It started with Madame Zingara, which closed two months ago. Then came two branches of Carlucci, in Bantry Bay and in Rondebosch, which closed shortly thereafter.
Earlier this month three Vida e Caffe branches closed down in the city centre and in the Bayside Mall, and the Melissa’s in Green Point has also closed.
This week has seen a restaurant bloodbath, with the sad news that The Showroom of chef Bruce Robertson, Riboville in the city centre, and Summerville in Camps Bay have closed down. Camps Bay has already seen the closure of Cafe Delmar and Wangthai in the past few weeks. Two further restaurants are rumoured to be following suit.
The one thing that the closures of the larger restaurants have in common is the crippling rentals that they have to pay to greedy landlords. The landlords should recognise the value that the restaurants have to tourism, and that they should come to the party in keeping the rentals reasonable, to ensure that their centers remain fully occupied.
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