After a roller coaster ride of starts, stops, and location changes that culminated with a well-publicized, splashy opening (on Friday the 13th, no less)—and then a recent reopening and concept change—Good Fortune has closed in Botanical Heights.
The restaurant was dark on Valentine’s Day (traditionally a huge night industry-wide), which is when SLM suspected something was amiss. The following day, recent Instagram posts (everything after January 1) were taken down, and the website became apocalyptic (see below) with no links to a menu or hours of operation.
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Owner Corey Smale was not available for comment on Saturday. Later in the day, however, on Good Fortune’s Instagram, a link appeared to a podcast (Episode 1 of the Supergiant Show, it turns out, curated by Smale) that partially explained the closure—no photo, no hashtags, no other indicators—just an easy-to-miss link. It was a fitting end to a restaurant predicated by unusual marketing strategies.
In the nearly 22-minute podcast, titled “Corey Closes A Restaurant,” Smale explained that the restaurant was indeed closed, effective Valentine’s Day. Citing health issues, he said he “didn’t want to die or get divorced over this restaurant,” adding that “it’s not over,” that “the idea is still alive” and his organization “wants to keep doing things.” He alluded to possibly hosting a pop-up in a few months and that his Supergiant platform will keep dropping podcasts that will, in part, introduce listeners to “guests you don’t see on social media or podcasts, older heads, artistic people you don’t know about.”
Smale confessed to disappointing sales, which added to his stress level. The problems may have started early, when the culinary direction meandered from American-Chinese to regional Chinese, then back to a fusion, “New American Chinese” as the owners called it. The original service model was take-out only; the reality was a combination take-out joint/dine-in restaurant under one roof.
“It was the most generic name I could think of for the coolest place I could think of,” Smale told SLM at the time. The full-service dining room, tucked in the back, served “retooled Chinese” food while a carryout area sold more familiar items (dumplings, fried rice, crab rangoon) to take home.
Similar to Strange Donuts, an innovative concept that Smale also co-founded, Good Fortune was preceded by masterful hype and relentless buzz. Following a series of social media teases, pop-up food events, and articles, St. Louisans knew all about the place before the doors ever opened.
But for a small and seemingly simple concept, Good Fortune was hard to identify and pigeonhole, as well as being overly ambitious, as typified by its four menus. Professional reviews ran the gamut from genial to disgruntled; Yelp reviews were similar.
In December, reacting to what we’ll call “conceptual confusion” and an admitted lack of consistency (“we never quite nailed our concept,” said Smale), the restaurateur announced a simplified menu of “familiar Chinese American Bites, Baos, and Bowls.” He told SLM he never thought Good Fortune would replace someone’s favorite Chinese joint “and never will, but at least we wanted to be in the rotation.”
But it was not meant to be.
As oftentimes happens, the new concept didn’t take hold. Reducing the price point (to $10 or less, in Good Fortune’s case) necessitates more volume to remain viable, and when you consider that delivery services charge 20 to 35 percent (no matter the price point), the problems were compounded. In addition, the reimagining didn’t appeal to the devotees. (“I’ll stick to my standard Chinese takeout place and won’t make a special trip for Good Fortune like I used to,” one Yelp review noted. “So disappointed.”)
On Friday, a cryptic sign appeared on Good Fortune’s door (pictured at right), quoting a line from the first single the Eagles ever released, a parting message from Smale.
And after listening to the podcast, we couldn’t help but recall the lyrics that follow, that double as a wish for the entrepreneur:
“Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place and make your stand.”
