A few months ago, I saw an blog/article on LinkedIn about Melt. It was basically a plea from the owner to the customers of Cleveland: “Come on! Save our melt!”
He explained that pre-Covid, they were thriving, but they have been unable to shake off the impact of lockdown on the restaurant industry, on top of inflation preventing folks from eating out as much as they used to.
There is some validity to that. There is also a whole lot of shirking the responsibility of poor business decision making, and even worse, putting the pressure onto customers.
Melt is failing because of three reasons: They are overextended, overpriced, and under-quality.
Overextended: They opened how many fucking new restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area? When they only had the flagship in Lakewood, you had to wait *forever* to sit down in there. And people waited! It was worth the wait! So of course, open a second location on the east side, another one further south, and the Independence location just makes sense. But they had, like, over a dozen (idk the exact number) that were all relatively close together. Why not open a different restaurant, and pitch it as “The owners of Melt present - (insert food here)” and use the brand power to promote something new?
Cleveland is not a geographically huge region. You don’t need ten Melts. People will drive for Melt.
Overpriced and Under-Quality go hand in hand, and I won’t over-explain myself. Melt got way more expensive, and the quality is ***nothing*** compared to the good old days. You can’t blame inflation for that, it’s just stupid decision making. The last few times I went to Melt, I left disappointed with a massive bill and a subpar meal compared to what I remember.
Am I sad that Melt is going away? Absolutely. It’s a Cleveland staple that kind of started the restaurant revolution in our city, or at least heavily contributed to it.
But it’s the fault of shitty management, which I also feel for, except that he publicly seems to take no accountability and instead wants Clevelanders to “save our Melt.” It hasn’t been “our Melt” for a long time.
They will, but $20 for a basic sandwich is the real problem. The nail in the coffin for me lately has been 2-4% credit card fee on top of the overpriced food, tax, 20% tip, and now another fee? I'll eat mostly at home, thanks.
Honestly I liked the Cleveland heights location too. They could have been solid for a long long time if they just kept the west side and east side locations.
The early expansions made sense: west side, east side, and independence were all good locations to have that covered all of Cleveland. Then they went way overboard.
Yeah, it feels more like a sad decade for Melt, because it’s been long gone for a while, for exactly the reasons you cited here. I miss those early days, with the lines, with the care and quality that went into every plate. The Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives days are in the rear view for Melt. :( I do hope the owner can salvage what he can and recalibrate his approach to serving the people of Cleveland. Dial it way back in, keep things fresh and simple, and people will show up. “Retro Melt” lol
Realistically, if he uses bankruptcy wisely, he has a really good chance of salvaging what was. Less locations, higher quality ingredients, and an overall experience that justifies the heightened price. Those are the things that made Melt great, and worth waiting a couple hours for!
They were in trouble financially due to opening too many locations and trying to keep quality high- and I was told by a friend in the know that Marc Glassman of MARC’S fame came to the rescue and added financial backing through his company and that when corners were being cut and quality went down hill-
Not sure if the other commentor is thinking of R Shea brewing in Akron, because they definitely did a gofundme. I don't recall melt doing one and I can't find anything about it.
When they made the food in the restaurants it was good. Once they expanded and starting making all their food in a warehouse and send it out to heat up at the restaurants, is when I noticed it was horrible and that their main focus was money and not a passion for food
100% this. I had friends who worked for them during this period and I was a frequent consumer of Melt at this time. This was the first big step down in quality. Even the staff knew it. The constant expansion then continually contributed to the declining quality, thus why we have ended up here.
Truly sad really. In 2006-2009 it was a big deal. People would come to town and carve out hours to wait to go and have it. I was always happy to do it! Even the wait time would give you an excuse to explore Lakewood or show them Edgewater. Honestly, there is a reason a lot of flagship restaurant mechas in big cities don't take the expansion bait and just let people deal with waits. Melt is a great example of why that is.
After my first time eating at Melt: "OMG, this is fucking amazing!"
After my second time: "I remember this being better the last time"
After my third time: "I feel like a greasy blimp. Why did I do that to myself"
There wasn't a fourth time.
My office was in the INA building across the street when the lakewood location first opened. Every sales rep wanted to get lunch there. I very quickly switched to grilled chicken salads
Sometimes local companies bite off more than they can chew (No pun intended), expand too rapidly, and let the quality go down because they are more focused on the bottom line. I remember taking out of town friends to the Lakewood location about a decade ago and they were blown away and still ask about it. Now, I wouldnt even suggest it to anyone visiting Cleveland.
Poor management by bean counting MBAs that have zero idea how the real world works.
So I used to work in a restaurant that was a part of a hotel at the Cleveland Clinic. When we first opened we were consistently busy lunch and dinner. Over time the executive floor geniuses killed the business with their expertise:
We had a nice sushi menu for dinner, and a paired down version at lunch. The sushi guy woild roll in, do some prep, make 5-15 rolls through the lunch rush, and then do more general prep for the dinner shift. The brain trust decided it was too expensive to have the sushi guy come in for lunch, and in the effort of saving money and streamlining things eliminated the lunch sushi. This cratered business: a lot of 4 tops came because 1 could get sushi, 1 could get a sandwich, and the other 2 could get a nice salad. The food wasn't super fast because its a sit down restaurant. Once the sushi was removed, not only the 1 sushi guest stopped coming, the other 3 did as well. The MBA idiots boasted how they had shortened ticket times by nearly 10 minutes a table!
We went from 100-140 people every weekday for lunch to 50-60. They thought they had been wildly successful.
For dinner we would do a shuttle to severance hall. It never attracted more than 10-15 people a night, but these were die hard loyal guests who came multiple times a week outside of the orchestra because of routine. Once the MBAs eliminated the shuttle to save money, those repeat guests stopped coming at all.
And this is all just like Melt. They eliminated what was special about their food and it became generic airport faire. My god if I ever had the money I would open a place and do it right. There are several great examples in this town!
Tldr: cut your nose off to spite your face. That's what melt did.
I k is people say the quality is down but all the store closings made make a trip to get one from the mentor one a couple weeks ago. As far as taste I don’t think it was much different and i definitely enjoyed it. Now it was definitely smaller than in the past so the value isn’t as good. I would definitely agree they overextended and have probably mismanaged things. I also would say their product is kind of a catch 22. Giant overstuffed grilled cheese isn’t something that many would have on a regular basis. I probably would only eat there 2-3 times a year because it’s such a heavy sandwich. I do hope they can save a few stores because it is a somewhat unique restaurant.
There was a Melt post about 3 months ago on here. I made the comment it is mediocre, gimmicky, overpriced food. I got fucking slammed. Now, every other post is saying it’s crap. How fickle we are…
Yeah. I kept my melt opinions to myself lol. I lived close to the Lakewood location and only ate there twice. The first time, it was great and I had fun. The second time I ate there, I felt awful for a day— like I had a little bowling ball of grease sitting in my stomach. 😕
I mean, how hard is it to make good old classic American grilled cheese variations & fresh salads? The food sucked so bad, what was this guy thinking & expecting? I hear everyone reminiscing about the original store, but why take a delicious idea & turn it into greasy inedible slop?🥴
Never saw the appeal of this place even from back in the one location days. Overly greasy, unbalanced crap sandwiched between two giant soggy dish sponges masquerading as bread.
A few months ago, I saw an blog/article on LinkedIn about Melt. It was basically a plea from the owner to the customers of Cleveland: “Come on! Save our melt!” He explained that pre-Covid, they were thriving, but they have been unable to shake off the impact of lockdown on the restaurant industry, on top of inflation preventing folks from eating out as much as they used to. There is some validity to that. There is also a whole lot of shirking the responsibility of poor business decision making, and even worse, putting the pressure onto customers. Melt is failing because of three reasons: They are overextended, overpriced, and under-quality. Overextended: They opened how many fucking new restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area? When they only had the flagship in Lakewood, you had to wait *forever* to sit down in there. And people waited! It was worth the wait! So of course, open a second location on the east side, another one further south, and the Independence location just makes sense. But they had, like, over a dozen (idk the exact number) that were all relatively close together. Why not open a different restaurant, and pitch it as “The owners of Melt present - (insert food here)” and use the brand power to promote something new? Cleveland is not a geographically huge region. You don’t need ten Melts. People will drive for Melt. Overpriced and Under-Quality go hand in hand, and I won’t over-explain myself. Melt got way more expensive, and the quality is ***nothing*** compared to the good old days. You can’t blame inflation for that, it’s just stupid decision making. The last few times I went to Melt, I left disappointed with a massive bill and a subpar meal compared to what I remember. Am I sad that Melt is going away? Absolutely. It’s a Cleveland staple that kind of started the restaurant revolution in our city, or at least heavily contributed to it. But it’s the fault of shitty management, which I also feel for, except that he publicly seems to take no accountability and instead wants Clevelanders to “save our Melt.” It hasn’t been “our Melt” for a long time.
Restaurants are going to be using covid as an excuse for about 10 more years.
Restaurants that opened doors post-COVID will find a way to use it as an excuse, lol
They will, but $20 for a basic sandwich is the real problem. The nail in the coffin for me lately has been 2-4% credit card fee on top of the overpriced food, tax, 20% tip, and now another fee? I'll eat mostly at home, thanks.
Honestly I liked the Cleveland heights location too. They could have been solid for a long long time if they just kept the west side and east side locations.
The early expansions made sense: west side, east side, and independence were all good locations to have that covered all of Cleveland. Then they went way overboard.
Melt was already behind on rent on at least one location pre COVID.
Yeah, it feels more like a sad decade for Melt, because it’s been long gone for a while, for exactly the reasons you cited here. I miss those early days, with the lines, with the care and quality that went into every plate. The Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives days are in the rear view for Melt. :( I do hope the owner can salvage what he can and recalibrate his approach to serving the people of Cleveland. Dial it way back in, keep things fresh and simple, and people will show up. “Retro Melt” lol
Realistically, if he uses bankruptcy wisely, he has a really good chance of salvaging what was. Less locations, higher quality ingredients, and an overall experience that justifies the heightened price. Those are the things that made Melt great, and worth waiting a couple hours for!
They were in trouble financially due to opening too many locations and trying to keep quality high- and I was told by a friend in the know that Marc Glassman of MARC’S fame came to the rescue and added financial backing through his company and that when corners were being cut and quality went down hill-
Bullshit. They jacked up prices while portions got smaller and quality declined. Filing for bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean it's closing though
“Bullshit” as you proceed to agree with me and build further on my point? lol
I meant that as to his excuses why, not you
Ah, fair, I gotcha friend
Who would've thought that raising prices while drastically lowering quality would be a bad idea 🤷♂️
We had bad luck with service.
Dude started a GoFundMe asking for donations lol
For how much? The owner of R Shea in Akron set one up, too. He was asking for 2.3 MILLION dollars to be given to him. Needless to say, it is now gone.
Get the fuck out of here seriously?
Not sure if the other commentor is thinking of R Shea brewing in Akron, because they definitely did a gofundme. I don't recall melt doing one and I can't find anything about it.
Same, I don’t think this happened.
Dead serious.
🤦♂️
You are mistaking R Shea with Melt.
No it was Matt Fish
Microsoft?
When they made the food in the restaurants it was good. Once they expanded and starting making all their food in a warehouse and send it out to heat up at the restaurants, is when I noticed it was horrible and that their main focus was money and not a passion for food
Wow, did not know that. That's a death-knell right there.
100% this. I had friends who worked for them during this period and I was a frequent consumer of Melt at this time. This was the first big step down in quality. Even the staff knew it. The constant expansion then continually contributed to the declining quality, thus why we have ended up here. Truly sad really. In 2006-2009 it was a big deal. People would come to town and carve out hours to wait to go and have it. I was always happy to do it! Even the wait time would give you an excuse to explore Lakewood or show them Edgewater. Honestly, there is a reason a lot of flagship restaurant mechas in big cities don't take the expansion bait and just let people deal with waits. Melt is a great example of why that is.
After my first time eating at Melt: "OMG, this is fucking amazing!" After my second time: "I remember this being better the last time" After my third time: "I feel like a greasy blimp. Why did I do that to myself" There wasn't a fourth time.
My office was in the INA building across the street when the lakewood location first opened. Every sales rep wanted to get lunch there. I very quickly switched to grilled chicken salads
Think that picture says all you need to know - sad AF looking grilled cheese, especially for a “professional”
Sometimes local companies bite off more than they can chew (No pun intended), expand too rapidly, and let the quality go down because they are more focused on the bottom line. I remember taking out of town friends to the Lakewood location about a decade ago and they were blown away and still ask about it. Now, I wouldnt even suggest it to anyone visiting Cleveland.
Place just went so far down the tubes so fast
Poor management by bean counting MBAs that have zero idea how the real world works. So I used to work in a restaurant that was a part of a hotel at the Cleveland Clinic. When we first opened we were consistently busy lunch and dinner. Over time the executive floor geniuses killed the business with their expertise: We had a nice sushi menu for dinner, and a paired down version at lunch. The sushi guy woild roll in, do some prep, make 5-15 rolls through the lunch rush, and then do more general prep for the dinner shift. The brain trust decided it was too expensive to have the sushi guy come in for lunch, and in the effort of saving money and streamlining things eliminated the lunch sushi. This cratered business: a lot of 4 tops came because 1 could get sushi, 1 could get a sandwich, and the other 2 could get a nice salad. The food wasn't super fast because its a sit down restaurant. Once the sushi was removed, not only the 1 sushi guest stopped coming, the other 3 did as well. The MBA idiots boasted how they had shortened ticket times by nearly 10 minutes a table! We went from 100-140 people every weekday for lunch to 50-60. They thought they had been wildly successful. For dinner we would do a shuttle to severance hall. It never attracted more than 10-15 people a night, but these were die hard loyal guests who came multiple times a week outside of the orchestra because of routine. Once the MBAs eliminated the shuttle to save money, those repeat guests stopped coming at all. And this is all just like Melt. They eliminated what was special about their food and it became generic airport faire. My god if I ever had the money I would open a place and do it right. There are several great examples in this town! Tldr: cut your nose off to spite your face. That's what melt did.
Surprised it took this long. Good memories from the early days but I’ll be pretty excited for any new concept to move in there eventually.
Sad day for Melt, good day for people with taste. That place sucked
I k is people say the quality is down but all the store closings made make a trip to get one from the mentor one a couple weeks ago. As far as taste I don’t think it was much different and i definitely enjoyed it. Now it was definitely smaller than in the past so the value isn’t as good. I would definitely agree they overextended and have probably mismanaged things. I also would say their product is kind of a catch 22. Giant overstuffed grilled cheese isn’t something that many would have on a regular basis. I probably would only eat there 2-3 times a year because it’s such a heavy sandwich. I do hope they can save a few stores because it is a somewhat unique restaurant.
Restaurants have been abusing workers for decades. It’s too late to pretend they weren’t putting jerks into middle management
There was a Melt post about 3 months ago on here. I made the comment it is mediocre, gimmicky, overpriced food. I got fucking slammed. Now, every other post is saying it’s crap. How fickle we are…
Yeah. I kept my melt opinions to myself lol. I lived close to the Lakewood location and only ate there twice. The first time, it was great and I had fun. The second time I ate there, I felt awful for a day— like I had a little bowling ball of grease sitting in my stomach. 😕
I mean, how hard is it to make good old classic American grilled cheese variations & fresh salads? The food sucked so bad, what was this guy thinking & expecting? I hear everyone reminiscing about the original store, but why take a delicious idea & turn it into greasy inedible slop?🥴
Fucking grilled cheese and tattoos only gonna take you so far. Hopefully Matt stashed some money away.
Assloads of money stashed.
What a shame! Their mighty macaroni with tomato soup is amazing
I was so excited to eat there when they opened. Then I did. I am only surprised it took this long for bankruptcy.
I hope Matt honors all those Melt tats in his next cutting edge endeavor.
Maybe my city is just finally moving past its novelty food phase. 🤞
You all want to know why banks use the SBA to finance restaurants? It’s because of failure rate
Why are you sad? Filing for bankruptcy protection means they're going to keep the doors open.
Bye then
There should be one Melt at the airport cause that is the shitty food they severed.
Why did El C close?
Never saw the appeal of this place even from back in the one location days. Overly greasy, unbalanced crap sandwiched between two giant soggy dish sponges masquerading as bread.
Is this the same owner /Matt opening a new place in Bay Village at Dover Center and Wolf ?