A RESTAURANT owner whose friends are suffering in crisis-hit Italy has vowed to help the community here.

Franco Zitoli, 43, owns Franco’s Osteria, a pizza and pasta restaurant in Victoria Terrace, Hove.

He is offering meals to elderly and vulnerable people in isolation and hopes to help a care home in need of food.

Before the pandemic and the Prime Minister’s tight new rules, Franco’s Osteria was an eat-in restaurant and a cheery neighbourhood deli selling Italian breads, sauces and salads.

But Franco said things have changed drastically.

“I’ve had to completely change the model of my business from an Italian restaurant to a takeaway,” he said.

"Now, I have to ask customers picking up food to stand in an isolated area. They tell me what they want, I get the food ready, and I leave it on a chair for them.”

Franco is optimistic but said it has been a challenge to adapt and he is relying on his customers’ support to help him get through these hard times. His business is taking half as much money as it used to.

He hopes he will be able to make enough to pay his staff, his bills and feed his own family.

Another difficulty is making sure customers obey the rules about keeping their distance. He said: “Unfortunately, I’m having to be very strict with my customers because of what’s going on, and it’s really hard.

“It may be difficult, but on the other hand it’s very important people understand. It’s nothing personal — we have to be careful if we’re to come out of this as quick as we can.”

Franco wants his customers to understand the magnitude of the crisis. He is from Milan, one of the worst affected cities in Italy, where there have been more than 10,000 deaths and at more than 92,000 cases of the virus.

Milan has been devastated. Coffins awaiting burial are piling up in churches, intensive care units are overloaded with the sick and friends and relatives have told him they are struggling to cope.

Franco said: “Some people in the UK are treating this like a holiday. A lot of people don’t understand.

“There are certain rules we all have to respect. If we don’t, the virus will keep spreading as it has done in Milan and Lombardy. People didn’t take it seriously then this is what happened. A lot of people there warn me that people in the UK don’t know how serious this could be.

“I have a friend in Italy, a doctor. He’s working on the frontline with coronavirus patients. He says it’s the hardest time of his life. He’s seeing people die every day. I hope people here realise it’s important for all of us to take home the message about staying safe.”

Franco said that in Italy, even more restaurants and shops are shut than the UK. But he said supermarkets there are coping well.

“The supermarkets in Italy are all full of food,” he said. “There’s no shortage and when people go shopping, they have to maintain a safe distance away from everybody.

“They buy whatever they have to buy in a nice calm way. I used to go to Tesco myself, but I don’t go any more — it’s crazy.”

Franco wants readers to know he’s still running his restaurant.

He said: “It’s difficult because a lot of people don’t know we’re open — we’re trying really hard to get the message out. We have already launched to let people know that we can do delivery “I don’t know if we’ll be all right, but it all depends how busy we are. I’m on Deliveroo now and Just Eat. At the moment, I’m still going.”

And he also made an appeal to those in isolation struggling to find food.

He said: “We can look out for others in the community and help as much as we can. Anyone elderly or vulnerable at home — just phone me and I’ll bring some stock to you.

“And if you know a care home that needs some help, please let me know. We’re hoping to get in touch and supply the residents with food.”

You can contact Franco at the restaurant on 01273 329687.

At The Argus, we are championing the work of traders during the coronavirus pandemic as part of our #BackingSussexBusiness campaign. We are always interested to hear how the community is coming together in this crisis.

If you know of a local business battling to do all it can in these tough times and/or offering support to the local community, please get in touch at laurie.churchman@theargus.co.uk and rose.lock@theargus.co.uk.