Dylan McGrath announced the closure of Brasserie Sixty6 and Rustic Stone in Dublin city centre.
McGrath said that the changing hospitality industry and challenges faced by stand-alone restaurant models influenced the decision.
Brasserie Sixty6 has been in operation for 25 years while Rustic Stone has been in business for 15 years.
The closures come in the wake of a challenging period for the industry, with hundreds of restaurants forced to close since the VAT rate increase in September.
The closures come a week after the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) released new figures showing that the number of restaurants, cafés and other food-led businesses forced to close since the VAT rate increase last September has reached a total of 577, with 45 closures in July alone.
In a post on the social media pages of both Brasserie Sixty6 and Rustic Stone, Mr McGrath said: “the time has come where he and his team had decided “it’s simply not sustainable. It’s hard to put into words what has happened to restaurants and the city centre in the last four years. It is a very challenging time for stand-alone restaurant models. Rustic Stone and Brasserie Sixty6 have been very successful restaurants in Dublin city for a long time, but hospitality is changing and we believe our strong work ethic is better applied to new and different opportunities. We will be focused on Fade Street Social and making it the best it can be. No doubt we will miss the restaurants, but selling on the leases and concentrating on Fade Street Social currently is what’s needed.”
