Don Pedro’s Peruvian Bistro on the south side is hitting the road — literally.
The 5-year-old Southgate Shopping Center restaurant is rolling out a mobile operation in September after closing shop July 22 when it couldn’t reach an agreement on a new lease with its California-based landlord.
“We actually had a great business, but there were issues that needed to be taken care of with the landlord,” owner Peter Gonzvar said. “We had been negotiating since February.”
Gonzvar said his lease was set to expire Aug. 31 and the landlord, Red Mountain Retail Group, wanted to raise his rent by $10 a square foot — a rate that Gonzvar said was more in line with rents downtown and in central Tucson.
“I’m not going to pay an additional $10 per square foot on the south side,” he said.
Red Mountain’s Phoenix-based agent Carol Harder said the company actually wanted to maintain the rates Gonzvar had been paying since opening in 2010. She said Gonzvar wanted the landlord to reduce the rate by $10 a square foot.
Harder said Gonzvar was current on his lease payments when he closed.
Gonzvar opened Don Pedro’s Peruvian Bistro at 3386 S. Sixth Ave. six years after he had launched the family-owned restaurant in Rocky Point, Mexico.
The restaurant, tucked at the entrance of the plaza, had had success including in the summer months when business tends to evaporate in Tucson, he said.
“We are actually in our best time,” he said.
Gonzvar said his mobile operation will undergo city inspections next week and he hopes to have it up and running by late September. In addition to operating as a food truck, he will do catering, he said.
Meanwhile, he has hired an agent to scout possible locations downtown and in central Tucson.
“We will still move forward until we find a location,” Gonzvar said.
Don Pedro’s was one of two Peruvian restaurants in Tucson. The other is Inca’s Peruvian Cuisine at 6878 E. Sunrise Drive.
