Howard Salkow

Senior Journalist

Incompatible rent increases has forced OTZ Food to shut its doors after serving for the past 16 years as a popular location on the corner of Port Douglas Road and Barrier Street.

But the good news, according to owner Karen Fines, is she will be re-locating her business to 6 Grant Street and will operate with a different concept and under a new name.

“I cannot say when this will happen, but we’ll be managing a restaurant offering lunch and dinner along with a small bar,” said Ms Fines.

In conceding that her 16-year lease had now ended, she said a decision had to be made about the future of the business.

“The rent increases were not compatible and we made the decision to close OTZ Food, re-locate and re-establish ourselves in the town.

“We are not running away and we are now looking forward to doing something different to what we were doing,” she said.

Sisters Elizabeth and Karen Fines brought their home style cooking and excellent baked goodies with them from Sydney’s Pool Caffe to what was OTZ Food. 

The closure of OTZ Food leaves a hole in an area of the town where there are now no similar facilities that offer everything culinary, from great espresso coffee, breakfast, homemade cakes to gourmet meals. There are, however, numerous resorts within the area.

Over the past year, the shire has had to endure a number of restaurant closures. In January last year, Arabella’s and My Italian Baby suddenly shut their doors; in October, high-profile 2Fish Restaurant closed and last month Mojo’s in Mossman announced they too were closed.