Green Forest Brazilian Restaurant in Penn Hills closes after 20 years
Share this post:
A locally owned Brazilian restaurant in Penn Hills closed its doors Sunday during a year that would have marked its 20th anniversary.
Flavia Naccarato of Green Forest Brazilian Restaurant and Lounge took to Facebook on Father’s Day — typically one of the restaurant’s busiest days — to break the news to her patrons.
“I am here today to tell you, let you know, that today was our last day,” she said in the video. “We are closing Green Forest Restaurant today, on June 21, Father’s Day.”
She said the pandemic couldn’t have come at a worse time.
“The pandemic hit us in the middle of a time, like exactly when we are starting to make more money,” Naccarato said in an interview with the Tribune-Review, adding the restaurant’s busier season is typically between December and July.
The restaurant’s website states that Green Forest first opened in 2000. Naccarato and her husband Oswaldo Fortini, both originally from Brazil, bought it in 2005 after the previous owners put it up for sale.
Naccarato said she and Fortini planned a celebration for September or October of this year to mark 20 years in business.
“It’s just ironic and sad — we are closing the restaurant instead of celebrating our 20th anniversary,” she said.
Naccarato said the restaurant tried everything to stay afloat. Shortly after the restaurant closed because of the coronavirus, she ramped up the takeout and delivery options. She also said she worked extra hard to continue its meat-by-the-pound program, where customers could purchase meats a la carte.
Naccarato told the 15 employees she would hold their jobs until things calmed down. When the time came to reopen on June 5, most of her employees had found other work.
“I couldn’t even take reservations. I did not have employees. There were two others and myself. That’s it,” she said. The lack of a full workforce, coupled with the fact that restaurants can only operate at 50% capacity because of restrictions in place under the state’s green phase, spelled disaster, she said.
In the Facebook video, Naccarato hinted at opening another restaurant in the future, but right now the couple’s priority is paying debts to food distributors and the building’s landlord.
“It’s a lot,” she said of the debt. The closure also meant breaking the lease on the storefront, she said.
The short-term plan is to sell the couple’s Penn Hills home and the restaurant’s liquor license. Naccarato said she will use the money to pay off debt and start over.
“I think we will get a one-bedroom apartment and start from ground zero — from nothing, literally,” Naccarato said.