"It was about €125,000 a year rent for the space. We signed that with personal guarantees - we were a bit naive going in, we kind of said, 'ah yeah, sure we'll just sign whatever we need to sign'. And then the crash happened and it was... yeah, it was difficult. It was a new restaurant; it was a relatively new concept in terms of small plates and tapas were not really on the regular radar of everyone in 2008."
"Signing up to Cava, even though it opened up the possibility for us to do Aniar, for us to do Tartare, it was kind of our bad mortgage. We signed into a lease that we just about got out of, and we were lucky not to end up in the High Court in terms of breaking our lease. It was a learning curve."
McMahon signed a lease in 2007 with annual rent of about €125,000 and personal guarantees. The 2008 crash made the lease burdensome and the venture difficult. The restaurant introduced small plates and tapas, which took about two years to become widely popular and establish the venue nationally. Customers and restaurateurs remained resilient, continuing to enjoy nights out despite the bailout period. The first Cava project functioned like a 'bad mortgage' but enabled later ventures like Aniar and Tartare. The lease was nearly intractable but avoided High Court action. McMahon later opened Kombu ramen and bao bar and took up painting during lockdown.
Read at Irish Independent
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