Bellizzi, a 24-year-old Mount Kisco Italian restaurant known for its game room and family-friendly fare, will soon transform into a millennial-centric food hall with international options.
Owner Isi Albanese, who has spent most of his life in Mount Kisco after moving from Italy as a child, said the restaurant used to appeal to baby boomer mothers who would take their children to Bellizzi to eat and play. With more mothers working and children bringing their iPads to the table, use of the arcade has been in decline over the past three or four years.
“We don”™t see the mommy groups, and we don”™t see the kids playing as much games,” he said. Since 2008, people also go out to eat less, Albanese said.
- Owner Isi Albanese at Bellizzi in Mount Kisco, an Italian restaurant that will be renovated to house an international food hall. Photo by Danielle Brody
He has made changes throughout the years to adapt, like adding physical games such as air hockey and closing part of the arcade room in 2013. Still, the young adults who once played and celebrated birthday parties at Bellizzi perceive the restaurant as a kids”™ place and don”™t come in, Albanese said.
“We said, you know, what can we do in order for us to still be a great place for the community?” he said. “Keeping it the same and making a smaller game room and the families and stuff, it doesn”™t work anymore.”
He aims to attract millennials by completely changing the concept of the business. This summer, he plans to turn the 4,000-square-foot Main Street restaurant into a fresh-casual, international food hall called Exit 4, where he will serve his own Italian food and welcome eight or nine other vendors.
“It is hard in a way, but if we were to name this Bellizzi food hall, it wouldn”™t work,” he said. “In order for us to be successful here, we totally have to change the name and totally have to change everything.”
Albanese, who has taken on other culinary ventures ”” he co-owns Frannie”™s Goodie Shop with his wife in Yonkers and Mount Kisco, YoArt in The Plaza Food Hall in Manhattan, a pizza truck with Mount Kisco”™s Village Social and Grand Central Market in Somers ”” has been researching food halls for the past year.
While there are food halls in New York City like Eataly, Chelsea Market and Hudson Eats, none exist yet in Westchester, he said. Albanese said his food hall will serve made-to-order, chef-prepared food. Unlike urban food halls, where people tend to eat individually, Exit 4 will feature communal seating in the middle, fostering an environment for social gatherings and sharing food.
He plans to keep his counter in one half of the restaurant, changing the current menu and design to add a bar with local beer and wine on tap, a charcuterie with local meats and fresh cheese, salad and roasted vegetables, rice and quinoa bowls and fresh pasta.
The other half of the restaurant, which houses more seating and the game and party rooms, will become home to the 10-by-8-foot vendor spaces. Every vendor will be responsible for building their space, which Albanese said will cost $40,000 to $60,000.
- A rendering of Exit 4 food hall.
Mt. Kisco Seafood has already signed on to offer a raw bar, sushi and lobster rolls, Albanese said. He is looking to fill the other spots with vendors serving barbecue, Middle Eastern cuisine, tacos, ramen noodles or grilled meats. Exit 4 options will also depend on what new restaurants opening nearby plan to serve.
The food hall is a lower-cost, higher-margin opportunity for chefs or restaurants wanting to start or expand business. With costs of operating so high, restaurants are often left with 5 to 10 percent in profits, Albanese said. In a food hall, vendors can make up to 30 percent in profits, he said. By sharing space, vendors will need less people operating their stations and will split the costs of rent, staff (like busboys, runners and dishwashers) and advertising. All vendors will be included in the food hall”™s delivery and catering options.
Albanese said he hopes to start construction in June. He expects it to cost about half a million dollars to renovate the space, possibly build the entrance out 5 1/2 feet (pending approval from the town planning board), knock down the center wall and add plumbing and electrical. He will update the aesthetic, replacing the murals, fun house mirror and popcorn stand with barn wood, brick, soft colors and street signs.
He is working with financial partner Jeff Friedlander, of New Rochelle, to handle marketing and social media.
He said generally, customers”™ only concern is that he”™s closing, which is not the case. He plans to remain open for almost the entire time while renovating and hopes to reopen as Exit 4 in mid-July.
“The kids”™ side is probably going to be the first to go,” he said.
He said while his restaurant has become part of history, the change is necessary to appeal to young people.
“I”™ve always said I want to be here for when my grandkids want to come in here,” he said. “But times have changed, and you”™ve got to kind of accept that it”™s not what it used to be. The new food, the new age, the way people see things is different.”
