The Beachcomber Cafe closed its location on the Malibu Pier Wednesday, the restaurant’s Vice President of Operations Tad Belshe said. The restaurant opened in 2008. Belshe said a slow summer and an overall lack of foot traffic led the restaurant to close.
“We tried to stay open,” Belshe said Wednesday. “Unfortunately, visitorship wasn’t enough on the pier or in Malibu in general.”
The Beachcomber’s departure leaves two open restaurant spaces on the pier, which is owned by California State Parks. Ruby’s Shake Shack closed before the summer.
Malibu City Councilmember Jefferson Wagner, who leases the concession rights to the pier with partner Alexander Leff, said high rents also likely played a factor in the departure of Beachcomber. Wagner said he and Leff as concessionaires must return a minimum rent to State Parks. That minimum rent was set in 2002, “well before the crash of the market,” Wagner said, making the rent expensive.
Wagner said he plans to start courting potential tenants immediately about bringing a new restaurant to the pier.
“I’m going to talk to Franco Simplicio this weekend,” Wagner said. “He [co-]owns The Sunset and Moonshadows.”