Owners Developing Italian Concept After Closing Boca
Owner Jasmin Reyes Scott said the new concept should open in August.
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Fans of Boca Mexican Grill were surprised Sunday when the restaurant posted on its Facebook page that it would be closing. However, owner Jasmin Reyes Scott said that doesn’t mean there won’t be a restaurant at 1669 Spring Road.
“We are in the process of hashing out a new concept,” she told Smyrna-Vinings Patch in an email. “I've gotten advice from a couple of ‘heavy hitters’ in the restaurant industry, and both told me to change the concept until it works. They did it themselves. It's more cost-effective than running in negative numbers.”
Boca’s website revealed that the new venture will be an “Italian trattoria concept.” Scott and co-owner Paolo Tondo are no strangers to this style as they’re also the owners of Taverna Fiorentina in Vinings.
“I found Boca to have been one of the easier restaurants to market, but Mexican food is very expensive (more so than Italian food),” Scott said. “There has to be more drinking, that's where you increase margins. Tricky business trying to be a family restaurant.”
Boca served beer and wine, but did not have a license to serve liquor. Inside Smyrna city limits licenses to serve beer and wine are $579 each, but a license to serve liquor is $3,730. Andrea Hall, the city of Smyrna’s community development coordinator, said this fee is comparable to that of other jurisdictions.
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In This article
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BOCA Mexican Grill
1669 Spring Rd SE, Smyrna, GA -
Taverna Fiorentina
3324 Cobb Pkwy SE, Atlanta, GA
Smyrna Jonquil
12:16 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
I hate to hear this. We have too many choices of Italian restaurants in the area. I enjoyed something different...Latin Cuisine.
CW
7:11 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I too am not as happy with this idea. If we want Italian, we will go to Taverna Florentina....I like the very casual atmosphere, and the $1 tacos on Tuesday. I hope they still have the same Sangria...it was great.
Amy
11:54 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I really feel like the location was more of a problem than the format. I would never have figured out where they were except that I went by on the way to get my oil changed at JC Automotive.
Larry
1:26 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
The location's parking lot could use a makeover, no matter what type of business is located there.
Jasmin Reyes Scott
10:22 am on Friday, June 29, 2012
We are leaning towards a Seafood Italian Restaurant, with very comfortable price points. It will be different from Taverna Fiorentina in that respect, we understand that there are "Italian" restaurants around, but none come close to our quality and expertise. We will take the concerns about the driveway and street appeal to our landlord. We are willing to share the costs with him. Thank you for the comments.
Skiime
3:19 pm on Friday, June 29, 2012
I agree...the location is the only reason I can't see them being successful. I would love to see some new businesses come in to that block and re-create it. If someone were to say tear down the old car wash and build a nice restaurant, I'd probably go every other week or so. I think one reason Rev coffee across the street is doing so well is that it took a dump of a building and really made it cool to go to. If this restaurant could do the same thing, I say more power to you. Unfortunately, the building itself is just too small and nasty. Sorry, but it's the truth.