Jubilee Group entrusted with Calypso Hotel top venue

Cafe Jubilee Group has been entrusted with the catering for one of Gozo’s favourite landmarks at the Calypso Hotel in Marsalforn.

Scheduled to open at the beginning of next month, the catering facility on the popular promenade will be renamed Murella and accommodate 100+plus patrons.

The original wood-burning oven pizzeria and cafeteria will occupy one of Gozo’s largest indoor/outdoor catering footprints and is set to grow even further if the planned area regeneration goes ahead later on this year.

Murella will be an AVPN-certified pizzeria, serving authentic Neapolitan pizza. Cafe Jubilee Group director Mario Scicluna recently underwent training in Naples to be able to uphold the certification.

“As it occupies one of the most popular sites in Gozo, we wanted Murella to appeal to patrons at any time of the day,” group chief executive officer Alex Scicluna told The Times Business. “Murella will also serve coffees, cakes and sweets, and will turn into a lounge in the late afternoon. We are confident families and young people will like what we have in store for them.”

The four-star Calypso Hotel was acquired by a group of Gozitan investors some years back. Cafe Jubilee Group was roped in as part of the strategy to bring in as much Gozitan expertise into the venture as possible.

Murella marks a return to the group’s roots in more ways than one. The Scicluna brothers, the group directors, are known to most in Gozo by their family’s nickname Tal-Murella and this latest venture is an opportunity to celebrate the family business.

This year marks 15 years since Cafe Jubilee first opened in Victoria. The cafe bistro concept has travelled well: two Cafe Jubilees were opened in Malta before the flagship was opened in Budapest, exactly two years ago. Cafe Jubilee did a successful six-month stint in Shanghai, when a mini cafe was incorporated in the Malta stand at the World Expo 2010.

“Despite the economic situation on the continent, Cafe Jubilee Budapest is doing well,” Mr Scicluna said. “The group is in a good place right now. Jubilee Foods, our home food brand, is now two years old and available locally in 20 supermarkets apart from our own three concept stores”.

“We have decided to stop travelling for the time being and return to what we know best and where we know best, Marsalforn. Murella gives us a great opportunity to set up a new venture in Gozo again, where we also had Otters restaurant besides Cafe Jubilee. It is also a great way to cater for our home market by serving traditional and authentic flavours cooked in the only wood burning pizza oven on the island. My brothers and I are looking forward to getting this project off the ground to restore this particular venue its popularity.”