12/02/2021
Hi all!
We hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, healthy and safe!
Rumors are in abundance about a new location for Bianca’s. Because of this we wanted to give you the following update and a glimpse into what we’re doing, and how hard it has been to relocate a restaurant in 2021.
Ideally, you desire to stay in a close radius of your former spot. However, that desire was not matched with locations that were former restaurants and could accommodate 150 seats in order to keep our liquor license, (State Law). We worked diligently with an awesome broker in North Fort Myers, who for months, showed us many possible locations. When it finally came down to negotiation, the build out cost to bring units up to restaurant code, including electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc was well over our budget by thousands and thousands of dollars.
In turn we had to broaden our search.
Next stop the Cape…same thing there but with much higher rents, and little or no tenant improvement funds from the landlords. In one instance we were told we had to purchase over $65,000 in AC units which would stay with the building should we leave. In addition, permits for Lee county are backed up many months, contractors are sparse and supplies are held up in the supply chain pipeline.
As we continued to search, we have found a location that is within our financial limits and we are earnestly working with a developer to come to agreeable terms.
We realize everyone may not be happy with our choice of a location. Our desire is to make sure we can sustain a restaurant in a very unsettled time. We are in constant contact with our team and they are anxious to return to serve our delicious food to you.
The stress has been tremendous, but our desire to reopen remains steadfast.
Thank you for your patience and continued support.
All the best,
Jan & Mark
