Thursday, June 5, 2014

Is Que Sera Sera for sale?

Century 21 published this listing on the local website:



This correspondent spoke to Mr. Baxter.  Mr. Baxter promised to call me back but has yet to do so. 

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

This would be a good opportunity for the city of Jackson. When you get the fact sheet, forward it to the mayor and city council.

Anonymous said...

Looks like it is....that is their address.

Cautious Chef said...

Not surprised. They ain't making it. And good luck selling for $1.6 million. That old building was worn out years ago and just doesn't work for a modern restaurant. Nick's old space is just around the corner and only a few years old.

Anonymous said...

I really like the brown-bag option they have there now, since they lost their liquor license.

Anonymous said...

What ever will be, will be.

Anonymous said...

Didn't know that. Why did they lose it?

Cautious Chef said...

Booze is more profitable than beef. No liquor license is one reason they are not making it. Brown baggers just sit and sip and take up space and don't add anything to the bottom line. Years ago the food was good to better than most. Today, not so much and the area's competition has expanded --no, exploded. I'm a veteran in the restaurant industry and can tell you it is a challenging business and simply brutal in that location.

Anonymous said...

3:19

Agree with you on the lost liquor license being an indication of bad things to come... but I can't agree with you that their food quality has dropped off. I still love the menu, everything I get is delicious. It's the best cajun in town, and there really isn't a competitor. The service on the other hand.... let's just say they are "understaffed."

Anonymous said...

I was last in there about six months ago. A burger, cup of coffee and tip at lunch was over $20.00. Stiffing the local workers. The building has no value and the ingress/egress is terrible. He's obviously trying to sell it as going concern, meaning he would have to be making $300-$400K a year for that price tag. That's not sales; Net Profit before income tax and interest. I would be shocked if he could confirm those numbers.

Anonymous said...

Glad they posted the 1000 Island dressing recipe first.

Anonymous said...

It's now called the 'Superior Grill', but in the Eighties and Nineties, there was a 'Que Sera' in Uptown New Orleans. It was a thriving concern.

I'd imagine some little Mississippi Copycat copied the New Orleans Original, and, instead of the usual apostrophe and an 's' typical of MBAs from Ole Miss, added the extra 'Sera'. The elements for predicting success would have initially seemed the same in Jackson as in New Orleans: Restaurant with outdoor tables, adjacent a large medical facility, and near two private universities. The Docs would eat & drink there, because it was close to work. Pretty golddiggers would go there to catch meal tickets - I mean, to meet and marry physicians - I mean, "To find my spiritual Soul Mate and Love of My Liiiiiiif". Students and young professional men would go there to bag the golddiggers. Other girls would go, to bag the guys who were there to bag the golddiggers.

But I guess someone forgot that St. Charles Avenue is a legendary boulevard, shaded by enormous Live Oaks, in the absolute best part of a fascinating city with one of the South's better climates (I've commuted between the two cities a lot, and N.O. seemed to always be a degree or two cooler during the worst months, and many degrees warmer in winter), while 'Que Sera Sera' occupies a sweltering sun-raked hotspot on North State Street. That's hardly a 'legendary boulevard', unless you count its brief use as a filming location for the latest Mississippi Self-fecalization Flick, 'The Help'.

Mississippi's too hot in summer, too cold in winter, and too stormy in spring, for much alfresco dining to happen at those outdoor tables. That leaves October, which, admittedly, is fantastic. But can you really pay the taxes on that much street frontage, off one month's use of the tables?

Too, the "base of the food chain" (which in New Orleans was comprised of fledgling oil execs/geologists, and students at Tulane and Goyola) does not have the same discretionary income as its counterpart in New Orleans. Young Professionals in Jackson are generally engaged or married (it's on their life-plan timetables to be married by 1.5 years after college), and students at Belhaven and Millsaps frequently have no discretionary income AT ALL.

But I always thought the restaurant looked upbeat, optimistic and perky, whenever I was unable to avoid driving down North State Street. I wish them well.

Anonymous said...

" A burger, cup of coffee and tip at lunch was over $20.00."

Interesting, if true.

Anonymous said...

when the folks at UMC told me my Dad's heart attack would do him in, me and a couple of friends went there for one of their great burgers...haven't repeated that often so to avoid my Dad's experience...great burger though, or it was then....

Anonymous said...

I would drop in from time to time to have a drink and occasional bite to eat. It appeared to me if you were not a regular, your service often was lacking. So boo hoo it is closing.

Anonymous said...

@4:13 - Que Sera did not begin with the concept of outdoor dining - that was much later. As I recall (correct me if I'm wrong), it began as a conversion from a defunct Long John Silver's. It was successful and a small deck was added, then the side dining room enclosed, then the patio extended. I used to really love the place but somehow over the years it lost its edge and the last couple of times I went (probably a couple of years ago) it was grimy and worn, and the service was poor. On my last visit I had hoped to enjoy my works burger but instead spent my meal trying to look away from the unappetizing exposed rear end of a transvestite in tiny lady's jeans seated at the bar. Haven't been back. Too bad, it used to be a really fun place.

Anonymous said...

Great food. Terrible management. Price too high.

Knowing Boo...he will burn it before he takes what it's worth...which is about $500k

Anonymous said...

By the time the grease buildup extends from the kitchen to the front door, most owners have had enough. They start working with the dixie mafia and laundering drug money. They get behind in their taxes. The focus has changed from food to 'friends' and they lose their loyal customers.

Anonymous said...

used to eat there a good bit...ate there a couple of months ago...burgers were still good...HOWEVER, the service was very shitty...took a long time to get waited on and even longer to pay your bill and get the hell out at lunch time

Anonymous said...

"On my last visit I had hoped to enjoy my works burger but instead spent my meal trying to look away from the unappetizing exposed rear end of a transvestite in tiny lady's jeans seated at the bar. "

IN FONDREN?!? I am shocked! Shocked, I say! :-)

Anonymous said...

they used to have great Eggs Benedict years ago. but I'm like the other blogger, service and cleanliness over the years has driven me away. and I did not like to be seated by the kitchen it seem to always have a terrible stench. parking lot is always full at lunc though. but it is sad to see another business close in our capital city. maybe someone will purchase it and remodel. I think we need another restaurant in that area. it is hard to find any place to park and eat within an hour in that area.

Anonymous said...

10:12 - Yeah, I know. I'm pretty conservative but have lived in the area since moving here in the mid 80's as a young adult. Learned early to appreciate or at least to roll with the differences. But still, the icky scene at roughly table level was causing the clorox "you're not as clean as you think" commercials to flash before my eyes.

Anonymous said...

1.
" A burger, cup of coffee and tip at lunch was over $20.00."
Who eats a burger with a cup of coffee? Get a coke.

2. I graduated from Millsaps in 2012 and am ashamed to say I've never once set foot in Que Sera Sera.

3. To the person that compared Que Sera Sera to Superior Grill in New Orleans (formerly known as "Que Sera"): Superior Grill is a Mexican restaurant, I believe. There's also a Superior Grill that's a seafood restaurant but I'm sure you referring to the former.


Anonymous said...

Before it was Que Sera it was Tujaqs (late 80s). Wonderful fried catfish with a bite of spice. That place didn't last very long even though the food was wonderful. I haven't been to Que Sera in years. Not since I was served rotten shrimp on my shrimp remoulade salad.

Anonymous said...

take 10:12 p.m. regarding the unappetizing rear end of a transvestite.... if that would have been a knockout blonde would it have been "unappetizing" haha

Anonymous said...

7:52 I don't recall Tujaqs...immediately before it was Que Sera it was JJ McCalls. Jeff Smith owned it. Boo became partners with Jeff and eventually bought the building.

Boo was a good chef. Cocaine, ex wife, and jail time ruined it.



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