The Italian restaurant Pasta Madre, located on Place Rouppe and a fixture among pizza lovers since 2019, is closing its doors due to rising energy prices and inflation. “Lost a lot of money, but there are worse things in the world, such as people who have to live on the street,” the owner explains the closure.
ALSO READ Rewatch BRUZZ 24 about the revelry after Morocco’s historic victory
Last weekend, Brussels residents were able to enjoy a pizza at Pasta Madre for the last time. The corona crisis and rising prices of raw materials and energy were the death knell. The restaurant opened just four months before the corona crisis. “Suddenly we had to close for a long time. Later we were allowed to open again for a while, but the center of Brussels was empty. And then we had to close again for eight months,” says owner Jean Hummler.
Pasta Madre had barely survived the corona crisis, and then energy prices shot up. Later, the rent was indexed and food also became more and more expensive. “We did everything we could, but the restaurant was no longer profitable. We also didn’t want to wait until we went bankrupt so that we could still pay our staff and suppliers,” says Hummler.
The customers are already very disappointed. “Brussels loses a very good, creative and atypical pizzeria,” said one of the customers on Facebook. “The customers didn’t get it, because we always had a lot of people. But even with that many people, we couldn’t cover the rising prices,” says Hummler.
New Project
Although Hummler closes the restaurant with pain in his heart, he remains positive. “Of course this is not fun. We have also lost a lot of money, but there are much worse things in the world. People in Brussels living on the street and starving, that’s bad.”
Hummler will now focus on his two bars of Moeder Lambic. “We will also produce fermented drinks such as Kombucha, cider and lemonade. That will give a new energy to Brussels.”
In addition, according to Hummler, a new project is coming soon at Hotel La Grande Cloche. He cannot say anything about this in concrete terms, but it would be a matter for a well-known local chef.
This article is originally published on bruzz.be
