As the COVID-19 pandemic forced untold numbers of restaurants to shutter or cut back to survive in the past two years, Gjinovefa “Gina” Luari expanded her hip “Place 2 Be” restaurant from one to three locations.
Even as the lingering virus continues to shake the prospects of pandemic-weary restaurant entrepreneurs, 30-year-old Luari has ambitions to open five more restaurants in 2022.
Luari’s family fled a society in upheaval in Albania 24 years ago, when she was 6. Her father began washing dishes in a Rocky Hill diner the day after arriving in America. A decade later, he bought the place.
Even as a teenager, Luari was a big part of her parents’ success, using her proficiency in English to help manage the restaurant and its business relations. She shares her parents’ immigrant drive, coupled with a keen millennial sensibility, keeping her Place 2 Be restaurants attractive to a diverse crowd.
Heavy investments in the restaurants’ culture and online marketing kept her Hartford and West Hartford locations busy through the pandemic. Now, Luari is working to replicate that success in New Haven and Springfield, Mass. She also plans to open three restaurants outside the Place 2 Be brand in Hartford this year.
