Blu restaurant in Beachwood, which has been closed since January, will not be reopening, says owner Brad Friedlander. The issues facing many restaurant operators right now, he explains, are compounded given the size of the finer-dining restaurant and the seafood-focused menu.
"It seems so weird to me that you can't operate your business because you can't get the people and you can't get the products and the supply chain...," he explains. "It's a million different variables and problems that never existed before this situation."
Friedlander, who also operates
Cut 151 next door, says that both restaurants had bounced back and we're finding their groove until the holidays.
"We thought everything was great right around Thanksgiving and then the new strain hit and, boom, we couldn't operate both restaurants," he says.
The decision was made to focus attention - and staff - on Cut 151.
For now, Friedlander says that he is mulling over various ideas for the former Blu and Moxie space, such as an event space or a new concept.
"For the moment I don't know what we're going to do with Blu," he says. "We're just trying to figure it out."
