Maxi electricity bill of 3,200 euros per month, the historic Mestre restaurant El Fritoin closes: «Unsustainable costs, we give it up»

MESTRE – «It’s been 10 years since my first day in this wonderful place, but with this post I want to inform you that unfortunately I will no longer be the owner. I just want to thank you and say hello to all of your dear Fritoin customers from Lele.” Samuel Ludoli He chose to communicate this way, through a post on the Facebook page of El FritwinAnd Farewell to the historic restaurant in Via Ca’ Savorgnan which he had taken over over a decade ago, and which he has grown day by day even in the difficult years of Covid. But the last blow, the bills blow, finally got him out, and he decided to quit.

Maxi Bell, El Fritwin closes

“It closed on the 22nd, we could not continue – explains the restaurateur -. The main reason comes from the now unsustainable costs of electricity and gas, plus rent bills and Veritas … Two examples? The last electricity bill was 3,200 euros, and we are talking about one month Only, in addition to the gas bill by another thousand per month. Faced with these numbers, I wasted no time, I immediately decided to close before I got hurt. There is also a legal case at stake, which although the former owner of Fritoin now prefers not to talk about, is a real point of reference in Mestre that has almost always been for drinks on the spot or to take home, from aperitif to menu based on traditional chitty until lunch and dinner. Only a small sign written in felt-tip pen was placed on the shutter, which has been lowered since last Sunday: Closed from January 23rd to 29th. “I don’t know about it,” Ludoli comments, “but it could be a sign of a change in the hands of the venue, even if a change of management seems difficult without any relationship between who arrives and who leaves.”

In addition to the owner, El Fritoin will also leave the three employees at home and, without disparaging who takes over (if someone takes over) – will create another void in the increasingly impoverished city center of Mestre. In 2020 he won the Cicchetto Festival promoted among the local population, with Fritoin di Lodoli also among the protagonists of the Good Friday organized by the municipality. A story like, sadly, many others in this town is now over.