Eighty Eight Seafood and Grill in Old Noarlunga closes on rising fish costs
A popular seafood restaurant in Adelaide’s south has shut down due to rising costs, including skyrocketing fish prices.
Eighty Eight Seafood and Grill, on Victor Harbor Road, Old Noarlunga, shut it doors on Wednesday, with owner Bill Moularas saying “it’s as tough as it’s ever been”.
“It’s heart-wrenching. Recovering from Covid was hard but the last three years has been harder and harder … costs have only gone up and profit margins are shrinking,” Moularas told Adelaide Now.
“We ran the numbers and the restaurant had to be full every night just to break even.
“This has been on the cards for a while … it’s just been mentally draining.”
The restaurant has been hit by the price of fish rising by more than 60 per cent in five years.
Salmon is selling for $65/kg (up from $38.99kg), flathead is now $70kg (up from $48.99kg) and kingfish is around the $80+/kg (up from $48.99kg).
The high prices are forcing diners to cook their own fish at home.
“People have less money to spend now, and all business costs are rising, everything from insurance to wages, power, and rent,” he said.
Eighty Eight Seafood and Grill has been opened since September 2019 and is a sister restaurant to Seafood Chest which launched in 2007 and will continue to operate in the same location.
Eighty Eight Seafood is the latest in a string of restaurants to cease operating, including Four Sides Bar & Kitchen in Hyde Park, Landough’s at Brighton, Stem on Hindley St, Vietnamese eatery Little NNQ on Gouger St and Firle restaurant BaliThai, on Glynburn Rd.
Moularas said the industry was in crisis.
“People are just starting to realise it now,” he said.
“Places that have been around for 20-30 years are closing because they can’t make any money.
“I’d pray for Covid to come back – in the spending sense, of course. People actually had money to spend, they weren’t going overseas.”
Jonathan Jackson, 6th March 2025
