On Saturday 20 August, Bristol’s Casamia restaurant finished its final service after 23 years in business. “I’m 36 and most of my life has been Casamia,” says the chef-owner, Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, who, with his brother Jonray, turned what was previously their parents’ suburban Italian into a Michelin-starred destination. “But with my brother [who died in 2015, aged 32], I know life is short. Things can be taken away from you quickly and I’m not going to keep Casamia just to boost my ego. Nothing lasts for ever.”
Pre-pandemic, Casamia was “just breaking even”, struggling to hit the industry standard gross profit margin of 70%. That is not unknown in fine dining. Such labour-intensive treatment of costly ingredients for small numbers of guests is a financially precarious form of self-expression.
