B.R. Guest LLC, one of New York City’s largest and most high-profile multiconcept restaurant groups, is closing two of its operations, converting another two and cutting staff.
Blue Water Grill in Chicago and the Upper West Side location of Ruby Foo’s in New York will close when their leases expire this spring, and Fiamma, a fine-dining Italian restaurant that received three out of four stars from The New York Times, is being converted to an event space, B.R. Guest said. Celebrity chef Fabio Trabocchi, the chef at Fiamma, has left the company.
In addition, Level V, a lounge beneath the Italian restaurant Vento in New York’s Meatpacking District, will be rebranded and reopened in the spring.
“In these tough economic times, businesses are being forced to make some difficult decisions and the restaurant industry is not immune to these problems,” said Stephen Hanson, president and founder of B.R. Guest. “In order to keep our business strong and competitive, we have no choice but to scale back and streamline our company. The restructuring plan will put us in a better position to take advantage of opportunities when the economic climate improves.”
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