Ready to move on

New Glasgow’s Cafe Italia restaurant will close March 18

“It was the best thing I ever did for sure... The people are what make you stay and they are what make you excited to come to work every day.”

Shara Lank

Every cent he had was spent on equipment and other costs associated with opening a restaurant. With nothing left to give, a then 30-year-old Jeff Gillin borrowed enough money from his grandmother to pay for his Pepsi order and prayed that he’d have enough cash in two weeks to make payroll.

Sept. 12, 2001 – the day after 911 – Gillin took a leap of faith and opened the doors to Cafe Italia for the first time in downtown New Glasgow.

To his relief, the restaurant was packed the first day and with the support of Pictou County residents has stayed strong for most of the last 21 years.

While he worked 12-hour days, six days a week in the beginning, in time he was able to leave some of the day-to-day operations to his staff.

But now Gillin has reached the point where he’s ready to move on to a different chapter in his life. He’s selling the building and closing the restaurant. The last day will be March 18.

Gillin said there were personal reasons for closing the business, but COVID and the disruptions it brought were a major part of the decision.

Many long-time employees found other positions during that time.

Finding replacements hasn’t been easy and then the supply chain issues and rising food costs have exacerbated the problem.

“For the longest time, it's been a guessing game about what's coming in,” he said.

Since announcing the decision to close, he’s been flooded with messages from people sharing memories and expressing sadness at the loss of their favourite restaurant.

He said he will miss all the people he interacted with as well as the staff who helped make the business a success.

Shara Lank has been involved with the restaurant since the very beginning. She was friends with his sister and a longtime friend of the family so when they asked if she’d come work for them, she said sure.

“It was the best thing I ever did for sure,” she says.

Over the last two decades, she’s watched families grow, people come in for their first dates and even engagements.

“The people are what make you stay and they are what make you excited to come to work every day,” she said.

While COVID brought some of the biggest challenges for the business, Lank saw people at their best during this time.

“They were so supportive and not just of the business, but I felt of me,” she said.

“They asked how I was and if I was okay. They were just so generous and so kind and I don't mean monetarily, I mean with their time and their thoughts and those sort of things.”

While he doesn’t like to focus on himself, Lank said Gillin deserves a lot of credit for his caring approach to the business.

“We had staff come from other countries. He made sure they had somewhere to go at Christmas time. He drove them to airports to meet their flights,” she said. “He paid people's bills, he lent people money.”

When the first shutdown happened and Lank was laid off, Gillin promised he’d hire her back as soon as possible. Within three weeks he had her back doing take-out orders.

Because she doesn’t drive, he picked her up and dropped her off every day.

She’s thankful for a boss that was like that and for customers who have made them feel loved.

“Some people work their whole lives in jobs they hate and they don't get one day of thank you.”

They’ve had the exact opposite experience. People have shared their post about closing more than 500 times, called to wish them well and stopped in for one last order.

“I mean, how can you want more?” Lank said. “Pictou County should be proud because they've been so wonderful.”