Tag Archives: Bayside Mall

More restaurant ups and downs

Another fatality of the credit crunch is the closure of coffee shop Donatella’s in the V & A Waterfront, which belonged to Ian Halfon, owner of the St. Elmo’s pizza chain, and of the Balthazar and Balducci restaurants in the Waterfront.   It closed overnight last week.

Recently Madame Zingara, The Showroom, Summerville, Cafe Delmar and Wangthai in Camps Bay, 48 on Hout, and Riboville closed down.

Selected outlets of Melissa, The Dros, Cattle Baron, Cape Town Fish Market,  Wangthai, Sundance Cafe’s, and St. Elmo’s have closed down recently, reports the Weekend Argus.                                                                  

Good news is that ex-Showroom owner Bruce Robertson has opened The Quarter in Long Street, in the same building as the New Space Theatre, and two doors away from The Showroom Cafe, which also belongs to Robertson.

The three Vida e Caffe coffee shops that recently closed on Greenmarket Square, in St George’s Mall and in the Bayside Mall, have re-opened, now belonging directly to the franchisor, and no longer to the franchisee.

Auctioneer Rael Levitt of the Alliance Group and City Partnership CEO Andrew Borraine warn of further tough times ahead, and say that this will affect the restaurant trade, in that there are too many new restaurants combined with a cut back by patrons eating out at restaurants.

Credit crunch bites restaurants

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.

Credit crunch local bite

Much of what has been heard about the effect of the global credit crunch has related to the United Kingdom and the USA.

When well-known South African brands are affected, the credit crunch is a litle too close to home for comfort.

Madame Zingara and Carlucci’s went into liquidation earlier this year.   Now three Vide e Caffe branches, in St George’s Street, on Greenmarket Square, and in Bayside Mall have closed, despite the company expanding its operation to the United Kingdom in the near future.   The three Vida e Caffee outlets belong to a franchisee who is taking the Vida e Caffe franchisor to court for alleged misrepresentation of the income potential of his three outlets.

A shock discovery earlier this week was to see the poor state of the Orchards farmstall on the N2 highway outside Grabouw.   It has been a landmark on the trip from Cape Town to Hermanus.   Hardly any fruit was displayed, and the few bananas on the shelf were black.   The restaurant service was poor, and on enquiry the customer was told that the farmstall is in liquidation.   It has apparantly just been taken over by a new owner.  A few kilometers further along is an auction sign outside the popular Houw Hoek farmstall,  also on the N2 highway.   The auction will take place later this month.

Wang Thai and Cafe Delmar in Camps Bay have also closed down.

Two estate agencies have closed down and are in liquidation – Churchill Murray closed last month, and O’Shea Properties has just closed down, the latter only having operated for a few months, and was originally Engel & Volkers.