Sunshine Coast’s new business II Mattarello Italian Restaurant hand built by four owners
Four Italian restaurateurs have been forced to swap their trays for tiles as they bypassed the construction crisis and built their own kitchen. Read how they did it here.
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Two Italian couples have sidestepped the construction industry crisis, building their own kitchen and laying their own tiles to create their family restaurant.
Rita and Osvaldo Melosu and Federica Biennali and Marco Piacentini have been at the helm of II Mattarello Italian Restaurant along Brisbane Rd, Mooloolaba since opening in August.
Mrs Melosu said they had no choice but to put on their tool belts and lay tiles, renovate walls and the ceiling, and build shelves and a kitchen given the venue was a blank canvas, and they were struggling to source tradies.
She said this delayed their opening date from May to August and blew their initial budget by twice the amount expected to open the restaurant.
“It wasn’t the plan,” she said.
While she found some tradesmen to handle the more difficult parts of their set-up, Mrs Melosu said this was still her “hardest” venture compared to four other hospitality businesses she has owned on the Coast.
Mrs Melosu, also owner of All’ Antica Italian Restaurant in Buddina, said her first business project was a Mediterranean venue on Bulcock St, Caloundra, which opened in 1993.
She said they had not planned on opening the new venue this year, but their minds changed after befriending Ms Biennali and Mr Piacentini who immigrated to Australia from Italy in 2016.
Mrs Melosu said the four friends decided to open the restaurant to encourage Ms Biennali and Mr Piacentini to stay in the country following Mr Piacentini experiencing delays with a permanent visa during Covid-19.
While opening their doors took longer than expected, Mrs Melosu said it has been a “total sell out” since day one, which was supposed to be a soft launch.
She said it probably helped that she had an existing fan base from previous restaurants.
“People have been following us,” she said.
“It’s a little bit of Italy here.”
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