Bart Hanson - how much did you lose investing in that JEWISH restaurant?

[Dan Druff]

Actually I made a small amount of money off of Ditmas after my profit distributions and the sale back of my % interest to my partner. I was also totally out of Ditmas almost two years before it closed down (end of 2015). But Druff, you can just assume that I lost money, with no information. And just assume I am a degenerate too?

It's very tough to run a restaurant profitably. Looks like Bart's place had a lot of potential, but they must have screwed something up if it's no longer around.

And like many other restaurants it didn't shut down due to lack of business. The landlord, upon expiration of the lease, tried to squeeze Alex for an additional 150% rent increase. At that rate it made no sense to remain open. Just because a restaurant closes does not mean that it was not successful. In fact sometimes restaurants become the victims of their own success if they add a lot of internal improvements to the building and make the surrounding area nicer.

http://www.foodrepublic.com/2016/09/...just-the-rent/

AS far as the polarizing yelp reviews go I will openly admit that I had no hand in the operations of the restaurant, nor did I want any. I was entirely passive. We got a very good deal when we bought out the previous restaurant and I thought it would be a good investment, even having no decision making power. It ended up being a huge headache which is why I ended up selling my interest and I would not recommend investing in a restaurant unless you were going to be an active participant in the operations.

But its just so classic PFA to assume things that fit into someone's narrative without knowing any actual facts.

Bart

I had recalled that you admitted to doing degenerate-type pit gaming. If I misunderstood, I apologize.

It came up when IAmProfessionalTalk attacked you and claimed that you weren't a credible poker coach, and he cited you playing pit games as an example. I countered that the way you manage your money is irrelevant -- that the only requirement for a poker coach is that he teaches you poker well, and that CrushLivePoker indeed had a reputation for achieving that.

I seem to recall having you on radio where you said you played pit games. That's where I got the "degenerate" idea. I wasn't trying to assume anything or say anything derogatory.

Regarding the restaurant, I do believe your account of events, and in fact thought it was possible that you didn't have any control of the operations. I was perplexed as to why the service problems (at least the ones apparent from the reviews) were never fixed, but I understand that as a passive partner, there was little you could do.

You mentioned that you sold your part because having little operational control was frustrating. Was the frustration due to the aforementioned service issues which weren't getting fixed?