Popular Italian restaurant in San Francisco pivoting amid tough economic realities [Video]

The cost of doing business in San Francisco is just too high for a popular Italian restaurant that was very busy and profitable, before the pandemic.

Che Fico Alimentari located on Divisadero Street says it’s a vastly different restaurant than it was when it opened in 2019 to great fanfare. Alimentari is the casual spinoff of its wildly popular original and sister restaurant, Che Fico. 

The restaurant announced the difficult decision this week on its Instagram, that next Thursday, May 9, will be its final dinner service.

Over the last six months, co-owner Matt Brewer said the harsh economic realities of running an independent restaurant in the city became clear. He and chef and co-owner David Nayfeld decided to absorb Alimentari within Che Fico, and close Alimentari’s dinner service in its current form.  

“We still plan on keeping it for an event space, but in its current iteration, it’s just not sustainable given a lot of the …