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Glenelg's Buffalo Restaurant will be dismantled unless it starts making a profit

GLENELG'S Buffalo Restaurant will be dismantled if it cannot win council and community support, and turn a profit within two years.

Buffalo Restaurant
Buffalo Restaurant

GLENELG'S Buffalo Restaurant will be dismantled if it cannot win the support of the local council and community, and turn a profit within two years.

Former owner Richard Finlayson has been forced to take the helm again because he was a guarantor for the previous operators, who fell $83,000 arrears in rent payments to Holdfast Bay Council.

Mr Finlayson, who ran the restaurant from 2001-6, said if he could not turn it around in two years he would have it dismantled to avoid crippling annual maintenance costs of up to $100,000.

"The Buffalo is in danger of not being here in two years' time," he said.

"You'd junk it and it would just stop you losing money.

"I'd hate to do it but ... no business can afford to lose money for an indefinite period of time."

The 30-year-old restaurant is a replica of the HMS Buffalo, the ship that brought South Australia's first governor John Hindmarsh and 176 settlers to the colony in 1836.

As of this week, Mr Finlayson owns the restaurant and rents its Patawalonga site and Wigley Reserve carpark from the council.

At a minimum, he wants the council to ensure the carpark is reserved for restaurant patrons for lunch and dinner service, and to clean the weeds and rubbish from the water around the ship.

He also wants Holdfast Bay to agree to a one-off maintenance grant of up to $200,000 to repair woodwork and paint the ship, saying that would give the restaurant a more realistic chance of survival.

"People look at the Buffalo, think it looks tired and walk away," he said.

Calling on the community to patronise the restaurant to keep it alive, he said the next two years would determine whether people considered the replica ship "important to South Australia".

"People ignore the Buffalo but they would hate for it not to be here," he said.

"I think there will be a groundswell of support.

"If we get the support of the council and the community, I'm very confident."

The restaurant is awaiting the transfer from the previous operators of a liquor licence, which it hopes to have within a week or two.

It will reopen for dinner before the end of the month, with or without the licence.

Mr Finlayson's plans for the restaurant include a new outdoor Buffalo Landings Cafe, building up the ship's museum of early South Australian history to attract school groups, and restarting a Friends of the Buffalo group to help with basic maintenance.

Mr Finlayson, who runs a city-based hospitality college, said the ship would also become a training centre for up to 30 students at a time, using the captain's cabin as a classroom.

Holdfast Bay Deputy Mayor Rosemary Clancy was unaware of Mr Finlayson's requests and said she would wait before they were formally put to councillors before commenting on them.

"All councillors are very hopeful that he's successful," she said.

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Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/buffalo-restaurant-will-be-dismantled-unless-it-starts-making-a-profit/news-story/39901f6c4b79051fea049d20f94ef912