The co-owner of a trattoria on Triq it-Telgħa t’Alla u Ommu said staffing, logistical and economic problems all contributed to his and his wife's decision to close the establishment.

La Vallata was the second restaurant opened by Waleed Bayoumi and his wife Penka along the Naxxar hill, following their earlier venture, the Sixth Leaf vegan restaurant.

Mr Bayoumi said that while the restaurant was extremely popular, particularly among locals, and won a number of awards, a number of problems were bubbling away just below the surface.

One of the main problems was the restaurant’s location.

Photo: La Vallata - Trattoria e Pizzeria

The lack of foot traffic meant the business couldn’t attract passing customers who happened to be walking by, and its distances to most residence meant it barely ever featured as a nearby restaurant on Wolt and Bolt.

“People often order food from restaurants close by and the restaurant wasn’t close to anywhere,” he said.

Meanwhile the restaurant was very poorly served by public transport, which proved to be a massive headache for staff who had to commute by bus to the area.

“Only one bus passes through the area and only once an hour, not including weekends or public holidays, so my wife and I often ended up having to pick up our staff ourselves during service, which was a nightmare.”

He said that some staff ended up quitting their jobs due to constant commuting problems, forcing him and his wife to repeatedly recruit replacement staff.

The authorities didn’t make their lives any easier by taking long to process work permits for third-country nationals who had been approved as staff.

“Once we managed to hire some very good Macedonian waiters, but the processing of their paperwork dragged out for nine to ten months,” he recounted. “Eventually, they grew tired of waiting and they ended up leaving.”

“Hiring good staff became almost impossible, and my wife and I ended up doing much of the work ourselves, with some help from part-timers. But the problem with part-timers is they can just decide not turn up half an hour before their shift. It all became very, very hard.”

To compound the restaurant’s problems, inflation ate into its margins and reduced the spending power of customers.

“We’ve had groups of people come in and order just one latte to share, or a single pizza and tap water between four people,” he said.

Mr Bayoumi also offered a bleak assessment of the state of Malta’s culinary scene.

“I considered applying for a sous chef position but I was offered a wage that was worse than what was on offer 14 years ago… 95 per cent of my wage would have gone on my rent,” he warned.

He said that many restaurants are choosing to hire multiple Asian workers on low wages, and that this strategy has led to an overall decline in quality.

“We usually go out to eat once a week and we noticed that it’s becoming a disaster in terms of quality of service and food,” he said.

For now, the Bayoumis remains uncertain whether they will attempt to open another restaurant in a different location or embark on some other culinary venture.

“We want to do our homework very well before taking a decision,” he said.