After more than 50 years in the restaurant business in Cambridge, Don Benedetto, owner of Italian restaurant La Mimosa, has hung up his apron and closed the doors for the last time.
He and his brothers, Kim and Prospero, opened their traditional Italian restaurant at Market Hill in 1972, Don Pasquale, which became a Cambridge institution.
La Mimosa in Cambridge Picture: Keith Heppell
And his final project, the restaurant La Mimosa, which faces the river across the Quayside Walkway, closed just before Christmas after 21 years.
He told the Cambridge Independent: “I shall miss the restaurant so much, especially the people. I have known three generations of some families who have been regular customers here.
“I always remember everyone, even if it has been two years since they last came in.”
But aged 77, Don Benedetto felt it was finally time to retire.
He says: “A lot of people are happy looking forward to retirement, but I am not yet. My mind is still on my work and my restaurant, purely because I have enjoyed very much doing what I did. So I didn’t think I was going to retire.”
However after being told he may need operations on his wrists and knees and realising this could take 12 weeks to recover, he came to his decision to close the restaurant.
“It came down to my age and the physical requirements of running a restaurant,” he says.
“We put hours in, which, a few years ago, seemed nothing. Now they’re telling me it’s time for you to go home, it’s time for you to sit down. And to keep the standard that we’ve always kept, you need younger people to do that. I’m not the young one anymore, so I’m going to step out.
“I don’t want a rest – I need something to occupy myself. But you have to listen to your body.
“I’ve been putting in 10 or 15 miles a day running around the restaurant, which keeps you fit, but it is time to stop.”
After announcing the restaurant’s closure and then the word getting out on Facebook, Don Benedetto was taken aback by the huge reaction from friends and customers.
He said: “My daughter told me that just hours after the news went on Facebook there were around 60 messages from people. I was amazed.”
Since then, people have been calling, writing and visiting with good wishes.
“The 21 years that we spent in Thompson’s Lane by this river have been fantastic for all of us, customers included. They’ve all come in with a thank you card and to say good luck with your retirement. I was very surprised, but I’m very pleased and humble about that, because they really are nice people.
“It’s a family-run set-up. Customers like to come to support a family-run restaurant, and we really got to know each other very well. It has been an enjoyable and really emotional few months, finding out how your customers feel about you, and that’s nice.”
The restaurant closed its doors for the last time on 21 December and now the family is removing the furniture as well as years of memories.
“I couldn’t sell La Mimosa to someone else,” he says.
“The restaurant is our family, so when I go it has to close. But a pub has bought the building and I’m sure that will be very good.”
He wanted to offer special thanks to head chef Rafal “for over 15 years of service with us and his dedication to La Mimosa”.
And he is pleased the family’s work continues around Cambridge. Now Don Benedetto’s nephews work in the restaurant business, with one at The Plough in Coton and another at The Rupert Brooke in Grantchester.
He believes they have all learnt the secret of the restaurant business.
“It’s all in the welcome,” he says. “You must serve good food but people come back because they have a good relationship with you.”