A DUBLIN branch of the Cafe Bar Deli group, owned by restaurateurs Jay Bourke and Eoin Foyle, has been closed with the loss of 20 jobs.
The Ranelagh branch closed at the weekend after excessive competition and customers’ under-spending meant it wasn’t making enough, Mr Bourke said.
Attempts to get a rent reduction for the outlet had not been successful, he added.
He said the group’s outlets on Dublin’s George’s Street and on Academy Street, Cork, were “doing all right in the context of this awful recession”.
The positions adopted by landlords was a huge issue, he said.
The restaurant group, which aims to serve Mediterranean-style food at reasonable prices, was founded by Mr Bourke and Mr Foyle in 2001.
In 2008, the pair teamed up with Brody Sweeney of O’Brien’s Sandwich Bars with a view to offering franchises throughout Ireland.
They had hoped to target 18 locations in Dublin, five in Belfast and four in Cork.
However, the economic downturn and the liquidation of the O’Brien’s group meant the plans did not go ahead.
Mr Bourke has also been involved in Bellinter House, a hotel in Meath, as well as restaurants Shebeen Chic, Bobo’s Gourmet Irish Burgers, Pygmalion in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin, the Pantibar, the Market Bar, Odessa and Eden.
Mr Bourke said the business in Ranelagh had been “fabulous for a long time”, but was no longer making enough money to be viable.
All 20 employees at the restaurant were laid off, he said. “I feel lousy.”
The business was not overborrowed and had a great staff and a great brand, but “there was too much competition in the area and people were spending less.”
Mr Bourke said he was sorry to see the restaurant go.