Bricco in downtown Kent opened in 2014 and was bought by Dave Sharp in May 2019. After years of service, including surviving through the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bricco shut its doors Aug. 30 for the last time.  

Sharp, the owner of Bricco, said the restaurant had to close due to rent prices being too high and sales starting to dip.

“There was really nothing we could do. We tried to negotiate with the landlord a million times. I told them when I took over the place in 2019 that the rent was too high in that location. It was double the amount of what everyone else was paying in town. They stuck to their guns,” Sharp said. “I told [the landlord] it would probably eventually bankrupt us and it did.” 

There are no plans in the future for the owners of Bricco Kent, as Sharp tried to negotiate with the landlord to try to get out of their lease cleanly, providing options for other tenants to take over the place. 

The goal of Bricco was always to provide the best dining experience guests could receive. 

“It’s incredibly difficult in the restaurant industry because of the staffing turnover rate,” Sharp said. 

There were some negatives to owning a restaurant in the downtown Kent area, according to Sharp. 

“I definitely won’t miss the parking tickets, and I definitely won’t miss the festivals that hurt our business,” he said.  

There is one Bricco left open right now, which is located in Fairlawn in a Holiday Inn Express. There is an additional location, Pub Bricco, on Merriman Road in Akron, which was taken out by a flood Aug. 8. Sharp is navigating insurance and trying to get the location to open up as soon as possible. 

“My favorite memory of the Kent location is the people I met,” Sharp said. “I met a lot of good people and had a lot of good regulars that were part of the faculty and the educational system at Kent State.”

Lindsay Collier is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].