Its seems that another of the victims of the economic crisis is the legendary casino coffee shop. The home of the $2.95 steak and eggs and $5.95 prime rib is going the way of dodo bird. In efforts to cut costs casinos have turned to the venerable coffee shop as a place to save money, at the customer's expense of course. In past few months, the recently opened Aliante Station was built from the start without a coffee shop and went with a non-24 hour TGI Friday's instead. Sam's Town has replaced it's coffee shop with a TGI's that also isn't 24/7. Gold Coast has done the same but at least they cordoned off a section of the buffet for a placed called "The Cafe." My guess is it doesn't last very long however. While the guys over at Station are replacing their coffee shops with Denny's at both Fiestas as well as the non-hotel Wildfire casinos. Just short of shutting the whole thing down, Rio's Sao Paolo Cafe is only open fron 6AM until noon.
Why does this bother me so much? For two reasons; firstly it's personal. Anyone who knows us knows that we are hardly gourmets. Aside from the occasional steakhouse dinner, we pretty much live on coffee shop food and it's cousin, room service. I love how the menus in most places are giant, with everything from bacon and eggs to Italian and Chinese food. Breakfast is usually served all day and the aforementions specials that you would never found anywhere else in the world. Another great thing is how some places are noted for certain things such as the chinese at Gold Coast or the steak and beer at Eliis Island. All of that is lost with some chain place that actually strives to achieve exact facsimilies in every location. Don't get me wrong, nothing say 4AM drunkeness like a meal at Denny's but I can do that 5 minutes from home. It is not my idea of Vegas.
My second problem with this situation is that it represents more anti-gambler behavior towards the very people the casinos should be begging for, the serious gambler. Who is sitting at a BJ table at 4 AM on a Tuesday? Not the couple from the Midwest or the 23 year old Californian, its the guy who's playing 10 or 12 hours a day. Now you have given him no choice for a place to eat when he needs to take a break which is one less reason to play at your casino. You have also eliminated round the clock room service as well since it usually comes from the coffee shop kitchen. It is unthinkable to me that Rio has 2,500 rooms and 100,000 Sq. Ft. of casino but does not have a 24/7 dining option.
I completely understand the problem facing the Vegas casinos right now but some of the decisions they are making in the name of "cost leadership" are going to end up costing them more in end. Things like closing restaurants, cutting comps and gutting the casino of good games is only going to make the problem worse. I have said it countless times in the last year, Las Vegas needs to get back to it's roots as a "value" destination if it is to bring back the numbers it once had.
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