Marco’s Restaurant, located at 8200 Santa Monica Boulevard, announced that it would be temporarily closed until further notice due to staffing issues, but those issues were resolved and they are open once again after being closed for a few days. According sources, employees quit on the spot and found other jobs when they heard rumors that Marco’s was closing after WEHO TIMES spoke to owner Marco Capanni, who confirmed last month that his family restaurant is currently listed for sale after being in the city of West Hollywood for the past 30 years.
“Update to our friends,” reads the post. “We will be temporarily closed until further notice due to staffing issues that require our immediate attention. Please bear with us, as we are committed to addressing these concerns and plan to return stronger than before. We genuinely appreciate your patience and understanding as we work diligently to resolve these issues and improve our overall dining experience. In the meantime, we kindly ask you to disregard any rumors circulating on social media about our closure. We’ll continue to keep you informed. We want to express our sincere gratitude for your ongoing support of Marcos and we look forward to reuniting with you soon!”
“Updates coming in hot this week,” reads a follow-up post on Tuesday. “JUST IN. We will actually be open tomorrow for the remainder of the week! Enjoy!”
And it was back to business with photos of food posted on Wednesday.
While it’s true that the the business is for sale according to the owner, who said the lease for the restaurant is up at the end of this year, Mr Capanni stated that future of the restaurant is up to whoever buys the business meaning it’s possible the business may close, but it’s also possible that it may continue under new ownership. He spoke of the struggle he has been experiencing lately with the rise in minimum wage in West Hollywood and keeping up with the latest trends on social media.
A representative for Commercial Brokers International, a commercial real estate agency, posted the listing of the beloved Italian restaurant on Instagram stating that the business is up for lease. It is described as a 1,400 square foot turnkey restaurant in the heart of West Hollywood. Its highlights include a “hard corner of a highly sought-after street on Santa Monica Boulevard. between La Cienega Blvd and Crescent Heights with high counts of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.”
However, Capanni clarified that the business is up for sale and not for lease. He says that they can’t lease the space until he is out of the building. He owns the lease right now until the end of the year.
According to their website, “Marco and his beloved ‘mama’ opened a small trattoria in West Hollywood in 1993. With a lifelong passion of hospitality and a deep love of the food from her Italian birthplace, they created a neighborhood trattoria and pizzeria that spun over two decades of fabulous ‘home cooked’ foods, wonderful loving friends and the culinary memories of an era long gone.”
There is something messy about this operation. Sad.
Let’s face it, Marco is tired and wants out. I get it. Not sure he’ll find a buyer but I wish him luck
Had dinner there last night and one of the employees told us they had just signed a new five year lease – so who knows?
Wow thats great news!
That’s good news if it’s true. It will definitely help them sell their business if that is their goal. It’s nearly impossible to sell a business without a lease. I hope they can be successful at achieving their goals.
I wish them well but it looks like it’s going to be very tough for them to survive. They are trying to sell the business with only a few months left on their lease and he says the new minimum wage and benefits requirements are adding to their struggle. Weho needs new city commissioners who understand the struggles of small businesses. Unfortunately the city council is run like a union with little concern about the survival of small businesses. This business is just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll be seeing hundreds of small businesses close or relocate out of… Read more »