This Boise restaurant hoped to last 5 years. But ‘we have decided to end it now’

A French-inspired bistro on the Boise Bench will say goodbye to its primary business model.

Petite 4, located at 4 N. Latah St., plans to pull the plug on dinner service at the end of May. Opened in 2018, the cozy restaurant had earned a loyal following.

Owners Sarah and David “DK” Kelly made the announcement on social media Thursday.

“The price of doing business in the present market has outpaced profitability,” they explained in a Facebook post. “We are a micro business without outside backing. We are not about to risk losing what we earned in a business that is so volatile right now.”

Calling the last four years an “absolute whirlwind,” the Kellys credited customers for helping Petite 4 survive the pandemic shutdown in 2020. They closed the restaurant at the end of that year to reassess, then relaunched Petite 4 months later.

“Opening back up to the public in April of 2021 brought excitement and relief,” they wrote. “It also brought the harsh realities of trying to run a restaurant during a pandemic. Everyone knows supply chain issues, employee cost, employee availability concerns, fuel costs, and food price spikes have hurt our industry, but with a tiny spot like ours those problems were exacerbated.

“Our goal was to make it five years and step away in 2023, but taking the present circumstances, and our own mental and physical conditions in mind, we have decided to end it now. We will continue to operate Coffee and Donuts on Saturdays, and offer occasional pop-ups throughout the summer.”

Thanking staff and customers, the Kellys encouraged patrons to follow the restaurant on Instagram “until we figure out our next step.”

This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 6:30 PM.