17/10/2023
To all our dear customers. As most of you may now know or may be aware, on the 25th September Grapevine Pizza and Pasta, closed for good.
We have not been able to post anything until now as there has been a bit happening, but what we will say is that all of our staff, their families, our families and our good friends know what has occurred, and they knew first what has been transpiring over the last four to six weeks.
We have tried so hard for 4 years now to sell the business and keep it going, our main and only goal was to see it handed over to some fresh faces that could take over and continue on with such a great business. Alas it has not been easy, and unfortunately, even though we very recently had interest and had agreed terms with a purchaser, obstacles appeared and it was not to be. It was very important for us to sell at this point so we were very sad it did not go through as planned. We are most sad in regards to our wonderful staff, and we thank them for their support of us, and each other during this period.
Grapevine Pizza has been in existence in Merimbula for roughly 35 years. Since we (Bec and Aidan) took over in early 2016 when we moved here from Melbourne, we have employed 85 local people in various roles, sponsored many sporting clubs and organisations, and dedicated so much of our time to feeding locals and tourists and what we hope was great food and a great experience. But its the relationships we have made with our staff and their families over the years, and the relationships with customers, at all times of the year that we loved the most.
Just so that people are aware and incorrect stories are not told, the events that led to us to close occurred relatively quickly over the last couple months, and the reason why the shop was empty quite suddenly, was that once the decision had to be made and staff and key stakeholders notified, Bec and her dad Geoff in particular have worked around the clock to sell all of our plant and equipment. We have been so happy to sell items to other local shops that will help them, and also importantly we have been able to raise enough from the selling of equipment to ensure that absolutely all of the other local businesses and suppliers are paid in full so that our decision will not affect any others.
We ask that people understand this, and also understand that we continue to live here and have done all we can, a), to sell the business to others, and b) to be upfront and honest with our staff, their families, and our suppliers under some pretty trying circumstances for everyone recently.
We would like to finish by thanking everyone of our customers and staff and ex-staff for their ongoing support over the last 8 years.
