent interview with the Bravo executive certainly made it seem like Bravo is looking at retooling or resting the show, if not canceling it outright, despite its ratings/demo success. 

 

LVP herself has said it's been a struggle on Lala and Randall's podcast, but I don't doubt she's going to minimize what's really going on. If her house goes up for sale, as Dorit and PK's has, we can be sure all is not well financially. Hopefully she will be well with her personal finances.

 

 

 

 

[Soaplovers]

Couldn't she say up outdoor seating and patios for her places...or is that a no no in LA?  

[Chris B]

Well that would also be dependent on if there is even space to have ample enough outdoor seating with social distancing. 

[DynamiteKiddo]

The operating costs are probably too high for the limited capacity she'd be serving.  She is better off that her three places have patios and she wouldn't have to rely on sidewalk seating only.  But she'd maybe be operating at 10% of her previous intake.  In San Francisco, many restaurants and bars have reopened for super limited sidewalk seating, but from my old coworkers at the bar I used to work at, they're making very little money.

 

What LVP was eligible for were the PPP loans.  I know my old boss got a $1 million PPP loan from public record (he has two bars and a restaurant), but he didn't pay out one cent to payroll, which is the major purpose of them.  MANY business owners misused them.  I'd be interested in hearing what her, Ken, Nathalie, and Guillermo's (even Tom and Tom's) situation is with those loans.  At the beginning of the mandatory shutdown, the Todds and N&G weren't paying anyone anything and their employees all had to rely on unemployment.  The Toms set some fundraising situation up for their employees and matched it to a point.  Which was amazing; glad Tom Sandoval didn't forget where he came from.

[DaytimeFan]

 

It's a good point about the PPP loans...but restaurants, especially high end restaurants, usually operate on a knife's edge of profitability that would render her businesses gutted. And the PPP, the little I know of it, isn't a never ending source of money (it's got a 24 week cap on it) and as California has had long lockdown periods that start, stop, and star again as Covid-19 cases surge, it would hardly make a dent in the losses between rent, supply contracts, insurance, and employees. 

 

Really, the hospitality industry is the #1 economic casualty, and LVP's type of restaurant is atop that heap. 

[DynamiteKiddo]

Oh totally, they wouldn't save her.  But if they applied for and received the loans, I'm just curious how they spent them.  I will admit to being totally biased in my suspicion of restaurant/bar owners--I worked in the service industry for nearly seven years and, from my experience as a non-management employee, that industry is SHADY AF (with the worker always getting screwed).  Ultimately, I know it's a "hate the game, not the player" situation--the service industry in America is designed for owners to pass the real salary of their employees to the customer via tips and unless you're a mega corporate chain, tradition let's you get away with offering little to usually NO benefits.  And job security is nonexistent.  But it is so legitimately hard for any restaurant to stay open.  Under the right conditions, bars have it easier, but not the high end ones.

 

The hospitality and service and airline/tourism industries have been decimated.  I would argue smaller family owned restaurants and dive bars and nightclubs are in as bad shape as high end luxury dining.  I mean everyone's screwed.  LVP will ultimately be fine though (probably and hopefully), her 100+ employees, though . . . not so much.  Unemployment is running out and the industry is basically defunct for the moment; many in the service industry have no experience elsewhere and finding other work is going to be next to impossible considering everyone will be vying for the same jobs.

[DaytimeFan]

 

Definitely. The restaurant industry in the United States is sort of shocking in the way employees are treated (though in California it is required to pay actual minimum wage, rather than what most states allow for tipped wages). If LVP and company did take those loans, I can't really fault them however they spent them, whether it was employee wages or on rent. Commercial leases are absolutely brutal to tenants and are usually personally guaranteed by an individual (like LVP or Ken or Guillermo or Nathalie), so I can't fault anyone whose going to put their own personal interest ahead because a commercial lease on a space on Robertson Boulevard in West Hollywood is worth millions of dollars as a liability that would bankrupt most people. 

 

Agreed that everyone is decimated - I'd only hope that the smaller family owned restaurants are being supported by their local communities, as appears to be the case where I am, and that they're able to do takeout in an economically feasible way. 

 

If these stories had come from elsewhere, I'd have ignored them, but we've already seen Villa Blanca fall, and those two sources are more 'plugged in' to what's going on in LA on the ground level. 

[Cat]

I trust the 'millions of dollars in debt' are spread across LVP's financial partners and not just left at her door. Nevertheless, I think she will have difficulty recouping her losses from these restaurants-- unless Vanderpump Dogs gets picked up as a series and becomes a ratings winner. That's a big ask. 

 

As for the PPP, my understanding is that it wasn't just about wage-support but also covered loans to small businesses. 

 

Sounds like SUR is the only restaurant left standing but with VPR likely ending, I honestly cannot see LVP or Ken holding onto the restaurant business. I suspect Villa Rosa will be put on the market to pay those debts quickly and then the Vanderpump-Todds head into semi-retirement. Maybe even back to France.

 

I hope she is OK financially and that she has Villa Rosa and other investments as assets she can fall back on.

[Soaplovers]

LVP.and family need to ditch California and move on over to Texas when this is over to start over.  Less rules, semi lower costs, and OTT fashions at a lower cost

[Taoboi]

@DaytimeFan

 

That is truly sad to hear. 

 

I cannot speak for LA since I am an hour (depending on how fast you drive

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 ) out in San Diego, but the restaurant industry...

 

As you recall, I spent a large portion of my employment in it. And now I just am just restaurant adjacent and it has been ROUGH. My job closed and re-opened back in May and it is STILL nowhere near how it was. Or at least that is the vibe I get from my boss who overthinks a lot so I might be wrong. However, this job is at an expensive outdoor mall and they seem to have allowed owners to get by on half payments and waivers of some kind, but that appeared to have been a struggle between the mall owners and owners period. Some owners did not even recover, businesses closed permanently. My boss did get the PPP loan and tried for another one that failed. I was glad that he did or I might be one job short and homeless on the street. He did a very good job keeping me and other co-workers afloat during that period so grateful for that. Even now when some of our co-workers did not come back when we re-opened, leaving me horribly understaffed. 

 

I definitely have seen restaurants that I never thought would close close. I saw a restaurant I had a bad date on (but great food) close, open for a week, close again, and just been reopened again for a week now. They appear to be open inside, but they have outdoor patio before and also expanded. In fact, a lot of San Diego restaurants and bars (not nightclub) have either completely expanded their seating outside, widening their patios, taking up sidewalks in front as well as their very own parking area. Or they do the glass hanging thing that I see in pictures between tables. However, the county I am in was one of the first to pass all the rules to reopen...something LA had difficulties with. But I would like to think smart cookie that LVP is that she could figure out a way around this and do some of this. So I'm not sure what to say. 

 

Definitely glad I left that job last year or I might be in worse trouble than I am now. For sure.

 

RHOA

 

So we are not going to talk about the Porsha drama?

 

It seems those pictures of her tweaking the policeman were faked. Porsha produced video of her that day. And it turned out that she was just bending over to get water while protesting, not realizing that a policeman was behind her. So she spoke up and got her receipts lined up. But still...people aren't sure if she is being an activist or doing it for the show.

 

And then...KENYA stepped in.

 

Liking a tweet of someone calling out Porsha for doing it for the show.

 

So Porsha called out Kenya today or yesterday for not supporting other black women.

 

Sounded like there was going to be a little bit of drama anyway with newbie LaToya also causing drama between Kenya and Porsha and maybe coming for Tanya which of course does not sit well with Porsha.

 

 

 

And...we are off to the races...

 

 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Taoboi

[Chatty Cakes]

Watching the BH reunion. Rinna does seem like she would be okay with her gross brats having an eating disorder. I hope they quit showing footage of them, they are not like the Hadid girls or Kyles girls. They appear lazy and dumb.Oh my god, I’m so sick of Rinna cracking up over her dumb antics.

 

Teddi is so boring. Her Easter egg colored hair looks stupid. 
 

 

[NothinButAttitude]

Monique is my girl but she did overreact last night about the Ashley/Candi/Giz convo. 

 

Karen getting drunk...

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Ashley/Michael just need to split up at this point. It just tiresome to watch at this point. We all know now that Ashley is only remaining with him because of stability. 

 

And next week is it... The big fight. I cannot wait!

[Chatty Cakes]

Another good episode. Karen on the fireball
I am guessing that Ashley and Michael have an agreement. She’s pregnant again so she must be okay with his antics.

I doubt we’ll see the fight next week. It will probably start at the last minute of the show.