By Dave Matlow
Abbondanza, the specialty food store and catering service and its Bonda Restaurant at 30 Charles St. in Westport’s Saugatuck area for the past 15 years, has closed. 
Jamie Cooper, owner the vacated Abbondanza specialty food store and Bonda restaurant, will reopen Bonda in Fairfield. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Saturday night’s closing was announced by Abbondanza owner Jamie Cooper in a letter sent to customers last week.
“It is both with sadness and excitement that I am writing you this letter,” he said. “The typical sadness that accompanies the end of something great and the excitement that accompanies something new.”
Cooper said that he plans to open a restaurant, retaining the name “Bonda,” in Fairfield in late June or early July. He chose not to identify the address until negotiations are concluded.
Friday and Saturday, the final two nights, were “among the busiest we ever had,” Cooper said.
“We had more people calling for reservations than ever before…it was crazy. People were sad. They thought the business was doing so well.”
Actually, Cooper said, the Bonda Restaurant was doing very well and so was the specialty food area in the front of the facility.
The interior of the abandoned Abbondanza. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
But he said “the margins were so low that it could not offset the sharp drop in revenues from the catering business which never fully recovered from the economic downturn of 2008.”
Cooper acquired Abbondanza in 2001 from Westporters John and Marilyn Logan, the original owners who opened it in 1994.
Roberto Huerta, an Abbondanza employee for the past 10 years, said that he was surprised when he heard about the closing just four days before it happened. “Our customers were surprised too,” he said.
Skip Lane, of Cushman & Wakefield Realty who represent the building’s owners, said the 2,640-square feet facility will be either sold or leased, “probably to another restaurant.”
Cooper, 37, lives in Fairfield with his wife and 11-month-old son.
I’m sad to see my favorite restaurant in Westport go, but I’m happy to know that I’ll still be able to get the Bonda Burger in Fairfield!
We’ll miss you!
yet another casualty partly due to the inability to have a Patron Bar at most restaurants in Westport. change the 1500 foot and parking laws and we will see restaurants make their way back to our town.