Swanage restaurant dubbed 'little gem' to close due to staff shortage

Peppina, based on Institute Road in Swanage, is an Italian restaurant which offered a number of Mediterranean and Sicilian inspired dishes.

Angelo Fichera, owner of Peppina, never forgot the food that his grandmother served him in Sicily as a boy and named authentic Italian canteen after her.

Reviews on Tripadvisor described the restaurant as a ‘little gem’ with ‘super friendly staff’ which offered ‘lovely pizzas and cocktails’.

Despite the success and popularity of Peppina, the Swanage restaurant struggled with staff shortages this year, which led to tables being cancelled and food not being able to be prepared in time for customers.

Mr Fichera previously said how the branch was forced to temporarily close as it was ‘impossible’ to find new staff for its branch.

Angelo Fichera of Peppina

He initially said Peppina would be initially closed until September, hoping it would have given him enough time to find new employees.

But Mr Fichera has made the decision to close the Swanage branch, explaining that it is ‘harder to find staff’ in Swanage and those who are willing to relocate to the area.

Mr Fichera said: “Unfortunately, we struggled to find staff, because not only with the virus everything is going mad but because it seems in Swanage is harder to find staff compared to anywhere else.

“There are not so many professionals in the town and it's very hard to find people who want to move to Swanage for the job.

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“We took the decision to temporarily close a couple of weeks ago but, the end of last week, we actually decided to close permanently the branch, as is getting impossible to manage.”

Mr Fichera described the closure as a ‘very difficult’ decision despite the building reputation among locals and tourists and success.

“Of course, take a decision like this is very difficult”, he said.

“Specifically when, after two years of hard work and many problems including roadworks, ferry shutdown and lockdown, we finally we were building a solid reputation.

“I prefer to focus on the Weymouth branch, where I live. And hopefully it can get better soon.”

He aims to focus on his micro-bakery in Weymouth, based on St Mary Street, which launched earlier this year in March during the national lockdown.

Peppina in Swanage will close down, according to its owner. Picture: Google

With the help of his father-in-law Paul, he made a small kitchen and aims to try new recipes and sell his food.

Mr Fichera said: "We opened the branch at the beginning of March, and in a few months, I developed a reasonable clientele.

"Now I supply my bread and other products to some local B&B and restaurants, like the new 'Catch on the Harbour'.

"Other than the bread, I offer an ample quantity of Sicilian products like Arancini, Almond biscuits, cakes, focaccia, sourdough pizza, etc. And I can cater for small parties or business lunches."

The closure of his Swanage branch comes as hospitality venues and businesses across Dorset have suffered job shortages and struggle to hire staff due to people being told to self-isolate or contracting coronavirus.

Businesses have also had to reduce opening hours because they are not able to find waiting staff or temporarily close their doors due to shortages.