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

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    #32
    Unrealistic
    Registered Users Posts: 1,280 ✭✭✭Unrealistic


    Mrs OBumble wrote: »
    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.
    My own comments have been coming from the perspective of professional experience in this area as well and, while I don't disagree with what you are saying, I think it is only of limited relevance to this example. Sure managing a residential development is hands on and running a shared office compex is a business that has more in common with the tenants in this example than the landlord. I think it's fair to say that the type of restaurant lease in place for Cava or any similar business in Galway is going to require minimum day to day involvement by the landlord.


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    #33
    wonder88
    Registered Users Posts: 144 ✭✭wonder88


    The was some hipster place in Dublin, "Shebeen Chic" ?, that had the same complaint. The did not want to pay the rent and the landlord wanted them out. I remember the staff had a sit-in for a while, and they got a lot of media attention for some time as well, but I am certain that the business man left the premises. As someone who has an indirect involvement in a hospitality business that rents its premises on a short enough lease I understand a lot of the problems that the renter faces.
    Hopefully rents both commercial and residential might come down to sustainable levels in Ireland soon, and we might then then have a better society in which to do business and live in. What is very sad, and indeed fairly nasty to see, is the tendency of business owners to use their workers (often on modest pay) as a bargaining chip in their dealings with their landlord.


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    #34
    Utopia Parkway
    Registered Users Posts: 17,340 ✭✭✭✭Utopia Parkway


    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.

    Believe me. Very few restaurants make a "fortune".

    People see a relatively busy restaurant and assume it's a goldmine. What they don't see is that a restaurant is very expensive to operate once you take in all the overheads and running costs.


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    #35
    Ruben Remus
    Registered Users Posts: 430 ✭✭Ruben Remus


    I really hope this is resolved. I went to Cava for a 'special occasion' meal last Friday night and had no idea this stuff was going on behind the scenes. The service was as friendly, and the food as delicious, as ever.


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    #36
    JohnCleary
    Registered Users Posts: 10,210 ✭✭✭✭JohnCleary


    wonder88 wrote: »
    Hopefully rents both commercial and residential might come down to sustainable levels in Ireland soon

    I can tell you one thing for certain and that is residential rents in Galway City will not be coming down in 2013. (The same could be probably said for the rest of the country, but I will only speak on an area I have experience of) Maybe in the long run when credit becomes available again for people to purchase units we will see rents come down, but at the minute, demand for (decent) residential units in Galway City is at an all time high


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    #37
    WesternNight
    Registered Users Posts: 9,286 ✭✭✭WesternNight


    They've just confirmed... :(
    Cava will close on the 25th of January. We want to thank all our customers, staff and suppliers who have made the last five years possible.

    https://www.facebook.com/CavaTapasBar/posts/10151282031807949


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    #38
    McTigs
    Registered Users Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭McTigs


    This is a real shame. A lovely place to eat, a big loss to the area.

    Hopefully they can relocate.

    Also, and i don't know the details but, IF this is as a result of stubborn landlord greed then i hope it sends out a message. Business can't survive in 2013 paying 2007 type rent.

    Do we want a vibrant town that can thrive and grow into the future, or do we want to slowly strangle ourselves for a few extra short term pence?


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    #39
    Stench Blossoms
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Stench Blossoms


    So sad to hear this.

    Doubt there's any chance of getting a table between now and then.


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    #40
    beeintheknow
    Registered Users Posts: 220 ✭✭beeintheknow


    McTigs wrote: »
    This is a real shame. A lovely place to eat, a big loss to the area.

    Hopefully they can relocate.

    Also, and i don't know the details but, IF this is as a result of stubborn landlord greed then i hope it sends out a message. Business can't survive in 2013 paying 2007 type rent.

    Do we want a vibrant town that can thrive and grow into the future, or do we want to slowly strangle ourselves for a few extra short term pence?

    Perhaps the tenants were being greedy?


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    #41
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    beeintheknow wrote: »
    Perhaps the tenants were being greedy?

    Yeah those greedy tenants, not wanting to pay more than their already very high rent despite the fact that the country is in the **** economically, their overheads are rising every day and they employ 28 people.

    *shakes fist*


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    #42
    McTigs
    Registered Users Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭McTigs


    beeintheknow wrote: »
    Perhaps the tenants were being greedy?
    I doubt it

    They are restaurateurs, it's what they do and now if they want to do it they have to find a new location and go to all the very considerable direct and associated costs and effort to open again. It's the absolute last thing they would want to do and if they could have been viable on the landlords terms they would have stayed and paid.

    Clearly they couldn't


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    #43
    Unrealistic
    Registered Users Posts: 1,280 ✭✭✭Unrealistic


    beeintheknow wrote: »
    Perhaps the tenants were being greedy?
    It's very hard to draw that conclusion at this stage. If it was possible to pay the rent being asked and still make money then, if the tenants were being greedy, you would expect them to just grit their teeth, pay the new rent and get on with it. That fact that they are pulling the plug suggests that is not the case.


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    #44
    beeintheknow
    Registered Users Posts: 220 ✭✭beeintheknow


    Unrealistic wrote: »
    It's very hard to draw that conclusion at this stage. If it was possible to pay the rent being asked and still make money then, if the tenants were being greedy, you would expect them to just grit their teeth, pay the new rent and get on with it. That fact that they are pulling the plug suggests that is not the case.

    Well pretty much everyone on this thread seems to have jumped to the conclusion that the landlord was being greedy.


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    #45
    Unrealistic
    Registered Users Posts: 1,280 ✭✭✭Unrealistic


    beeintheknow wrote: »
    Well pretty much everyone on this thread seems to have jumped to the conclusion that the landlord was being greedy.
    With very good reason because at this stage that is what the evidence available suggests. When you've got (arguably) the most successful restaurateurs in Galway voting with their feet and saying they cannot run a successful business at that premises at the rent being asked then the obvious conclusion is that the rent being asked is higher than the market can bear. Whether it is the landlord making that call or whether, as someone suggested earlier, it is the landlord's bank is the only real mystery at this stage.


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    #46
    McTigs
    Registered Users Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭McTigs


    beeintheknow wrote: »
    Well pretty much everyone on this thread seems to have jumped to the conclusion that the landlord was being greedy.
    I wouldn't say "jumped" to the conclusion.

    But in these instances, the tennant is the one with a lot more to lose by the negotiations not working out. They lose their business and the staff lose their jobs will have to to massive expence and effort to start again in a new location hopefully bringing some goodwill with them. For a landlord to find a new tennant isn't easy but not like starting a new business in a new location.

    People draw the conclusion that the tennants would really have done all they could to keep with the landlords terms but eventually had to make the ****e decision no one wants to make.


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    #47
    yer man!
    Registered Users Posts: 1,653 ✭✭✭yer man!


    Did the same thing happen with the previous tenant? Pasta paradiso, it was one of my favourite places in town and quite busy but closed very suddenly and never set up again.


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    #48
    dilallio
    Registered Users Posts: 2,728 ✭✭✭dilallio


    One of the issues particular to Galway is that commercial landlords do not have to pay any portion of commercial rates for unoccupied properties.

    Dublin, Limerick, Cork, and Waterford all bill landlords up to 50% of commercial rates on unoccupied properties. This encourages landlords to let out property, as well as reducing rates for other businesses.

    More info here...


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    #49
    El_Dangeroso
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    beeintheknow wrote: »
    Perhaps the tenants were being greedy?

    I think this answers your question, from their facebook page:
    To all those sending us positive messages of hope and resolution: thank you. To all those who have posted/sent us aggressive and abusive messages accusing us of being somehow "anti-landlord", spreading rumors to up business, or even blaming others for our present misfortune: please stop, as they do no one any good. We bear no ill will to anyone, especially landlords in this current economic climate. Our situation is our situation and we are not trying to pigeon hole the entire country into a situation of tenant vs. landlord. We have done what we believe is ethical and correct after receiving notice to vacate the premises. We owe this to our staff and our customers. I am not interested in the blame game. Just the facts of the matter and how they can (if they can) be resolved. Nowhere in our statement or on any of our social media pages have we "vilified" the landlords of Ireland, who too have to run business' as we have to run ours. It is simply a question of accounting, of profit and loss, and how to stay in business in this current country where we find ourselves.

    I wasn't the biggest fan of Cava recently as I felt their consistency went down big time, but I am really sorry to see them go, they basically single-handedly made that side of town the restaurant mecca it now is. Very sad for the staff and will leave a big hole in that street, which if it weren't for restaurants would be very dead indeed.


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    #50
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users Posts: 25,966 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    McTigs wrote: »
    But in these instances, the tennant is the one with a lot more to lose by the negotiations not working out. They lose their business and the staff lose their jobs will have to to massive expence and effort to start again in a new location hopefully bringing some goodwill with them. For a landlord to find a new tennant isn't easy but not like starting a new business in a new location.

    People draw the conclusion that the tennants would really have done all they could to keep with the landlords terms but eventually had to make the ****e decision no one wants to make.

    Simple business decision really. Happens to places all over town, all the time. Supply vs demand.

    Remember that these are restauranters with considerable experience in setting up new locations: they've done it twice in the last five years, and I'm sure they'll do it again.

    Whats more, social media means that if they set up in a new location, Cava II will be as busy as the first version in no time at all.

    The real losers are, of course, the staff. But hospitality is like that: jobs tend to come and go all the time.


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    #51
    StonedRaider
    Registered Users Posts: 449 ✭✭StonedRaider


    beeintheknow wrote: »
    Well pretty much everyone on this thread seems to have jumped to the conclusion that the landlord was being greedy.

    do you know what I know?

    Anyway..never good to see a thread like this.


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    #52
    beeintheknow
    Registered Users Posts: 220 ✭✭beeintheknow


    StonedRaider wrote: »
    do you know what I know?

    Anyway..never good to see a thread like this.

    Where have you posted what you know?


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    #53
    McTigs
    Registered Users Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭McTigs


    what happened to pastaparadisso?

    they were here just a second ago?


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    #54
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    I'd imagine they were removed by a mod?


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    #55
    biko
    Registered Users Posts: 81,220 ✭✭✭✭biko


    An admin got in before me. Making allegations isn't welcome so post was removed and user banned.
    Boards isn't the place to anonymously name individuals in bad terms.

    Back to how nice Cava is/was please.


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    #56
    yfaykya
    Registered Users Posts: 185 ✭✭yfaykya


    Damn - I have a 150E voucher for the cookery course there. I wonder will they still honour it.


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    #57
    Cerulean Chicken
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,565 ✭✭✭Cerulean Chicken


    yfaykya wrote: »
    Damn - I have a 150E voucher for the cookery course there. I wonder will they still honour it.

    Call them, the other restaurants are honouring vouchers for Cava until March, not sure about the cookery class.


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    #58
    McTigs
    Registered Users Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭McTigs


    otherwise bring it to HMV, they might give you a few Jamie Oliver box sets in lieu.


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    #59
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    yfaykya wrote: »
    Damn - I have a 150E voucher for the cookery course there. I wonder will they still honour it.

    The classes are usually run in Anair. Id imaging JP will honour it


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    #60
    Cerulean Chicken
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,565 ✭✭✭Cerulean Chicken


    I have now been told they are NOT honouring vouchers in the other locations, they'd want to get their stories straight, very annoying after being told two days ago that they are.


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    #61
    McTigs
    Registered Users Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭McTigs


    Cerulean Chicken wrote: »
    I have now been told they are NOT honouring vouchers in the other locations, they'd want to get their stories straight, very annoying after being told two days ago that they are.
    oh that's bad form!

    Surely they would know exactly how much is out there in unclaimed vouchers. Is it really worth the potential loss of goodwill to honour them?


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