Restaurants gone out of business

4 Seasons on second floor of the Cultural Center Ajijic Plaza, Simply Joyful, and Gossips, Who is next??

Escondido has closed. Owned by same person who owned Simply Joyful.

At last count there was over 110 restaurants in Ajijic/West Ajijic including the taco stands and places. Thats probably too many for a town of 12,000 or so. The good restaurants will survive. Simply Joyful and Escondido are no surprise if you follow what they post on FB all the time. Gossips was a wonder it even survived as long as it did. Horrible location and ambiance......

Restaurateurs can barely keep one place open, having 3 spots simultaneously was a bad idea  and no surprise when 2 of them shut.  Also, location location location.  Her remaining location is directly on the carretera and is only open weekdays.  I don't see it lasting much longer either.

BisbeeGal wrote:Restaurateurs can barely keep one place open, having 3 spots simultaneously was a bad idea  and no surprise when 2 of them shut.  Also, location location location.  Her remaining location is directly on the carretera and is only open weekdays.  I don't see it lasting much longer either.

Yes, that's a lot to chew on - dumb pun intended. Bad locations, difficult to make expensive 'high-end' work in this casual area, and hard economic times are not recipes for success. I feel for her though, she really put her heart and soul into trying to make them succeed.

I think The Bowl has a chance if she moved to to a little place with a nice garden maybe in Riberas. . . I believe it's a concept that could work here but I imagine she is paying high Ajijic rent where she is now.

CanuckBob wrote:At last count there was over 110 restaurants in Ajijic/West Ajijic including the taco stands and places. Thats probably too many for a town of 12,000 or so. The good restaurants will survive. Simply Joyful and Escondido are no surprise if you follow what they post on FB all the time. Gossips was a wonder it even survived as long as it did. Horrible location and ambiance......

The following are some key restaurant economy statistics for 2023:

The average restaurant serves approximately 100 customers per day. (Source: Liberty Cheesesteaks)

It seems based on the 110 restaurants and the population, most everyone should have their meals in a restaurant.

Plan B wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:At last count there was over 110 restaurants in Ajijic/West Ajijic including the taco stands and places. Thats probably too many for a town of 12,000 or so. The good restaurants will survive. Simply Joyful and Escondido are no surprise if you follow what they post on FB all the time. Gossips was a wonder it even survived as long as it did. Horrible location and ambiance......

The following are some key restaurant economy statistics for 2023:

The average restaurant serves approximately 100 customers per day. (Source: Liberty Cheesesteaks)

It seems based on the 110 restaurants and the population, most everyone should have their meals in a restaurant.

What skews our stats is that we're a popular destination for a city with a population of 6+ million people, only about an hour away.  Weekend Tapatíos crowd many of our restaurants; we go out to eat often, but rarely on weekends in Ajijic Centro due to the crowds most weekends.  And it's not just weekends; Teacher's Day, Mother's Day and state holidays bring a lot of Tapatíos out for lunch and/or dinner.  

Tourist buses are common on weekends; they let their passengers off near the Ajijic malecón all weekend long.  That weekend business keeps many of the Centro eateries (and retailers) afloat and the same is true of those eateries on or near the Chapala malecón.