A PROUD businessman could be set to come full circle with the opening of his brand new Italian restaurant, which would take over the site of a former Frankie and Benny’s.

Enrico La Licata, who has set his sights on opening De Italian Sausage at the vacant Frankie and Benny’s on Southchurch Road, Southend, started with the chain back in 2013 when he first moved to Basildon.

Originally from Rome, Enrico now runs Monti Ristorante Italiano with his family in Southend, and with the help of loved ones is looking to take his business venture one step further.

If given the green light, De Italian Sausage is set to put a quirky spin on traditional Italian restaurants as we know them, instead serving a wide variety of Italian sausages and homemade burgers with different Italian cheeses.

Enrico said: “This is something a bit different from what you’d usually expect.

“We want to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, with all sorts of options for customers.

“This includes chicken sausage, lamb sausage, pork sausage, you name it.

“We’ve had Monti’s since 2019 and my cousin came from Italy just before the last lockdown.

“We’ve been making the sausages from here, but they were so good we thought it deserves its own business.”

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A license application has also been submitted to Southend Council to serve alcohol at the restaurant between 8am and 2am, with the sale of “late night refreshments” on and off the premises included in proposals.

It is understood the unit has been empty since Frankie and Benny’s left in 2018.

He added: “We hope this will be a different spin on Italian food, coming with a bit of a twist.

“It’s the first of many we’re hoping to open up.

“I moved to England on my own in 2013 and worked in Basildon - the Frankie and Benny’s there was actually my first job here, so it is really like things are coming full circle.

“It’s where I started and now where I’ve ended up.”