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Carytown restaurant closing, owners Don’t Look Back

Posted at 12:54 PM, May 17, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-17 12:54:55-04

RICHMOND, Va. — In the midst of reopening their former Carytown taco shop in new Scott’s Addition digs, the owners of Don’t Look Back are shutting down their other restaurant on Cary Street.

Best Friends Forever on Friday is closing its shop at 2915 W. Cary St., where it launched about a year ago as Eleven Months.

Co-owner Hamooda Shami said the closure wasn’t a function of BFF’s performance, but rather the need to focus on the brisk business they’ve experienced at Don’t Look Back Triple, the recently opened reincarnation of their Carytown taco shop that was displaced 10 months ago by a fire.

“We were in the black; the restaurant was performing well,” Shami said of BFF. “We just didn’t anticipate that we would be so slammed when we opened Don’t Look Back Triple … it’s been relentless.”

He is working with a local, independent operator to take over the Carytown location, but did not disclose details about the pending transaction.

Shami and business partner Nate Gutierrez opened Don’t Look Back Triple about a week ago in the long-dormant Triple Lounge space at 3306 W. Broad St. in Scott’s Addition – drawing in lines of taco fans after the restaurant’s 10-month hiatus.

“We’re happy because people didn’t forget about us,” Shami said. “Usually after 10 months, that’s it.”

Shami said the volume at the new space placed tremendous demand on staff, prompting him to shutter BFF and shift its remaining employees to the Scott’s Addition joint.

“Having to let go of Best Friends is bittersweet, but I’ve been in the restaurant industry for a long time, and after what we experienced at Don’t Look Back Triple, closing Best Friends was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make.”

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