Atelier Sawyer

El Punto Gastro Café: from failing restaurant to three times my money

My own café in Benalmádena, opened in 2021 and sold in 2022.

Can a failing restaurant be turned into a café that makes money?

Yes, if you change what it is, not just how it looks. El Punto Gastro Café, in Benalmádena, had been a failing Italian restaurant. I refitted it and opened in May 2021, with Covid restrictions still in place, and kept the offer deliberately tight: brunch by day, and a free tapa with every drink at night. It paid its way from the day it opened. In June 2022, I sold it, by traspaso, for three times my investment.

Where it started

The site had what most cafés can only wish for: a large terrace across the road from the beach, on the coast road that runs through Benalmádena. What it did not have was a reason to stop. The Italian restaurant before me had the most offensive décor I had ever seen, and an elderly neighbour, whom I came to call mi Duquesa, assured me its food had never reached the dizzying heights of mediocrity.

The former restaurant during the refit, with yellow and terracotta walls and paint tins on the terrazzo floor.

What I did

  • Changed the room. The yellow and terracotta walls went. In came white tiles behind the bar, dark timber shelves, and a bar top you want to lean on, with wood panelling in the dining room. A new store room was hidden behind white Moorish-style hanging panels, lit from inside, so that at night they threw a pattern of light across the dining room.
  • Kept the offer small. With restrictions still in place and tourists staying away, I opened with a short menu I knew the kitchen could do well every time. By day, brunch: modern Mediterranean dishes, Málaga's breakfast staples, and, this being the Costa del Sol, a full English.
  • Gave people a reason to come back. Fresh juices, a long list of teas mixing Spanish infusiones with a little London, and coffee made the way Málaga's historic Café Central made famous.
  • Made the evenings simple. No menu at all: a free artisan tapa with every drink, so the bar earned its keep without a second kitchen service.
  • Built it for the neighbours. While the tourists stayed away, local Spanish regulars paid the bills, and they kept coming back.
The finished bar at El Punto Gastro Café, with white tiles, dark timber shelves, and an espresso machine.The espresso machine, wine rack, and dark timber shelves at El Punto Gastro Café.The refitted dining room at El Punto Gastro Café, with dark wood panelling, white walls, and lantern lights.

The result

Sales were slow at first, but El Punto washed its face from the day it opened. Thirteen months later, in June 2022, I accepted an offer for the traspaso of three times my investment.

The new owner renamed it Benalbar, and has since passed it on. It is now a restaurant again.

What this means for you

A failing venue is often the wrong idea in the right place. Before you spend on décor, decide what the place is for, who will come, and what each guest leaves in the till. Then keep the offer small enough to do well every day, and let the regulars tell you what to add.

Talk it through

Thinking of taking on a traspaso, or turning a place round? Tell me what you have found, and I'll tell you what I would check first.

Talk with Benjamin