(Reposted with permission from the Jerusalem Post)
Tel Aviv, Israel-
Luigi Toriella is baffled.
The Italian immigrant moved to Israel one year ago to open locations of his popular chain of family friendly eateries, Luigi's. Until very recently, Luigi's was wildly successful in its two Israeli locations, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. All that changed last weekend.
"It was completely out the blue," Toriella explains. "I don't want to sound hyperbolic here, but the change was literally overnight. As recently as Saturday night, we were packed. And then, Sunday...nothing. And that's pretty much been the case ever since."
Employees at of Luigi's in Tel Aviv wait impatiently for any signs of prospective customers.
In fact, Toriella claims that the Saturday before the sudden downturn was the busiest night in his restaurant's one year history. Shockingly, receipts from the Jerusalem location have shown exactly the same trend.
"Last Saturday, people were coming in in droves, ordering up plate after plate of pasta dishes. We could barely keep up. We were totally understaffed and under prepared. I thought I would have to hire new servers if this was going to become a regular thing."
In fact, the opposite seems to be the case now. Toriella says that after this week he can barely afford to keep the restaurant open, much less pay his staff.
"The Luigi's phenomenon is baffling to us all," says Rick Lasseter, a former economist and now a business analyst for the UK-based Independent. "We do see sudden drop-offs in popularity throughout the market, and sometimes those drop-offs can be quite dramatic. But those sorts of sudden, steep declines only tend to occur with bona fide fads, like snap bracelets and pogs. I can't explain this at all. Not to sound superstitious or to appear to be jumping to conclusions, but It's almost as though it's an act of God."
Above: A graph showing Luigi's steady growth and sudden, immediate decline in business
Toriella's family moved to Paris in 1974 and founded the first Luigi's there, hoping to tap into a growing European trend of shared cultural cuisine. The success of the restaurant was immediate, and Toriella (who shares a first name with his father and his family business), now 54, inherited the business in his mid-20s. Naturally business savvy, Toriella began opening new locations of Luigi's; first throughout France, and then in many other European countries.
The two Israeli locations were notable because, for the first time, the Toriella family business had spread outside of Europe. Toriella knew he was taking a big risk in moving to the Middle East and attempting to expand his business there, but the positive response was immediate. The first Luigi's opened just over one year ago (April 11, 2007) and Toriella describes the reaction as such:
"It was, honestly, as though these people hadn't ever had real Italian food before. They like they were literally desperate to eat our authentic, steaming, heaping bowlfuls of pasta, cooked al dente, to perfection, and smothered in perfectly blended pesto sauce, creamy and zesty alfredo sauce, or my family's secret recipe: Toriella's tomato sauce with a delicate blend of oregano and garlic. And all of it topped with tangy, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and ground pepper with sides of fresh-baked Italian bread and sweet extra-virgin olive oil! It was unbelievable. It was a dream come true. And I knew then I had made the right decision.
"At least," he went on to say, "I sure thought I'd made the right decision."
The sudden and unexpected disappearance of customers from Luigi's is perhaps more baffling given that, in its year of operation, the restaurant had not one health code violation, not one customer complaint, and a comment box full of enthusiastic scribblings of "Mazel Tov!" and "Great, my brother!"
Regardless, the fact remains: Luigi's hasn't had a single customer in a week, and Toriella is at an absolute loss. He fears he may have to close down his Israel-based locations, and just when he was planning on expanding into other Middle Eastern countries.
When asked how long Toriella was willing (or financially able) to hold out for a resurgence of business, sounding quite pessimistic, he responded, "I don't know...two days? Three, at the absolute maximum".
"Even then," he added, "we'd have to have a crazy few days to make up for this slump. And that just doesn't seem likely to me at all..."
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