A pizza with the works for $2.50, spaghetti Bolognese for $2, fried fish with vegetables and potatoes for $2.50 and a burger with fries, lettuce and tomato for $1.50.

Welcome to The Little Venice of 1971, the year that partners Anne (Maureen) Bortoli, her husband Franco and Emilio Barbieri started what has become a Bermuda institution.

It was a time when the prices were low and the sky was the limit

Thirty years later, The Little Venice Group (the Group), which is owned by holding company MEF Enterprises Ltd, is this week, and for the rest of the year, celebrating their success by thanking those who have made the restaurant so successful by offering diners a special early menu and the chance to win a trip to Venice.

Mr. Barbieri and Mr. Bortoli worked together at the Sonesta Beach before embarking on their new venture with The Little Venice restaurant, but Mr. and Mrs. Bortoli moved to Australia some years ago.

Gioacchino (Jackie) Di Meglio was already in Bermuda and was employed with The Little Venice under the previous owners and he later became partners with Mr. Barbieri and the two are now Directors overseeing the Group's operations.

Mr. Di Meglio's brother Costanzo was also employed on the original payroll and now manages the restaurant.

Jackie Di Meglio said that before the take-over in 1971, the restaurant was a typical Italian restaurant with frescos on the wall and plastic grapes and so on, but the new management bought a touch of class and it has been a success story ever since.

Mr. Barbieri reminisces: "Two people could dine for under $10 including wine and gratuities."

He says: "Filet mignon (the most expensive item on the menu) was $5.75 and a carafe of wine was 85 cents."

Mr. Di Meglio said that when they opened, most of their business was locals, but added: "In those days, we were particularly popular with the insurance people who had just started, and in a certain way we grew up with the insurance industry ."

And he said after 30 years, they still saw many of the same customers, and he attributed their popularity to the romance of the restaurant.

"It was always a fun place," he said, "It has never been stiff. The people who come here feel at home as we have had some of the same staff for 25 to 30 years."

Waitress Millicent Hill is still with the Group after 30 years, as well as the first executive chef, Antonino Astarita who is now semi-retired.

Mr. Di Meglio said that people loved coming to eat at the restaurant and then going to the club, "2001" (now L'Oriental) which was upstairs and the most popular night-spot in town.

However, a new wave of restaurants opened in the 1980's which started to erode the customer base, so the entrepreneurs rose to the challenge and started opening other ventures, such as The Tavern on the Green to capture different niches in the market.

The building housing The Little Venice was constructed in 1954 and was the only building in town that was built as a restaurant which included a 2,000-square-foot food preparation space downstairs, the ground floor restaurant and the night-club upstairs.

"We needed a good preparation room, especially for the catering," said Mr. Barbieri.

And Mr. Di Meglio explained that the catering was an important aspect of their business and it was largely done by the Little Venice and Harbourfront, and one of the advantages of their diversified restaurants was the ability to offer a variety of menus for catered events.

"We can do from two to 2,000," said Mr. Barbieri, and he said they had recently done a formal sit down dinner for 1,200 people in Dockyard.

One of the Group's greatest assets is their loyal staff who number about 300 (from 26 countries) during the summer months, but this is lower during the quieter winter season.

Mr. Di Meglio says that despite public perception, the group's workforce is comprised of about 45 percent Bermudians, which increases during the summer.

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