York Town News
Fazio's closes for the next two months as the search for a new location continues
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - It was not a decision that came easily for Annette Fazio.As of Sunday, Feb. 18, Fazio's Italian Restaurant has closed for the next two months to allow the restaurant's owners time to reassess its current situation and plan for the future.
"There was nothing easy about this decision," Fazio said on Sunday, explaining the decision to close was one that had to be made for the future of the business.
"I've tried to hang on for the employees' sake," she said.
The adjacent restaurants, LaStalla Pizza and the Sawtooth Tavern, will remain open for the time being, she explained. It the restaurant that bears her name, and serves the full Italian meals that are more costly to prepare, that will close now as Fazio and her nephew Andy Fazio, who runs the restaurant with her, continue their search for a new location.
The Woodbridge Avenue site that houses the three restaurants is for sale, Fazio confirmed.
"I'm going to stay in York," she said. "We're looking for a cozy spot."
Her hope, she said, is to be able to keep as many staff members as possible through this temporary closing and the plans to move the restaurant.
At this point, Fazio said, she and her nephew will reevaluate in two months. Ideally, she said, she hopes the Woodbridge Road property will be sold and she will have found a new, smaller location in York where she can reopen Fazio's.
Also, for the time being, LaStalla and the Sawtooth Tavern will remain open.
"Andy really wants to keep Fazio's alive," she said of her nephew's work with the business.
And for any who know at all of the Fazio family history, that is not a surprise. After all, this is in their blood. Fazio and her nephew can trace their heritage back through generations to her great-grandparents' pasta and bread factory.
"It's brutal," Fazio said of the decision to close - even on a temporary basis.
If the building does not sell and she and her nephew do not find a smaller location in York, she said her plan at this point is to reopen at the current site in April or May for the summer months when business is sure to pick up.
Fazio said the hardest part of this decision was telling her employees last week that Fazio's would close as of Sunday. She said one employee's reaction was especially touching.
"She told me she knew I would never do this unless I had to," Fazio said.
She said she is waiting to see what happens in the two months ahead, with a hope that a combination of the eventual sale of the Woodbridge Road property and a new location for Fazio's will make the difference.
The Woodbridge Road property includes two acres and three buildings and was recently before the Planning Board and received preliminary approval for a new office building on the site.
The site has not been formally listed for sale at this time, Fazio said, as she and her nephew are hoping to sell the parcel through networking contacts.
"We just want to keep Fazio's alive, and we don't want to put it anywhere but York," she said.
