Gunārs Ķirsons, founder of the catering and food retail company Lido, has purchased the Bella Bella café building in Mežaparks, where he plans to open a restaurant, investing over one million euros, Ķirsons said.
He explained that there is currently a café operating in the building, which he intends to transform. The new restaurant will be named “Daba” (Nature). Ķirsons chose this name to highlight the importance of not polluting nature in Latvia, and the restaurant will focus on offering natural foods.
Ķirsons mentioned that the full restaurant is planned to be completed by 2026. However, the first phase is scheduled to open this July in time to accommodate more visitors during the Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival. He revealed that the current café may temporarily close before the festival to renovate the kitchen.
Ķirsons did not disclose the purchase price of the café but confirmed that the total project investment would exceed one million euros, including the involvement of architects.
He also noted that there are other development projects in his future plans.
Ķirsons confirmed that he acquired the management company of the Bella Bella café in Mežaparks, RIC LLC. Thus, the current owner of RIC is “K.E.Projekti” LLC which belongs to Ķirsons.
Additionally, he founded a new company this year, “Daba GK” LLC, to develop new investment projects. The company was registered in February 2025 with a share capital of 2 800 euros, according to information from Firmas.lv.
Meanwhile, RIC was registered in 1991, with a share capital of 2 840 euros. Ownership changes were recorded in the Company Register on the 5th of February 2025, when “K.E.Projekti” became the sole owner. Previously, 55% of RIC shares were held by Oskars Krēsliņš and 45% by Laura Kārklīte.
In 2024, RIC had a turnover of 1.275 million euros and a profit of 4 848 euros.
It was previously reported that at the end of January, the Estonian entertainment and catering group Apollo Group, through its subsidiary Treeland, increased its shareholding in Lido to 96% by acquiring 21% of Lido shares from Ķirsons’ “K.E.Projekti.” As a result, Ķirsons now owns 4% of Lido shares.
At the same time, Ķirsons also stepped down as Deputy Chairman of the Lido Supervisory Board.