By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Opening a new restaurant or food shop during the COVID-19 pandemic takes courage, but several people hoping to open new culinary enterprises in Westport find what they really need is patience — and lots of it.

Setbacks caused by supply-chain and labor problems have delayed businesses opening by many months. But they remain optimistic about to finally welcoming customers in the new year.

For new bakery owner, “everything” taking longer

“It’s affecting pretty much everything, across the board,” said Max London, sitting in his still-closed shop, Mrs. London’s Bakery at 44 Church Lane. 

“Everything did take longer,” he said, including getting tables and chairs delivered for the business, and the labor he needed to set up things. The new bakery already has been 10 months in the making, and may be one or two more, before the shop — specializing  in brunch, lunch, soups and quiche, as well as pastries and other baked goods — will be ready to open.  

The bakery-cafe has one outlet based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and its second will be in Westport.

The more time, the more costs for pasta emporium

Around the corner, Il Pastaficio, a fresh pasta store and café at 135 Post Road East, is full of construction equipment and new kitchen appliances, but will not be ready to open for at least a month or more, said general contractor Roman Vitynskyi, as he surveyed the work in progress last week. 

“The delays are costing everyone — costing me because I can’t finish, and costing [owner Frederico Perandine] because he can’t open,” the contractor said. “When I bid on this job, the plan was to be done by October.” The Westport location is Perandine’s second pasta shop; the other Il Pastaficio is in Greenwich.

Stainless steel is in short supply, Vitynskyi said, and a commercial stove hood that was supposed to arrive in mid-December has yet to be delivered. The shop can’t open until the hood — now scheduled to arrive in mid-February — is installed. “And we had to go from store to store for the lights,” he said. 

Tapas restaurant hindered by lagging international deliveries

Across the street at 180 Post Road East, owner Carlos Pla of De Tapas Gastropub, had to wait for international deliveries, including tiles and furniture from Spain, before he could open. 

Pla started readying his restaurant, which will specialize in tapas, paellas and other Spanish cuisine, last July and initially expected to open in November. He now hopes to open the restaurant in mid-January, and he’s excited that it’s finally happening. 

“We really fell in love with Westport,” Pla said of his decision to open here. “We had supply chain issues … It took longer than usual.”

Ice cream shop aims for sweet spot by spring

Jay Ragusa, founder and CEO of Gofer Ice Cream, plans to open the ninth Gofer shop in Westport at 1240 Post Road East, in the space previously occupied by the Silver Ribbon jewelry store. 

He expects the Westport shop will open in the spring. “We’re just finishing up the plans now,” he said. “March or April is a good time, especially in the ice cream business.”

He’s been in business since 2003, and most of his shops have been successful, except for a Fairfield outlet, which had too much competition, he said, and one in Bridgeport. 

Unlike other entrepreneurs, Ragusa found that the conditions caused by the pandemic may have helped his newest shops. “During the pandemic, ice cream is an easy treat for people,” he said, and curbside deliveries and outside ordering windows helped. 

But supply problems have definitely caused delays when opening his latest stores, he said.

“We just opened in Ridgefield last October, and we’re still waiting for some dipping cabinets,” he said. “We’ll have to see how it goes here. I’m a little nervous about it, but we’ll see how it goes.”