I was not surprised by the news that Petersen’s Ice Cream is closing its restaurant, which was reported in the Jan. 3 Wednesday Journal. My first reaction, upon seeing the signs on New Year’s Eve was, “What took so long?”
During my high school years, I worked at Petersen’s in the Sweet Shoppe and in the kitchen area along with a number of my friends. In the three or four times I have eaten at Petersen’s since returning to the Oak Park and River Forest area with my family, I have been disappointed every time. I would note the following mistakes made in regards to running the business:
Let’s be honest, the restaurant and Sweet Shoppe are not clean. It is not an attractive place to bring your family for a meal. Furthermore, while I personally have not dined there in some time, a number of people have commented to me that the wait staff are not exactly jumping to serve the customers. People notice this and will stop coming if they do not think the experience is memorable.
As a matter of fact, I don’t think much has been done to the physical plant since I worked there in the early 1980s. In addition, what Mr. [Darryl] Bartleson does not understand is the fact that the ice cream shop was never about beer, wine, salads, or breakfast. All those things take away from the fact that Petersen’s Ice Cream is about, well, ice cream, and if you must, sandwiches. Basic lunch-type food. While beer and wine may have increased the profit margin for a time, I just don’t need to go there for a libation. Not that I am a prude by any means; however, the existence in an ice cream parlor confuses my sense of what the business does. His mistake is that Petersen’s thought it could compete with the likes of Jimmy’s in Forest Park, or Giordano’s for a family dining experience. No way.
What is with all the candy? I am frustrated that I can no longer take my children into even the Sweet Shoppe because it turns into an exercise of what kind of candy I don’t what to buy them. Did the Current Occupant not understand the business premise of “core competency”? That is, sell, make or distribute only that which you can be only the best at doing-number one or two in your market. Hey, Jack Welch made that famous. That means, don’t try to be all things to all people. Petersen’s confused me when they told me it was about the teddy bears, booze and breakfast, and stopped telling me about the ice cream.
If Petersen’s was so desperate to maintain its market presence, why did it take so long to make this move? Surely, Oberweis, Cold Stone Creamery and the other ice cream establishments that now are taking their market share in the area had no problem selling only ice cream and other basic dairy products. Petersen’s could have leased the space that Oberweis now occupies, or another, and made this transition without making us all think that they are making this move to survive. A modernized ice cream parlor would have enhanced the experience and deflected the consumer’s attention from its non-performing restaurant. Now they look like a wounded animal. And the surviving Sweet Shoppe will still not be a cool place to take your kids or grandkids.
I have noted that Petersen’s has been failing for quite some time. This makes me mad because running that business never seemed terribly difficult. What the other successful stores in the neighborhood did that Petersen’s did not was invest in their business to keep the customer returning to an environment that was pleasant and memorable. When I scooped ice cream in the 1980s, there were lines out the door when the weather was warm. After plays at the high school, the restaurant was hopping on Friday and Saturday nights. On Saturdays and Sundays, grandmothers took their grandchildren there for an ice cream sundae.
I know many people who like to support local business and have simply walked away from Petersen’s. Be it the escalating cost of his product, the confusion of what they sell or the lack of a clean and pleasant dining experience, I don’t think the Sweet Shoppe will be far behind the restaurant. This is unfortunate because that strip of Chicago Avenue in Oak Park needs something cool and memorable.
So long, Petersen’s.