Wellington eatery The Bresolin closes doors for good
The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed another restaurant casualty in Wellington’s The Bresolin, which has closed for good and will not reopen when the country enters alert level 2 on Thursday.
The CBD bar-restaurant is one of three owned by brothers Lorenzo and Leonardo Bresolin, sons of Wellington restaurant legend, Il Casino owner Remiro Bresolin.
Lorenzo Bresolin said he was ‘‘heartbroken’’ by the closure.
‘‘We spent 14 years working towards building that project and had a series of small restaurants, and an incredible small group of partners and people that have worked with us, that helped recognise that dream, he said.
‘‘[The pandemic] has very unfortunately forced our hand into some pretty severe consolidation to try and survive.’’
The brothers’ two other restaurants, pizzeria Scopa and pasta joint 1154, would reopen under level 2, but ‘‘the future of those [is] looking dubious,’’ Lorenzo Bresolin said.
Unlike The Bresolin, both Scopa and 1154 had been open for deliveries and takeaways under level 3, but that was ‘‘a drop in the water compared to what trade was before this went down’’.
‘‘If what we were doing in the last week [at Scopa and 1154] was what life’s going to look like in the months to come, that could mean harder times ahead.’’
The Government’s wage subsidy package had ensured staff could continue to be paid, but it did not help restaurants cover their other overheads, Bresolin said.
Scopa and 1154 would have to ‘‘streamline’’ operations, meaning menus would be reduced.
The Bresolin restaurant primarily functioned as an events space but only about six functions had been booked for the rest of the year.
Lorenzo Bresolin could not see that style of big event, a major part of the restaurant’s revenue, coming back in the short term.
Many people who had celebrated their weddings at The
Bresolin, or even Il Casino, came every year to celebrate their anniversaries, he said.
‘‘We’re still an integral part of the industry in the city, with relationships with customers and suppliers alike that spanned decades. It’s good to be able to continue those relationships, but it may not be at The Bresolin.’’
Lorenzo Bresolin would not comment on how many staff had been made redundant but said they had all been paid what was due to them, as had the restaurant’s suppliers and customers.
Lorenzo Bresolin was concerned other restaurants would struggle as a result of reduced tourism and fewer people working in the CBD.
‘‘For a long time we’ve all said it would be lovely if there were another 50,000 mouths to feed in Wellington,’’ he said.