CHAMPAIGN — Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano in Champaign, now the oldest place in the chain, is going to get a total new glimpse.
The cafe will close for a few months for inside reworking, setting up July 17, Controlling Partner Cassidy Hoke mentioned.
The cafe aims to reopen Aug. 6.
The revamp will change the interior’s color palate and will contain new tile flooring, lights and tables, Hoke mentioned.
The restrooms will be gutted and redone, and there will also be a new bar and have-out pickup region, she mentioned.
The challenge also will include elimination of a wall with a fire, as properly as the transformation of a private dining location into a semi-non-public area, Hoke claimed.
And a scaled-down area for private get-togethers will have 1 substantial new table in its place of smaller sized tables pushed together.
The cafe will conclude up with about the same potential, but additional of the seating will be accessible in booths, she explained.
“People truly enjoy booths,” Hoke reported.
With new tables and chairs on the way, options are to finish the use of desk linens, she mentioned.
The outdated home furniture is getting donated.
While not a whole lot will transform in the kitchen area, Hoke stated the quantity of perform getting finished would have produced it impractical to continue being open up for have-out throughout the development time period.
The Champaign Biaggi’s at 2235 S. Neil St. opened in 1999, the next place in what is now a chain of 17 Biaggi’s dining establishments.
The 1st area to open, also in 1999, was in Bloomington, but it moved to a new setting up at 3010 E. Empire St. in 2020.
Hoke said the new appear of the Champaign Biaggi’s will be very similar to Bloomington’s.
Biaggi’s current 17 locations are in Illinois, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin.