Gorleston High Street will be getting a new member as The Olive Garden is set to open on April 29th. The restaurant will be moving into the building that was once occupied by the Tides Restaurant and Wine Bar which shut down back in December.
However, the owner of The Olive Garden which is located on Regent Road at the moment has no intention of shutting down the old spot and instead plans to turn it into a burger kitchen. The Olive Garden in Great Yarmouth will shut down on 28th of April before reopening as the Olive Garden Burger Kitchen sometime in May.
Chris Chryssafi owns the Olive Garden together with his wife Stacey and together they have a four-month old baby and according to Chris, he’s been looking to change location for two years and they were very interested as soon as the Tides restaurant shut down, leaving the building in Gorleston unoccupied. One of the challenges they’ve been experiencing in Great Yarmouth is a lack of parking near the restaurant and the streets have also changed quite a bit over time. These changes have resulted in The Olive Garden being one of only a few restaurants that are still open in the area.
According to Chris, a market research they’d carried out revealed that 80% of their customers were actually from Gorleston while the rest were from Yarmouth town centre and other places. He added that while not many people are happy with their decision to move, the majority of their customers are pleased by the change and he believes the business will improve in the new location.
There won’t be any changes to the styling of the restaurant or the menu in the new location. Because the new building has two floors, they should be able to take more bookings and host more parties.
Although Chris Chryssafi believes that his Greek restaurant isn’t compatible with Regent Road, he’s confident that the burger kitchen will be a better match. However, he doesn’t plan to make it like an American diner and will instead focus on providing fresh food including handmade burgers and the location will also offer drinks such as craft beers.
The Olive Garden opened in 29th November 2004 and the owner, Chris, has always been in the restaurant business, following in the footsteps of his father who ran the Savoy restaurants between 1948 and 1996.