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“We’ll miss our customers as much as they miss us – if not more”

A Northampton restaurant has closed with immediate effect after 30 years.

GianBiaz, in Wellingborough Road, has made the difficult decision to shut down due to the “difficult economic climate” and “the difficulty in keeping up with the trends”.

Biaz Iaciofano, who ran the restaurant with his brother Gianni, said: “It’s such a shame that we’ve had to make this sad decision, but it’s something we’ve been thinking about for a while. We want to thank our customers for their ongoing support. We’ve been inundated with comments since announcing the closure. We’ll miss them as much as they miss us – if not more. The restaurant became our life.”

Biaz admitted the trends have changed massively over the past 30 years, and had to come to the difficult realisation that “he is not a young man anymore”. “Everything is so different to how it used to be,” he said, talking to Chronicle & Echo. “There is no way we could have survived for so long without the ongoing support, especially during our refurbishment.”

The customers “meant so much” to Biaz and Gianni, and it was a pleasure for them to watch people first visit as children, and now be married with families of their own.

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Biaz said: “We treated everyone the same and catered to their every need, no matter if they were in a party of two, four or even 30. There were nights I didn’t want to end and customers would stay until the last moment.”

The brother duo will now take a step back from the food industry for a short while, to take time to reevaluate and spend much-needed time with their families. “We missed a lot of growing up because of long days at the restaurant and the pandemic meant I was able to spend quality time with my family,” said Biaz. “That’s my plan now.”

Biaz did not rule out the potential for him and his brother to return to cooking – potentially in the form of workshops or pop ups. He said: “You never know.”

The building has been taken over by someone else and information on a new venture will be shared in due course.

Sad closure after 30 years for Northampton restaurant due to difficult economic climate and changing trends

You can keep up with any updates on GianBiaz’s Facebook page here.