Beloved long-running Melbourne Japanese restaurant Izakaya Den to shut its doors citing 'a perfect storm' of problems
- Melbourne restaurant Izakaya Den will shut
- It said customers spending less with more venue choice
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Restaurant Izakaya Den will close its doors next week after more than 15 years serving up Japanese cuisine to Melbourne foodies.
Owner Simon Denton said he and co-owners Miyukia Nakahara and Takashi Omi had been struggling to keep the business afloat since mid-last year.
The trio said multiple issues had combined to affect the venture including customers having an over-saturation of eateries in the city and increasingly watching their spending as the cost-of-living remains stubbornly high.
'We were forced into this, the option to go on (keeping the venue open) wasn't an option,' Mr Denton told the Herald Sun.
'Looking forward into winter and with everything that's happening in the city, we were facing a perfect storm of problems.'
'There are too many restaurants, we are one of them. The city goes through these cycles, it's like pruning a tree. You need to prune to let in new growth,' Mr Denton said.
Izakaya Den will close next weekend citing a 'perfect storm' of problems for the Melbourne hospitality scene
The basement venue was opened in 2009 and was well regarded with local foodies
In an email sent this week before it shuts up shop next Saturday, the restaurant informed customers it was the 'end of the road' for the basement CBD venue that helped bring Izakaya culture to Melbourne when it opened in 2009.
'We are grateful to have been able to bring our vision of a slice of Japan to Melbourne and be a part of the fabric of this wonderful city.'
'We go out as we came in. Perhaps a little aged and jaded, but still a team, still together, still true to ourselves.'
Other restaurants to recently close in Melbourne include Crown's Rosetta and Gingerboy in the CBD.
Gingerboy's chef and owner Teage Ezard said a mixture of low-spending diners and the rising costs of food and drink to stock the venue had met with customers having more choice about where to spend their limited cash.
Similarly, Sydney Indian restaurant Raja announced it would close its doors on May 4 after only nine months in business citing the same problems.
The restaurant will shut up shop after next Saturday's meal service, the owners said
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