{"id":264534,"date":"2026-02-02T22:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T22:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/264534\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T22:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T22:54:07","slug":"italian-restaurant-in-petone-closes-doors-after-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/264534\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian restaurant in Petone closes doors after 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Soprano<\/p>\n

\nSoprano on Jackson Street.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/Google Maps Street View\n<\/p>\n

A Petone Italian restaurant is being sold after nearly 20 years, following an “incredibly tough” few years for the hospitality industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The owners of Soprano on Jackson Street<\/a>, Latisha and Jonathan Dowling, posted on Facebook that the decision had not come lightly.<\/p>\n

“As heartbreaking as it is to share this news, we wanted to share with you that we have made the choice to close\/sell Soprano so we can spend more time with our families and step into a new chapter,” they said.<\/p>\n

“Hospitality has given us so much in the last two decades, but the last few years – especially COVID – were incredibly tough. Like MANY in our industry, we poured everything we had into keeping the doors open, the lights on and our people cared for.”<\/p>\n

Now was the right time to embark on something new, the couple said, adding that the restaurant was woven into their life story.<\/p>\n

“It’s where we first met, worked side by side with the previous owner, fell in love, got married, and went on to have our three beautiful children.<\/p>\n

“Today, our journey has come full circle, with our eldest now 14 and working the floor – something that fills us with more pride than words can say.”<\/p>\n

The Dowlings thanked their customers who they said were part of their family.<\/p>\n

The owners are now taking expressions of interest from prospective buyers.<\/p>\n

Their last day of business, if not sold prior, will be 31 March.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Soprano on Jackson Street. Photo: Supplied\/Google Maps Street View A Petone Italian restaurant is being sold after nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[48,138,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-264534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-current-affairs","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-podcasts","16":"tag-public-radio","17":"tag-radio-new-zealand","18":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}