Chefs reset
NATHAN SASI
“We had put everything we had financially and mentally into this business – it felt like our lives were on the line.”
A YEAR AFTER OPENING ADELAIDE’S LEIGH STREET WINE ROOM, CHEF NATHAN SASI HAS DECIDED TO STEP AWAY FROM THE KITCHEN AS HE FOCUSES ON GROWING A MORE SUSTAINABLE, DIVERSE BUSINESS.
Leigh Street Wine Room is my first venture fully owned by myself and my wife, Sali. I’m from Sydney, but my wife is from Adelaide originally. It was so uplifting to create it from the ground up and nail the concept.
When we opened there was a huge snowball effect – we were so grateful to get some incredible reviews. When we had to close it was like being hit by a truck. We were questioning if we were going to make it to the other side. It took us a good week to gather our thoughts, reassess the landscape, and work out if we had the mental capacity to make it. We had put everything we had financially and mentally into this business – it felt like our lives were on the line. I wondered, “Is this something I actually want to do? Or do I just throw in the towel and move on.” But we also had responsibilities to our children, to our staff and to our landlord. After that week we looked at our support systems and our landlord dropped the rent, so we felt like we could just try our best to navigate through this.
While closed we shifted into wine delivery, which we called Juice Traders. It was something we’d always wanted to do – it’s amazing the great opportunities that can come out of
