The owner of a popular chain of tapas restaurants has defended his franchise after two of his branches closed and another was hit with a poor hygiene rating.

Julian Ramirez, from Strood, was speaking after Rico Sabor in Dover shut, his Gravesend restaurant received one star from council inspectors and the Rochester building where his Mexicano was based was repossessed.

The 39-year-old, who has another Rico Sabor in Greenwich, says a number of factors are behind the failings of his business over the last few months.

In October 2021, Julian opened a Rico Sabor in Dover with a heated roof terrace and cocktail lounge at the St James' retail and leisure park.

However, in February it was forced to close after it was served with a notice to leave the premises.

Julian said: "We opened at St James' retail park as it was a beautiful location, a beautiful retail park, and an amazing opportunity for someone who has a vision.

"During the first three months, it was very good. But, unfortunately, with Brexit and then the pandemic it became really tough.

"With all the traffic in the area because of the EU changes and Port of Dover issues people just stopped coming.

"We lost customers from places like Sandwich and Canterbury because they didn't want to sit in traffic for hours.

"But on top of that, from January 2022 onwards, there was a lot of negativity in the town about the immigrants.

"All of those factors contributed to the problems with the Dover restaurant – which was an amazing place with amazing facilities and great food.

"The locals were enjoying it and we tried to keep prices down but even that became an issue as the cost of living crisis began and even things like electricity got expensive.

"As an industry, we are suffering a lot. So it's been 18 months of pretty much constant battles.

"When you open your business you prepare yourself for a challenge in the first year, two years, maybe three years.

"But to prepare yourself for what actually happened in Dover is something no business will survive.

"Because of those reasons, I was already having discussions about closing the restaurant anyway.

"So then for the landlord to suddenly issue us with a forfeiture notice without speaking with us was a shock."

Julian said he did not know why the landlord slapped them with a notice especially after he gave a large deposit for the unit.

He said: "We'd been trading for all that time and not once had they said let's sit down and chat about what is going on, they just handed us the notice.

"But because the Dover restaurant wasn't doing well we accepted it.

"We were going to lose a lot of money because we invested very heavily in Dover, so in a way, it was a relief on the rest of the businesses we own in Kent.

"We had an amazing team in Dover and that's what hurt me the most, losing the team, and Dover wasn't close enough to Rochester so I could transfer them."

Julian opened his Rochester High Street restaurant in 2019, three years after he opened his first Rico Sabor in Gravesend.

In 2022, he branched out with a Mexican eatery, Mexicano, which opened in Rochester just a few doors away from his other business.

However, last month it too was repossessed by the landlord.

But Julian says this isn't the end for the Mexican-themed restaurant – and it could reopen in the same premises.

He explained: "We have been in talks with the landlord and are looking to reopen soon.

"The only reason we closed was because we couldn't get staff to work there and we had to concentrate on our main restaurant in Rochester which is an amazing restaurant with a five-star hygiene rating.

"Rochester is an amazing venue, people love going there and we just had to concentrate on that because we couldn't afford to lose track of that."

Julian hopes his Mexicano will reopen in the next few weeks but with a new theme.

He continued: "To keep things more interesting for the new Mexicano we're going to open it as a Mexican Cantina bar and we're going to base it on margaritas.

"So there will be different flavours of margaritas and the food will be very authentic."

Julian said he'll be spending more time in Rochester to concentrate on growing the business and looking after his customers.

He added: "I'm looking forward to opening the Mexican again, hopefully, it will be within the next few weeks."

Last month, Julian's business was hit by another disaster.

His Gravesend branch, the first restaurant he opened as a young chef, was scored a one-star food hygiene rating by Gravesham council.

It received low marks after the inspector found out-of-date chicken and seafood, broken lights and a roof leak which was causing water to pool in the kitchen.

However, Julian has now defended his restaurant saying the score was unfair.

He said: "The building that the Gravesend Rico Sabor is in is Grade II-listed and was abandoned for many years.

"It was part of the Town Hall and has prison cells within it.

"But when I opened the door, I just fell in love with it and I visualised what I wanted to do with Rico Sabor and that is where everything started.

"Hygiene is expected and as a chef, I take pride in what we do. When we opened people were coming in loving the food, loving the tapas, loving the fajitas and they'd come back every week.

"However, as it is Grade II-listed we can't do any of the repairs on the building ourselves, Kent County Council (KCC) has to.

"So with regards to the leak in the kitchen, there is nothing I can currently do about it.

"I reported it to KCC about a year ago and although they visited they still haven't repaired it.

"My manager told the inspector this but they didn't take it into account."

A KCC spokesman confirmed Rico Sabor in Gravesend is in a building owned by KCC and the council is responsible for external repairs.

He said: "These were in hand at the time of the food inspection and have since been carried out.

“However, the recommendations in the food hygiene report did not state that the repairs were a serious item which needed urgent attention as the inspector noted this matter was being addressed at the time.

“The inspector was more concerned with hygiene issues within the kitchen itself, for which the tapas bar proprietor is responsible.”

One of the other things flagged by the inspector was damage to seals on fridges and uncertainty about whether part of a walk-in fridge was being used as a freezer.

But Julian disputes the findings.

He said: "There are two seals on the fridges, internal ones that keep the fridge closed and the temperatures right, and external ones which make no difference to the temperature of the fridge.

"Over the years the external seal is showing signs of wear and tear, but the inner seal is completely fine and has no effect on the temperature of the fridge at all.

"So the comments the inspector has made don't make any sense.

"Ok, it's one of those things that, aesthetically, it will look better if you change it but it's not something functional that will have an effect on the food.

"As we cook everything from fresh we also rarely used the freezer so I converted it into a fridge.

"By reading the temperatures on the outside of the fridge the inspector should have seen that."

Julian's restaurant was also marked down after the inspector found out-of-date chicken and seafood.

He claims, as his manager did in the report, that it was a supply issue – no further explanation was given.

Julian is yet to reapply for a re-inspection but plans to do so soon.

A Gravesham council spokesman said: "Inspectors report on what they see and are told at the time of the inspection, and we are satisfied that our inspection report accurately reflects this.

“We have yet to receive a response from the business owner to our invitation to him to comment on our report and advise officers of timescales required for the improvements highlighted.

“Responsibility for providing a safe and hygienic food business sits with the owners and operators of the relevant premises, including arranging any repairs required.”