Dining

It’s official: Bronze Cafe won’t return to the Center

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Photo: Steve Marcus

If you’ve entered the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada recently, hoping to order the LGBTQ or a Guac & Mole, you’ve probably noticed that Bronze Cafe has shuttered.

Executive Chef/Managing Member Peter Bastien and General Manager David Mozes confirmed via a Facebook post that Bronze Cafe at the Center has closed, but that statement left questions as to why—and whether a new establishment would take its place.

Mozes says 2017 had been less profitable than years past at the café’s Center location and that they “had been attempting to get the Center to renegotiate the financial terms of its occupancy for months after having fallen behind on rent payments, but the Center elected to not renegotiate.”

Bronze Cafe won’t return to the Center, but its Fremont Street location at the Market remains open seven days a week. That location also absorbed the staff at the Center café, Mozes says.

“A lot of the evolution of Bronze Cafe, we owe to the Center, and [we] will be forever grateful for that,” Mozes says. Many of the vegan sandwiches, for example, were the result of a staff member asking for more options without animal products, but what were initially promotional menu offerings became permanent.

Center Executive Director André Wade says the Center is looking to fill the space, but the nonprofit has not put out any formal requests at this time. “The goal is to have another vendor,” Wade says.

The Weekly reported in June that the Center has dealt with financial struggles, which resulted in the end of weekend operations. Mozes partially attributes the plummet in sales at Bronze’s Center location to expanded hours and brunch offerings at the Market locale, but adds that reduced operating hours and traffic at the Center also impacted the café.

Wade says “things [at the Center] are going a lot better. We have a long ways to go, but we wouldn’t be here without the community support.”

The café first opened at the Center in March 2013. Mozes says he and Bastien will look back on the experience with fond memories.

“It’s extremely sad for us to have to close it down but at the same time, as a small business, Chef Peter and I had to do what was right for our staff and our customers, and that is to make sure Bronze Cafe will be here tomorrow regardless of where it is.”

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