Bartender Alessandro Sciuto wipes down the bar at Applebee’s restaurant on Thursday night, three days before the restaurant closes for good. (Lisa Novak / Stars and Stripes)
NAPLES, Italy — Less then two years after opening its doors to the Navy community in Gricignano, Applebee’s will be serving its last supper Sunday night.
The decision to close was news to some of the Applebee’s staff, who were told shortly before their shift was to start on Thursday evening.
"Everybody is shocked ... I’m shocked," said a tearful Terry Pinto, a restaurant employee working the closing shift Thursday night.
"We just don’t know what we’ll do now."
About 45 people work at the restaurant, which opened in November 2007.
Base officials put out the word Thursday afternoon with an announcement on the command Web site.
"The decision to close the restaurant was made by the contractor. No Navy personnel were involved," reads the notice.
"Although no decisions or plans are in place for future operations, NEXCOM (Navy Exchange Command) is exploring options. We will keep everyone informed as information becomes available."
The contractor, Kout Food Group, is a Kuwait-based company that holds several food service contracts on U.S. military installations.
The company has also decided to close three fast-food franchises in Sigonella, where the base Burger King, KFC and Taco Bell are set to close Sunday.
An employee from Kout Food Group was on Capodichino Friday, supervising an inventory of remaining restaurant supplies, but declined to answer any questions regarding the restaurant closures. He referred inquiries to NEXCOM.
NEXCOM officials had very little information on the closures.
"The contractor had to make a business decision and felt that he couldn’t operate the Applebee’s in Gricignano and the three restaurants in Sigonella," said NEXCOM spokesman Philip Garcia.
NEXCOM helps local base Navy Exchanges find food service contractors to run the various restaurants on bases, Garcia said.
There is a KFC and Taco Bell outlet on Gricignano, but base officials said those eateries are not closing.
"The other food outlets on the Naples bases won’t be affected by the closure," said Cmdr. Jeff McAtee, spokesman for Naval Support Activity Naples. "Those other outlets are operated by different contractors."
