The owners of a popular Watford café have expressed their delight after opening a new bigger town centre restaurant.
The Portuguese and Brazilian family that runs Gabriel's by Vitor Galiano in Vicarage Road have now opened Our Brother's in Market Street.
Brothers Térsio Soares, 22, and Mateus Costa, 24, chose the name partly because they are running the business together, but also because Watford’s Portuguese and Brazilian community is “like a family”.
Térsio said: “This is very important to us as we want everyone to feel comfortable when coming into our restaurant, whether they be from a Portuguese and Brazilian background or not.
“The café was very busy, customers were asking us to move to a bigger place so when we got the opportunity we moved to Market Street and we are very happy with it.”
He explained that regulars have already enjoyed the extra space, especially as Our Brother’s is big enough to host events like parties, which was an area where they lost out on business at the end of last year.
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The business has already enjoyed success after pushing marketing and inviting Watford’s mayor Peter Taylor to cut the ribbon, and it has been serving halal food as Watford’s Muslim community has taken to their Portuguese and Brazilian dishes.
“People are even coming from other towns and cities now,” Térsio added.
“We are trying to serve great Portuguese and Brazilian food, but we want everyone to come here.”
Opening a second business while maintaining Gabriel’s, which is now becoming more of a snack bar, has been a challenge but the brothers have enjoyed splitting time between both.
Térsio continued: “It has been very hard but we have great people.
“My mother, father and cousins all work in the businesses, there are other great people working too but it has mostly been my family.”
The opening hours are 6.30am to 10pm on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Sundays it will open from 8am to 9pm, and Tuesdays it is shut.
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