Jaguar, hipster restaurant in the center of SP, closes its doors for good

The Jaguar restaurant closed for good after opening and closing its doors temporarily over the past three years because of the pandemic and financial problems.

Now, the reason, according to the owner of the place, Fabio Schaberle, was insecurity, which increased with the arrival of drug users from cracolândia in the Campos Elíseos neighborhood.

Actions to disperse users around Princesa Isabel square, in the central region, began in May 2022, carried out by the City of São Paulo and the Civil Police.

The operations drove customers away from the restaurant, which caused movement and revenue to drop. In June last year, the restaurant was closed for a few months because of the actions. That same month, a drug user was killed on the sidewalk of the Jaguar, during a fight.

“People started to stop coming. During the week, there were days when we saw four people. The image of confrontation, robbery and dirt was in people’s minds”, says Schaberle.

The restaurant opened in 2018 on the ground floor of the former Jaguar hotel, a traditional downtown address that was renovated to make way for a student residence. The specialty of the menu was the milanesas. The house was open for lunch and, at night, drinks and snacks were served.

The business, however, was already facing financial problems. In April 2021, during the Covid pandemic, the owner opened a crowdfunding to try to raise R$ 100 thousand, overcome the crisis and stay on his feet.

“We started accumulating a lot of debts at that time”, says Schaberle. “Things only got worse, because the movement that existed was very small and didn’t pay wages, rent or inputs. I organized the ideas and came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to close.” In addition, the property owner asked for the point back in January of this year.

One of the debts, according to Schaberle, is the termination of the five dismissed employees. The solution he found was to make a new crowdfunding, this time to raise R$ 30,000, the value of the terminations. You can contribute by sending any value via Pix, via key (11) 98589-9521.

The room that housed the restaurant, on the corner of Avenida Duque de Caxias and Alameda Barão de Limeira, is empty. All furniture was removed at the end of February. From the kitsch-style decor, all that’s left is pink on the walls.

Schaberle says he intends to take back the Jaguar, at another address, with the help of partners. For now, he has plans “to not leave the Jaguar name in oblivion”, such as taking over the kitchen of bars or selling frozen meals. Any news will be released on Instagram.