Cava Staff Put on Protective Notice :( Could be closed in 2 weeks!

Seaneh

Really bad news for Galway's food scene, Cava, after 7 years, looks like it might close down in 2 weeks time. Feel really sorry for everyone at Eat Galway and the 28 staff at Cava.

Official notice from JP and Drigin on the Cava facebook page:

Owners Jp McMahon and Drigin Gaffey were forced today to give protective notice to their 28 staff at Cava Spanish Restaurant after notice was served by landlord earlier this week.

The owners cited issues regarding the lease as the determining factor for this action. Jp McMahon said, “in spite of the overwhelming popularity of the restaurant, we have struggled with our high rent over the last number of years. We are still hopeful to reach a resolution”.

Other restaurants owned by the couple under the company name Cava Ltd, the Michelin-starred Aniar and Eat @ Massimo are unaffected by this notice

.

from Cava's Facebook


I really hope they can reach an agreement with the landlord and the jobs and business can be saved, it's one of the most popular restaurants in the city! Hopefully the landlord sees sense!

L'prof

Nooo, I love Cava!!! Travelling at the moment, so I won't even have a chance to have one last meal there

baldbear

I wonder who the landlord is? Cava must be making decent money. It sounds like the landlord is playing hardball regarding rent price and is calling Cavas bluff. A deal has to be done for all those employees.

Mr_A

Hopefully if a deal cannot be done in the current premises then another can be found.

beardybrewer

Mr_A wrote: »

Hopefully if a deal cannot be done in the current premises then another can be found.

I remember hoping that for Sheridans on the Docks. Another perfectly popular spot closed due to a dispute with the landlord.

Playboy

Landlords will rather its empty than lower the rent unfortunately. All about the value of the property if the banks are involved

ted2767

Jesus I'm very upset to hear this.
Haven't been there in a while as I have moved away from Galway but I never had a bad meal/snack there and I ate there a lot.
Fingers crossed they can resolve it favorably.

jimmymal

will be disappointed if cavas goes, love going in there but can rarely afford it.
hopefully they can come to some sort of agreement with the landlord.

witnessrenegade

newkie wrote: »

I remember hoping that for Sheridans on the Docks. Another perfectly popular spot closed due to a dispute with the landlord.

I thought that closed because in the rent agreement they were meant to keep the license for an early morning bar up to date because if it wasn't kept up to date you couldn't ask for a new one. The people renting the place let it run out, landlord found out and kicked them out

Robbo

witnessrenegade wrote: »

I thought that closed because in the rent agreement they were meant to keep the license for an early morning bar up to date because if it wasn't kept up to date you couldn't ask for a new one. The people renting the place let it run out, landlord found out and kicked them out

Bingo, breach of covenant on the part of the tenant.

cfeeneyinterior

I'd love to know the rent they are paying down there. I'll bet its damn all and they are trying to get it even lower at the 5 year break/review.
They make a fortune there already, some tenants can be right asses too, not paying rent etc. What if it was a family member who owned the building and if they didnt get the rent owed, they would loose their home. Happening all over ireland folks. That building would be filled in no time by someone else, busy area of town now, rents are on the up down there I'd say.

flynnlives

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

I'd love to know the rent they are paying down there. I'll bet its damn all and they are trying to get it even lower at the 5 year break/review.
They make a fortune there already, some tenants can be right asses too, not paying rent etc. What if it was a family member who owned the building and if they didnt get the rent owed, they would loose their home. Happening all over ireland folks. That building would be filled in no time by someone else, busy area of town now, rents are on the up down there I'd say.

well since Ireland only has upwardly only commercial rents i fail to see how they can get it reduced!

happyoutscan

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

I'd love to know the rent they are paying down there. I'll bet its damn all and they are trying to get it even lower at the 5 year break/review.
They make a fortune there already, some tenants can be right asses too, not paying rent etc. What if it was a family member who owned the building and if they didnt get the rent owed, they would loose their home. Happening all over ireland folks. That building would be filled in no time by someone else, busy area of town now, rents are on the up down there I'd say.

Their rent down there isn't anywhere near 'damn all' I'm afraid. Can you also clarify how you come to the conclusion that they make a 'fortune' down there?

Playboy

Commercial rents in Galway city centre are criminal... only multinational generic brands will be able to afford it soon and Galway will look like a carbon copy of every other uk town.

jimbobaloobob

running a business in ireland isnt straight forward, i sympathise with these guys and their situation.
Its easy to open a business but the amount of legislation and hoops to jump to are just unreal.
Rent isnt the only prob businesses have, by the time you take in rates, insurance, wages etc alot of plates have to arrive on tables to keep it viable.

Seaneh

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

I'd love to know the rent they are paying down there. I'll bet its damn all and they are trying to get it even lower at the 5 year break/review.
They make a fortune there already, some tenants can be right asses too, not paying rent etc. What if it was a family member who owned the building and if they didnt get the rent owed, they would loose their home. Happening all over ireland folks. That building would be filled in no time by someone else, busy area of town now, rents are on the up down there I'd say.

Their rent has always been insane and now its going up. Food, insurance and staff costs have all raised since they opened 7 years ago while their rent has been raised, not reduced, despite their ever climbing costs and narrowing margins.

As ever, the law is an ass abd upward only rent reviews are destroying viable businesses in this city and all over the country.

McTigs

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

I'd love to know the rent they are paying down there. I'll bet its damn all and they are trying to get it even lower at the 5 year break/review.
They make a fortune there already, some tenants can be right asses too, not paying rent etc. What if it was a family member who owned the building and if they didnt get the rent owed, they would loose their home. Happening all over ireland folks. That building would be filled in no time by someone else, busy area of town now, rents are on the up down there I'd say.

oh please, whoever the landlord is for a building in that location, it's most likely some old galway family who certainly won't be losing their home over a rent reduction/not enforcing an increase.

high rents are strangling small business all over this town. landlords are being very shortsighted

Iwannahurl

What's the floor area of Cava compared to Aniar?

If Cava closes, is there any likelihood that Aniar will move a few doors down?

GerardKeating

flynnlives wrote: »

well since Ireland only has upwardly only commercial rents i fail to see how they can get it reduced!

Actually new Upward only rents clauses are illegal, but pre-existing still stand, but they can be broken, some retailers are gonig into "administration" to break them, Peats did it.

cfeeneyinterior

Old galway owners, they had children who inherit. Buy a house based on a guaranteed income from a lease. Of course they could loose their house. Landlords are the same as u and I, they are not an upper class or something. 28 staff, sounds like they need to trim the fat.

I dont think landlords are short sighted at all, its the guy who signs the lease that has the problem

Unrealistic

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

Old galway owners, they had children who inherit. Buy a house based on a guaranteed income from a lease. Of course they could loose their house. Landlords are the same as u and I, they are not an upper class or something. 28 staff, sounds like they need to trim the fat.

I dont think landlords are short sighted at all, its the guy who signs the lease that has the problem

So as well as knowing the building owners and their personal situation you are an expert on the restaurant business and you know how many of those 28 staff are full-time; how many are part-time; the average number of hours the part-timers work and the standard staffing levels for a restaurant of that category? It must be wonderful to be so knowledgeable.

cfeeneyinterior

Sorry, I may be typing in the wrong tone of voice. People always jump on the landlord without knowing the particular landlord or the actions of the tenant.. . apologies fir my know it all tone,

nuac

I don't know anything about Cava's situation but I do know that a lot of businesses with upward only rent reviews are in difficulties.

Many landlords would like to be able to reduce the rent to keep a good tenants in t hese difficult times, but usually the landlord's bank or lending institution won't allow it.

Fg/Labour promised pre-election to deal with UORRs. They didn't, citing an opinion from the AG.

The government should be asked to get a second opinion on this important issue. A solution there might save jobs in other small businesses

LowOdour

Wonder how quickly this all came about? I follow JP on twitter and see he and the wife were in the UK, posting some lovely pics of the grub they were tasting. It was only a couple of days after that the news was announced. Ate in Cava just before xmas, it was nice but would have liked the chance to go back at a better time. Shame, those guys have been good for galway...hope Aniar keeps going for them

joeKel73

Playboy wrote: »

Commercial rents in Galway city centre are criminal... only multinational generic brands will be able to afford it soon and Galway will look like a carbon copy of every other uk town.

FYP

Unrealistic

Unrealistic wrote: »

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

Old galway owners, they had children who inherit. Buy a house based on a guaranteed income from a lease. Of course they could loose their house. Landlords are the same as u and I, they are not an upper class or something. 28 staff, sounds like they need to trim the fat.

I dont think landlords are short sighted at all, its the guy who signs the lease that has the problem

So as well as knowing the building owners and their personal situation you are an expert on the restaurant business and you know how many of those 28 staff are full-time; how many are part-time; the average number of hours the part-timers work and the standard staffing levels for a restaurant of that category? It must be wonderful to be so knowledgeable.

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

Sorry, I may be typing in the wrong tone of voice. People always jump on the landlord without knowing the particular landlord or the actions of the tenant.. . apologies fir my know it all tone,

In that case I apologise for directing sarcasm in your direction in response to your earlier post. But I think it's probably clear that complaining about people judging the landlord without knowing the full story, while at the same time passing judgement on the tenant while clearly not knowing the full story, kind of weakened the argument.

I think there are a couple of reasons why people would instinctively be more sympathetic to the tenant's position in a situation like this.

1) All else being equal a premises is going to worth more to an incumbent tenant than an alternative premises and it will be worth more to the incumbent tenant than it would be to a new tenant. A new tenant will only be willing to pay the market rate for a premises because they can pick and choose without any sunk costs. But an incumbent tenant will have to factor in the disruption of moving; lost business, moving costs, redecorating costs, advertising cost to promote awareness of a new location etc. So an incumbent tenant will normally be willing to pay a premium over the market rent in order to stay put and avoid these costs/disruption. So if a tenant is threatening to pull the plug then, either they believe they are paying well over market rent such that the savings would be worth the disruption of moving, or they are playing a very high stakes game of chicken.

2) You don't have to have studied economics or hold strong political positions to understand that there is a difference between a rent taker and a wealth creator. Most people will instinctively feel more supportive to the latter. The way you've described this situation we're talking about a classic rent taker who has done nothing productive to earn the money they are taking out of the business. If they inherited the premises then they haven't even created the wealth to construct/purchase it and just sit back and enjoy a flow of income that depends on good fortune rather than hard work. Nothing wrong with that but it is naturally viewed as less admirable than getting your hands dirty and earning money the hard way. The restaurant operators are the only wealth creators in this equation and their hard work has to feed both themselves and the landlord. They are the only ones actually contributing to growing the local economy and as such are bound to be looked on more favourably.

fishy fishy

newkie wrote: »

I remember hoping that for Sheridans on the Docks. Another perfectly popular spot closed due to a dispute with the landlord.

you should look into this and you will realize the landlord was right.

fishy fishy

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

I'd love to know the rent they are paying down there. I'll bet its damn all and they are trying to get it even lower at the 5 year break/review.
They make a fortune there already, some tenants can be right asses too, not paying rent etc. What if it was a family member who owned the building and if they didnt get the rent owed, they would loose their home. Happening all over ireland folks. That building would be filled in no time by someone else, busy area of town now, rents are on the up down there I'd say.

Do you really think so? I would say the rents are just as high as in town - after all, its a very lively area - probably more popular than "the latin quarter". no such thing as "damn all" rent I'm afraid.

Seaneh

They signed the original lease 7 years ago at the height of the economic boom.

Their rent was massive.

Gambas

The 'bad landlord' narrative is a bit childish.

Every business, particularly pubs, cafes and restaurants that wants to trot out this line will find a sympathetic audience it seems.

Personally I think Cava is obscenely overpriced, like the Black Cat and pretty much any tapas restaurant in Ireland it seems. Whether that is a result of buying into an expensive lease at the height of the boom I don't know.

Regarding UORR, there's no such thing as a free lunch, and one way or the other there will be negative consequences for the economy, either through tennants going out of business or more large holes appearing in financial institutions from reduced rental incomes.

Mrs OBumble

I don't know the inner details of this situation. (Although I've only been here since 2007, and I think I have a vague memory of Cava opening sometime since then - could be mistaken though.)

However anyone who thinks that landlords can just sit back and watch the cash flow in has clearly never managed property.

During the worst recession, when companies just weren't hiring for my kind of IT job, I did a lot of temping gigs. Looking back, almost all of them involved some sort of property management - not the sexy up-front development, but the boring long-haul operations / maintenance in some way or another. (Issing parking permits, reception for shared offices, admin for a housing association, filing for a property-lender, etc). These people would not have needed me if they did not have things to do. And they most certainly would not have been hiring if the work could have been left un-done.