Because of the increasing misery of the people and the impoverishment all around, because of the uncertainties in the upcoming winter, but also because of the lack of staff in the gastronomy: The brothers James and David Ardinast close their restaurant "Stanley" in Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel on October 1st.

"We will continue to use the area, for events, for example," said the restaurateurs of the FAZ. The Stanley brand will also be retained.

"We don't want to rule out that there will be a Restaurant Stanley again at some point," says James Ardinast;

When and where, however, is completely open.

Jacqueline Vogt

Department head of the Rhein-Main editorial team of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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James and David Ardinast run the consulting firm Ima agency and together, in addition to the "Stanley", also the restaurant "Bar Shuka", also in the station district. In July, in an interview with the FAZ, James Ardinast spoke of the increasingly difficult circumstances there and of the fact that the work "Bar Shuka", which is located on the ground floor of a hotel on Niddastraße, is not yet affected because it is like an island with a courtyard and roof terrace. This and that The fact that they also host breakfast and banqueting at the hotel, all under the Bar Shuka label, makes it easier to operate there than at the Stanley." Ardinast says, "As an event location that's used from time to time , fine,as a restaurant in continuous operation it is not possible at the moment.”

The "Stanley", which is located on Ottostrasse, with green marble on the walls and screed on the floor, was opened by the Ardinasts in 2015 with a partner from Berlin.

The property belongs to the Ardinasts, who are tenants of the “Bar Shuka”.

After the opening, the food in the "Stanley" was home-style at a high, trendy and elegant level, a bit of fine dining, but in a basically more relaxed way, there was a mixture of bistro dishes and refined home cooking classics.

After the first lockdown the owners changed the concept, it was formal but still demanding.

In the Gault Millau, the house currently has 15 points, the current brochure of the magazine Feinschmecker listed it among the 500 best "Restaurants for every day".

"One reason for the closure is that we want to remain agile," says James Ardinast, his brother James speaks of an entrepreneurial decision and a gut feeling that both have.

“Some believe that Corona is all over now and are happy that they had a very good summer.

We believe that the winter can bring many problems with it.” Not least of these was the expected increase in energy costs.

"It's easier to lead one company through such difficult times than two," says James Ardinast, and if one place is even a little short of being in the black, that's too much, the constant problems of finding and keeping employees , would be added.

The Stanley currently employs nine people;

They probably won't have any problems finding a job.