CET to Drop Paula Deen

Though not directly Vegas, it does impact many members here. CET has 4 different Paula Deen themed restaurants/buffets. They have announced they are dropping her and re-theming them all.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/06/26/caesars-entertainment-drops-paula-deen/2459155/

Wow.

 

Not terribly surprised by this, but it's definitely another kick in the teeth for CET. They always seem to have to spend money on something; this time it is much less voluntary I suppose. But the Paula Deen buffets (especially Tunica's) were significant investments to the company, well-designed and offered good food, imo.

 

Speaking of the Tunica location,I tried the buffet last December mid-week and frankly shocked by some of the oversights I saw there from my food service background.I've been in the business since a teen and naturally I notice things a casual diner will not..ask any chef.
One thing I noticed that stuck out was someone refilling a salad dressing container instead of replacing the one in use,leaving older dressing in there.That alone is improper management/training.That salad dressing may contain year-old dressing or more if continued and if not stored properly or kept at proper temperature,that is trouble.

The night our group of 7 dined,they were not busy enough to justify a few oversights such as replenishing items inc.whatever was being carved that night.Imagine going to a Vegas buffet at 2AM and the staff left,but left the food out for you or what was left of it.That is the way most dishes looked at 6pm...Could not believe it..
I could go on,some soup and entrees not having signs above them..One had seafood in it that some people are allergic to..
To top it off that night I must have drank a gallon of water and the only thing I could think of the reason why was the saltiness of the fried chicken I did manage to eat.

I did send an email to the F+B and got a reply to please try it again,bring this email to her etc.

Anyway here's hoping the folks in Tunica and elsewhere end up getting a better buffet for thier $$

 

BTW having eaten at two PDB Joliet and his. They deserve to be shut down for the bad food alone.

 

THIS!!! I don't know how the ones are down south but this experiment took a lackluster buffet and made it awful. And the worst food items are the southern specialties, which are worse than what they offered before. I will be so happy when they dump her recipes. We got the cookware they offered for the grand opening promotion and it was crap too!

 

I have ate at Tunica (~5 times) and Southern Indiana (once). Tunica is significantly better, imo, but even I have had some "meh" experiences in Tunica as well.

 

Re: #2 Does Food Network even have a contract with Emeril anymore?

Few of their stars have had tons of staying power.

 

Not sure how much she or her recipes will be missed on the national scene. Been to her main restaurant and it's simply reflective of what her show used to be: "now add another stick of butter -- nothing wrong with extra butter, honey!"

 

So to keep this Paula Dean Buffet closing focused, I would like to comment I believe with the allegations being made in the lawsuit, CET had no choice but to drop Paula Deen and close her buffets.

Regardless on your opinion of the allegations, the brand has been damaged to a point which CET views it as a negative brand / partnership in their portfolio which would effect on property sales.

 

I checked both the Harrah's Joliet and Tunica websites last nite and neither even lists their buffets under "dining". Wonder if they are actually closed down completely for the time being?

 

I'll be in Joliet next week so I'll let you know what's up. If I bump into my mom's host, I should really be able to get some scoop. The rib promo on the dining page was for the buffet so that suggests it should still be open and honestly, there aren't enough other options for dining there to shut it down the whole time. From the media reports so far, they are going to call the buffet "The Restaurant" there until it's rebranded and I half expect that it will be a brand imported from Vegas.

I don't think the decor they did for this was a bad investment but they need to dismantle the Deen gift shop they added and quickly. That should convert back into dining space. The other problem was that the buffet was also their sit down restaurant and the one they took away was well liked. I don't know if they can go back to having them separate again easily.

 

Thanks, I would appreciate the update. Planning on meeting our son/daughter-in-law in Joliet in late July. Thanks again.

 

While I appreciate the many comps that I have used at the Paula Deen Tunica Harrahs location, I feel like it was probably at the end of it's life cycle as a brand anyway. It was obvious that the oversight of this restaurant had become very complacent and the appeal was a shadow of what it started out as when it opened several years ago. The staff, customer facing, at least, displayed the obvious lack of leadership and motivation as they went through the paces of serving, hostessing, gift shop clerking, etc. It was as if there was no energy nor attempt to personify Paula Deen's personality. The food was also inconsistent and uninspired.

I was there on Grand Opening day of the buffet when Paula and her team made a grand appearance. I wonder when the last time was when she actually visited the restaurant? Now, there are a vast number of opportunities to rid the venue and Tunica market of her image. Many of the numerous CET shuttle busses have her advertisements "wrapped" on them. Billboards throughout the area feature her images. Signage all around inside and outside of Harrahs will need to be removed. There are even Paula Deen themed slots that will be removed. CET will recover, obviously, from this nonsense. But, I bet they have learned a lesson about branding and investment in celebrities. Maybe they need to simply perform their due diligence better in their own properties.

 

Tunica - Paula Dean

Was there this week-end no sign of Paula Dean, everything had been removed, buffet still open.

 

CET is moving faster on this than I expected.