Owners of iconic Harry's Bar pushed out after 80 years

19 December 2012 by
Owners of iconic Harry's Bar pushed out after 80 years

The owners of the iconic Harry's Bar in Venice have been forced to step aside after running it for more than 80 years.

Members of the famous Cipriani family have been sidelined by banks after failing to turn the business around following three years of mounting debts of £5m.

Executives chosen from Blue Skye Investment, the Luxembourg group that partners the Cipriani family, have been sent into Harry's Bar to overhaul its organisation and radically cut costs to wipe out the debts.

More than half of the bar's costs are spent on the wages of its 75 members of staff, who went on strike when voluntary redundancy was suggested.

Arrigo Cipriani, the 80-year-old son of the bar's founder Giuseppe, blamed the decline of ‘quality tourism' and the failure of staff to take a pay cut on Harry's Bar's financial problems, adding that over the past five years custom had declined by as much as a third.

"These days, many day-trippers come to Venice, but not quality tourists," he said. "We cannot deny that we miss the Americans who were a guaranteed clientele for the whole year, we are feeling that. And that is not compensated by the new wave of rich Russians or Chinese."

Located on Venice's St Mark's bay waterfront, Harry's Bar was founded in 1931 by Giuseppe Cipriani and over the years gained dozens of famous patrons, including Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles and Truman Capote.

In 1948, the classic Bellini cocktail was invented at the bar, which is also credited with inventing carpaccio as it is known today. Harry's Bar has had several bars and restaurants around the world including London, New York and Istanbul.

Cipriani London calls in administrators after losing trademark battle >> ](http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/03/03/2010/332448/Cipriani-London-calls-in-administrators-after-losing-trademark.htm)
[Cipriani London loses name-change appeal >>](http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/25/02/2010/332414/cipriani-london-loses-name-change-appeal.htm)

By Kerstin Kühn

E-mail your comments to [Kerstin Kühn](mailto:kerstin.kuhn@catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk) here.

Tabletalk
Tabletalk
If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/tabletalk

Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs

Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs

[Blogs on Catererandhotelkeeper.com ](http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/blogs) Catch up with more news and gossip on all Caterer's blogs
[E-Newsletters](http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/email-newsletters.htm)[ For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our E-newsletters
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking