Loyal diners rescue Italian eaterie
Crushed by lockdowns, Simona Vasile’s Italian trattoria Nonna was on its knees.
Vasile was worn down financially, having opened Nonna’s doors in March last year, just weeks before the national Covid lockdown.
Lockdown after lockdown drained her capital, Vasile said, and the pandemic cost her a chef, and a barista, both of whom left to be with family overseas.
She struggled on, putting in 70-hour weeks, and was so exhausted she put the Newmarket business up for sale on Trade Me.
But the trattoria has seen a remarkable turnaround, with customers flocking to support the business after reading about its struggles on Stuff.
New customers began turning up for meals at Nonna, which offers simple, affordable, Italian food cooked as an Italian nonna, or grandmother, would.
‘‘After the article I made some really nice friends. A lot of people came and they showed their support,’’ Vasile said.
‘‘Really, really nice people. And I found a chef,’’ she said.
‘‘Everyone is showing support, and they said, ‘Just hang in there’.’’
Vasile is from Romania, though she learnt her Italian cooking skills in Italy.
One Romanian customer now came every week to show his support, Vasile said.
She was still working too much, but she manages to get Mondays off, and she was hopeful of having a second chef soon, once a visa extension was completed.
That would allow her to spend more time in the front of the trattoria, meeting and looking after customers.
Vasile said she remained bruised by her experiences, providing a window into how hard the lockdown was for owners of bars, cafes, restaurants and small shops.
Nonna opened its doors on March 1 last year, locking in a twoyear lease on the property, but on March 23 the trattoria’s flying start came to a screeching halt.
She managed through the first lockdown, but then came the Auckland move to alert level 3 in August.
While Vasile said she was hopeful for the future, she was not certain what commercial life in ‘‘normal’’ times was like.
‘‘Because we opened in March, I don’t know anything other than 2020,’’ she said.
‘‘I don’t know how it worked before, but I started asking around other restaurants and coffee shops. I asked, ‘How was it before?’, and everyone says it was so much better.’’
Those answers have given her hope, and having more time with her young family, she said she had fallen back in love with the business.
‘‘[But] It all depends on how it goes from here. I just want to focus on the next few months.
‘‘I’m just going to focus on providing good service and good food, and we will see.
‘‘Winter is positive. It’s much better than summer.’’