Lip Smackers

[Thomas Vu]

For what it's worth, I offered to run out and get some. He declined though. I'll visit when I want variety in ingredients in my burger.

[TheTravellers]

TheTravellers,
Substitutable is a word. See link below from Merriam Webster.
C. T.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dict.../substitutable

Cool, I'm smarter than I think I am.

And I know my opinion sounds harsh, but there are enough other places that I can go and get exactly what's on the menu every time I go there that I don't have to go places where I'm wondering if I'll be able to order something and have it come out the way it should be (or if they can make it at all).

[TheTravellers]

For what it's worth, I offered to run out and get some. He declined though. I'll visit when I want variety in ingredients in my burger.

[jennydahl]

Second visit today for lunch... had my heart set on the shrimp sandwich. Jabbar said he had taken it off the menu since he hadn't sold enough... and sure enough, it was off the menu! He could tell I was disappointed and offered to go ahead and make me one - he had shrimp marinating for his own lunch. Even though I declined (I didn't want to take the man's lunch!), he insisted... so shrimp sandwich and okra it was for me. The sandwich was out of this world! (And the okra was excellent again, too!).

Bottom line... don't let the olives in the grilled olives/tomatoes/onions/shrimp/sauce combination put you off. I don't know what magic the grilling works for those olives, but they're smooth, warm, soft, and not in any way wrong. He agreed to put it back on the menu and I promised I'd do what I could to get more people to order it. Help a girl out here!

[jackirons]

I don't quite get the hype. My burger was dry and overcooked. The fries were soggy. IMO there are tons of better burger options in OKC.

[Ginkasa]

It looks like their website has expired, which is unfortunate.

[Thomas Vu]

Stopped by tonight. I thought he normally closed at 8, but tonight it was at 7. He offered to open the restaurant again for me, but I declined. Maybe if I had a bigger group, or felt we could make it worth the while.

He talked about business slowing again despite putting money into social media such as facebook, google, yelp, and instagram. He also mentioned putting money into the OKGazette? I'm not sure how the business works, but my friend made note that there were only 14 yelp reviews, and I personally didn't think that restaurateurs had to pay publications to stop by.

[Pete]

^

There were actually a bunch more reviews on Yelp but they culled them back to only 'top reviews'. Not sure how the Yelp model works these days.

[Thomas Vu]

If anybody else was curious

[TheTravellers]

They're going to have a segment on next week's (Sat, 10/27) Discover Oklahoma on KFOR at 6:30 PM.

[Thomas Vu]

As of Friday at least, they're only open for lunch now.

[Pete]

As of Friday at least, they're only open for lunch now.

Yep, their new hours are 11A-3P every day.

[Paseofreak]

Location, location, location!

[Mr. Blue Sky]

I've been a regular and love the food. Excellent burgers at a reasonable cost. However, Jabbar is way too cavalier about the importance of smart marketing. He doesn't want to use his tall sign space available that can be seen from I-44 ( I think it still advertises the last restaurant in his spot) and has said it's too much trouble and doesn't matter. The sign on Penn looks more like a sign for a bakery or cup cake shop than a great burger joint. Marketing is more than advertising, of course, and too often the efforts made are a bit too amateur. His notes on the door about the new schedule were written on notebook paper ripped from a spiral, and taped crooked on the glass doors. He just has an almost obstinate block about doing things to improve the marketing, even simple things. I wish this wasn't the case as I fear for the future of Lip Smackers. By all means, go check it out! Really good food!

[Ginkasa]

He definitely seems like the kind of guy that could use a business partner to handle that aspect of the restaurant while he focuses on the kitchen. This is one of only a few places that have opened up that I've gone out my way to visit more than once, so I definitely hope he sticks around.

[BBatesokc]

Yep, their new hours are 11A-3P every day.

Did he have to take a night job to make ends meet?

[Libbymin]

Not a good sign when a restaurant reduces their hours to lunch only, but I hope he can make it work!

[Pete]

It's better hours than Nic's!

I'm sure a big part of this is not wanting to man a 2nd shift.

I noticed the last couple of times I was in there that Jabbar was doing less of the cooking. This way, he's bound to be more hands-on.

[soonermike81]

This feels more like the beginning of the end, imo. I actually haven’t been during lunch, so I have no idea if they get a crazy lunch rush. But reducing hours to reduce overhead tells me they’re not generating enough revenue. Unless he’s got some crazy deal worked out with the landlord for cheap rent, wouldn’t you want to utilize that space as many hours of the day as possible, as long as the numbers make sense? You’re still paying the same fixed costs. I’ve only been once, and it was during dinner on a Tuesday. Seemed to be a decent flow of customers. Not sure the reasoning here but I don’t feel it’s a good sign. Sad, as it was a very good burger. Not the best location or ambiance but good food for certain. I hope his alleged stubbornness when it comes to marketing doesn’t end up being his demise. Someone said above, “location, location, location.” And if you don’t have a good location but have a very good product, you need to spend some money on advertising. Hopefully I’m wrong. Or maybe he has an awesome lunch business going and wants to rest and spend time with the family the remainder of his day.

[Thomas Vu]

Or maybe he has an awesome lunch business going and wants to rest and spend time with the family the remainder of his day.

I wish I got this reason when I tried to visit twice for dinner.

[Rover]

It is very difficult to start a restaurant if you don't have optimum finances. But many try anyway. If you can't afford a premium location and don't have money to spend on marketing, you have to hope your product is so superior that word of mouth carries the day. Maybe he isn't so much stubborn as that he is under-financed. I've had numerous conversations with him. He seems focused more on spending the money on product than on promotion. And, I would guess the location was the best he could afford to have to have a chance.

[Thomas Vu]

It's possible he went back and forth on it. He was talking about having money spent on promotion the first time I stopped by for dinner.

[TheTravellers]

He mentioned the cheap rent when we went in, which will work for a bit, but it's attached to a less-than-attractive (in more ways than one) gas station and has no signage up that can be seen until you're almost literally in front of it on Penn. Wife went to the restroom after we finished eating, and it was in the gas station part, and she said it was absolutely hideous, she said she'd never go in there again. I used the restroom too, just to wash my hands and it was pretty atrocious too. That kind of thing can break a place pretty quick, so if he's really serious about making this his life's work, he needs to get more $$$$ and move to a stand-alone building and spend more $$$ on media (online and print). His burgers are pretty damn good and he has a chance to set himself up as a long-range player in the burger wars here if he gets the right place and does it right.

[Rover]

Sometimes it’s not so easy to just go get more $$$$

[TheTravellers]

Sometimes it’s not so easy to just go get more $$$$

Yep, I realize that, and if he can't, then he might just go under. As I've heard for decades (and you mentioned it yourself), many restaurant failures are because they're not financed well enough to do the job right (and right includes lots of things, not just good food). If he goes under, it'll suck, but maybe he'll have learned some things and his next venture will work out better. Hopefully that won't be the case...