The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A well-known Cable Beach eatery is set to be re-opened as a high-end Italian restaurant by its new owner, Tribune Business can reveal.

Multiple sources familiar with developments told this newspaper that the former Indigo Cafe, which was renamed the ‘Pot and Cake’, is in the process of being acquired by Paolo (Palumbo) Donato, operator of a European-style coffee and sandwich shop in downtown Nassau.

Tribune Business understands that the deal with the Skyline Drive establishment’s existing ownership duo, accountant Bennet Atkinson and Marissa Malone, is due to close this coming Monday.

The Pot and Cake’s last night under the existing owners was Monday this week, an occasion well-attended by patrons. Tribune Business understands Mr Donato plans to re-open as a high-end Italian restaurant that makes its own pastry.

The Pot and Cake’s estimated 14 staff are understood to have been paid everything due to them, such as severance pay, as a result of the ownership change. It is unclear if all, or any, will be employed by the new.restaurant, which is located next to Rubins and Starbucks on West Bay Street and Skyline Drive.

Mr Atkinson declined to comment when contacted by Tribune Business after this newspaper was tipped to the deal, citing confidentiality agreements. Mr Donato could not be reached.

Mr Atkinson and Ms Malone had been seeking a buyer for The Pot and Cake for some time. However, in an interview with Tribune Business last year, Mr Atkinson said they had decided to pull it off the market and invest $35,000 in a revamp that aimed to make it “the best Bahamian restaurant destination” for Cable Beach tourists.

Mr Atkinson said then that the duo had “decided to reinvest and give it another go” after receiving no acceptable offers for the business.

Acknowledging that the bar/restaurant had been “limping along” over the past several years due to a downturn in the tourist business along the Cable Beach strip, Mr Atkinson said the upgrade involved a menu revamp into high-end Bahamian-themed cuisine, with a juice and daiquiri bar experience also being developed for an outdoor area out-back.

Indigo was an especially popular destination for expatriates, residents and young professionals in the Cable Beach and western New Providence area, and Mr Atkinson previously said the 10-year-old operation aimed to capitalise on the $2.6 billion project taking place just down the street.

“We’re hoping with the whole Baha Mar development, and when tourism comes back to Cable Beach, we’ll be considered the best Bahamian restaurant destination for those tourists,” he told Tribune Business.

“Business has not been great in the last couple of years because of the state of Cable Beach tourism. Our local business has been great, but we’ve been limping along and are definitely trying to turn that around.

“The local business has never let us down. We’re quite prominent in the area, and we’ve always managed to survive, but really need the tourist business.”

Explaining why previous sales efforts were unsuccessful, Mr Atkinson said last year: “Unfortunately, most people thought it meant fire sale. We weren’t in any hurry to sell it, and if people were not prepared to pay the right price to compensate us, we were unable to sell.

“It was a waste of time. We went through a number of buyers who wanted to buy it for nothing, and we were not prepared to do that. No one wanted to pay the right price, so we decided to reinvest and give it another go.”