We made it!!!... Again

Following the announcement of Tabba Khady's temporary closure on Traveltalkonline (TTOL) by someone I am grateful to for having made it, as it wasn't really my place to do so, I am amazed by the amount of support, understanding and sympathy the very large majority of the posters displayed. I can say I never realised we had such an impact on people vacation, even though it always had been our goal to provide high quality standards, in the matter of having our visitors leaving the island with sun in the eyes and a smile on their face...

But I was even more amazed, or should I say shocked or stunned to read that we made it back to a newsletter belonging to a website we were baned of and ignored since over two year now :

http://jmbcommunications.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive/testlist/20071014152451/

WOW !...I am even quoted in this newsletter ! I guess I made it !....Down at the bottom of it, but I made it...

Why I am amazed, shocked or stunned ? Simply because our relationship with this website's owner, Jeff Berger, who had visited us several time including with the former owners of Rick's Place, deteriorated and went right down the hill after we didn't agree with his proposal of the construction of a website for our restaurant, as the copy presented to us was basically looking like a plain and faded word pad document not worth the three "grand" demanded for it!... I eventually, later one built my own website without any computer knowledge for.... $169 !...

Ironic, I smiled this morning when reading over an email exchanged at that time of the disagreement (August 18Th, 2005, yes I save everything...), in which Jeff stated (I quote) :

"...we have today removed all mention of Tabba Khady from our website, and from now on is the heaviest time during which people plan their vacations through next Spring. We certainly won't bad-mouth you -- we don't do that -- we will simply act as if you don't exist. Very soon, a new website we've been doing for another new restaurant in that area (paid for) will be done, and we will market it as Oyster Pond's premier dining spot. Again...in our readers' minds, you will no longer exist.

Your information has also been removed from our "restaurant map" which shows how to get to recommended restaurants."

We went from being "all over" his restaurant recommendation web page and his newsletters where in both he was bragging about how fabulous, excellent and incredible Tabba Khady was to total disappearance... And nobody found that strange or fishy?... Readers will appreciate ... to comparison of what it is stated on the restaurant page of Jeff Berger website (I quote):
We accept no advertising from any St. Maarten / St. Martin restaurants -- never have and never will. No restaurant can get listed or recommended here by paying us, ever. If we like restaurants, they get listed. If we don't, they don't...

http://www.jmbcommunications.com/sxm/pages/Here/sxmdine.shtml

Amazed, shocked and stunned, because if we do "no longer exist" in his readers mind and his, why then, Jeff find it necessary to hawk about the "closing" information picked up out of a TTOL thread and make it as a "scoop" on a newsletter to readers who are not suppose to know us, instead of ignoring Tabba Khady life's events as he did since the last two years? Is that because it sound like a bad news? And bad news are cheaper (or free in that case...) to report, than good news (that you need to pay for have it reported...) Is that trying to make believe it is "first hand" information while it is not as many people were already aware of it?...Is that Journalism? Trying to spread the "bad" news ahead of any other competition newsletter? Oh well... Doesn't really matter what it is, it's not worth to know even though I am amazed, shocked and stunned, I should stick to what I always said :"Before I was disgusted, now I am just amused..."

I recall cracking my belly on a Sunday morning, reading one of those newsletter from this very same website, relating how Rick's Place was packed, up and running during a sport event diffused on its big screen, while this particular sport event didn't even took place before the late afternoon... Fortunately the newsletter didn't said which team won!... Clairvoyance has its own limit LOL!....

As the purpose of my blog is mainly "therapeutic" to help me to move on regarding the ordeal I went through this past year and to take things out of my system, it was only legitimate that I considered this opportunity of "existing" again on Jeff Berger newsletter, to clear what I have on my stomach. Thank you Jeff for offering this opportunity to me, I knew that somewhere you were a friend!...

Now, as on TTOL, a gutless frustrated unregistered anonymous poster wrote :"boo hoo ,thats the way business is,you either sink or swim,but you don't make excuses."I would like to clarify the condition of the "closing" not making excuses...

Here again readers will appreciate.

First of all we are not filing bankruptcy !... We are swimming, and not sinking!...Businesses who go bankrupt do not take two month to close. Recent history in the last couple of years on the Dutch side proved it : restaurant close, owner pack up and leave the island. Bye....

It is not the case here. We made this decision in fact, to do not go down. We are not shutting down our French corporation (SARL), it is and will stay active, as I may have the use for it if I am going to profess as a private chef (which is still undecided...) Tabba Khady is going to sleep as we do not renew the lease on the building for several reasons. One of these reasons is the huge gap between the Euro and the US Dollars as I already stated. In that case nobody need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that it is not feasible anymore. I believe other establishment already figured it out too but cannot afford to close, so they are trying to keep swimming and do not sink. We had the option of raising our Euro prices up to 20, 30,40 or 50% to compensate, and apply a low dollars rate exchange to it or a "par" rate, but with this type of increase we would fall into the category of "overpriced restaurant" and loose most of our clientele. Or we had the option to maintain our prices the way they are and to apply the regular legal actual exchange rate of 1.45 (and later on 1.48, then 1.50....) and we would fall also in the category of "overpriced restaurant" and loose most of our clientele too. We had the option of leaving it the way it is and do nothing about prices and exchange rate policy, and maintain our clientele, but then it is when we would go bankrupt as there won't be any compensation to the gap. And we had the option put Tabba Khady to sleep until the USA choice another administration who will clearly believe in a strong dollar, as the dollars is the mainstream of our economy. We chose this last. No bankruptcy, no sinking, no run away. Other reasons involve are intimately personal, and also the fact that the landlord is not able to provide us with an hurricane and fire insurance on the building. It would have been foolish to renew a lease with key money in this conditions.

With that said, you can see that I am in a good mood and I thank you all again for you understanding, kindness and support