NORTHAMPTON — The Belly of the Beast restaurant will serve its final meals on Sunday, Oct. 10, after four years in business, its owners announced Thursday.
The space at 159 Main St. will become home to a second restaurant owned by chef Michaelangelo Wescott. Wescott currently owns Gypsy Apple Bistro based in Shelburne Falls which serves French-inspired cuisine.
Husband and wife owners Jesse Hassinger and Aimee Francaes opened Belly of the Beast, a restaurant that serves locally sourced produce and uses all animal parts “from nose to tail,” in 2017. Hassinger said that weekly sales are down 50% overall since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.
“The pandemic over the last 18 months, for all businesses, has been extremely difficult,” Hassinger said Thursday. “We’re grateful for the support we’ve gotten from the community.”
When lockdowns and other public health restrictions went into effect last spring, Hassinger said he and Francaes felt compelled to stay in operation. They changed their business model to offer delivery and pickup, and served up to 125 free meals each week to families whose children could no longer get food at school.
All of the produce and meat served at Belly of the Best used to come from local farms, but that number has dropped to about 85% as a result of new pandemic-related business realities. Hassinger said he and Francaes are unwilling to buy cheaper food from national conglomerates because it would not be in line with their values.
“That was one of the things we really put our foot down about,” Hassinger said, because buying from local farms — primarily within three miles of the restaurant — supports the local economy and keeps the business’s carbon footprint low.
Belly of the Beast received a COVID-19 relief grant that has supported its operations for the last 10 months — Hassinger said they had expected the money to run out after only six months — but sales are not increasing fast enough for the business to stay open without the extra funds.
Hassinger, a candidate for Ward 4 city councilor in November against Bishop’s Lounge manager Garrick Perry, said he and Francaes are excited for Gypsy Apple Bistro to open its second location in the Main Street space. Referring to Wescott, the former sous chef at Northampton’s Green Street Cafe who opened Gypsy Apple 14 years ago, Hassinger said, “His food is amazing.”
“He has a very similar outlook as we do in terms of local farms and local food and doing interesting things,” Hassinger said.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.