A restaurant boss has issued a message of hope after being forced to close an eatery due to 'impossible' economic pressures. Petit Paris, based on Kings Walk in Nottingham city centre, announced it would be closing on Monday, April 3, after 27 years of serving customers.
The brasserie offered up French classics to its diners including beef bourguignon and confit duck leg. Executive head chef James Crossman said he and other staff members had been heartbroken by the closure of Petit Paris, but expressed hope for a brighter future at sister eatery Paris Bar & Restaurant on High Pavement.
"I hope people remember it as a family-run, quality brasserie that gave great value for money. It [the trading environment] was absolutely impossible.
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"The ripple effects from coronavirus and the cost-of-living crisis affected us massively. December is usually where you can actually make a little bit of money, but parties were 40 per cent down due to the cost-of-living and the ripple effect on company owners' businesses, who weren't taking staff out like they were before.
"Restaurants get hit double-bubble because you have your own costs going sky-high and customers aren't coming in as often, but you can't pass on that cost to the customers else they won't come. You're in a really tricky position and that's why Petit Paris has had to go.
"We have a set menu that has been loved for years and we cannot suddenly jump from £20 a head for two-course to the £30-35 that would be needed to make the profit needed."
The 41-year-old chef, who had started his career at the restaurant, paid tribute to the group who created it in 1995, with Jean-Louis David running the kitchen, and Sergio and Julio Capobasso running the front. "It has been a massive part of my life. It was the foundation of my cooking career, I went from here from London to work with Gordon Ramsey," he said.
"The owner followed my career and came to eat wherever I was working over the next 10 years and then he invited me back to be his head chef 11 years ago. Four years after that he asked me if I would like to buy the restaurant.
"I initially thought the job was too big for me so I spoke to my uncle, Antony Crossman, and some investors and they jumped at the chance with it being a respected and long-standing restaurant."
The head chef thanked his front of house managers Francisco Morales and Matthew Scola for their "brilliant" service in recent years. Despite being hit hard by the closure of Petit Paris, Mr Crossman said he was optimistic about the future of its sister venue Paris Bar & Restaurant.
Paris Bar & Restaurant opened just before lockdown and recently received a coveted AA rosette, which denotes food that has been ""prepared with care, understanding and skill, using good quality ingredients". "Petit Paris pre-Covid was doing really well like it had done for 20 years so we took a punt and wanted to do something a little bit more upmarket and fine dining," Mr Crossman added.
"Nobody loved Petit Paris more than me, but the future is bright with Paris. I'm going over there to work along with my head chef Russ Krisostomo and the amazing brigade chefs that I have there, to make Paris more successful than it already is.
"There is hope absolutely, we're going to make it better than ever before. We're going to push Paris to the levels we know it has the capability to be at."
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