Klee Owner Rails Against Discount Dining With Poetry

What to do when you're a restaurateur fed up with today's world of tweeting, checking in, and Groupon-ing? You could keep quiet about it, rant to your friends, delete your Facebook account. Or you could pen a rhyming poem about your feelings and send it out to your restaurant's newsletter subscribers.

That's what Lori Mason, the owner of Chelsea neighborhood spot Klee Brasserie with her husband Daniel Angerer, did today with her poem entitled "A Bittersweet Tweet." It centers on social media in general but zeroes in on discount dining sites like Groupon and their effect on small business. It includes lines like "You pay half & Klee gets a shilling/while the kids at Groupon make another killing" and "Only time will tell how we shall wear/in this deal-seeking time of/discounted fare."

Of course Mason is not boycotting these sites—in fact, Klee is on Gilt City right now with a deal offering 50% off a four course tasting menu. Which makes the poem even sadder. See the full poem ahead.

Our restaurant Klee is entering year six
so what shall we do, what shall we fix?
For this is mid-life in Social-Media time.

I’m weary of Twitter
don’t mean to sound bitter
but the crowds won’t look
without consulting Facebook
guiding what we should eat
and whom you should Tweet:
“Hey I’m @ Klee, come for a meal,
for I’ve found a steal called a Groupon deal!”
You pay half & Klee gets a shilling
while the kids at Groupon make another killing.

And check out this App, isn’t it delicious?
Feels good to save money, though it isn’t nutritious.
For an Iphone App you cannot eat
but saving money is so very sweet.
With half-off deals
It is almost surreal
you’d have to think twice
to pay full price.

And what of the time you spend all day
auctioning and hunting, deal-seeking away,
For what is the price we really will pay?

What’s to become of your local café
where you check-in on Foursquare once every day?
“Hey just a quarter for this Fair Trade caffe!”
Ole’

If only our landlords and vendors jumped on:
“Forget about cash just give me a coupon!”
Alas no discounts, no vouchers for rent
if only we served food from a tent.
“No my tenant your rent is not free,
once again this round is not on me.”

Only time will tell how we shall wear
in this deal-seeking time of
discounted fare.

· All Coverage of Klee [~ENY~]