End of an era as Boni closes last ice cream cafe in city

The closure of Mr Boni’s in Tollcross comes amid a disagreement between brothers Stefano and Joseph Boni about the future of the popular cafe.

Sole director and elder brother Stefano Boni has now decided to sell up the last remaining outlet on Home Street and is currently abroad.

His brother Joseph, who quit the firm three years ago, claimed there had been a split within the family over how best to take the business forward.

He said: "I’m quite upset at how this has turned out. I put a lot of my life into building up Mr Boni’s, supplying supermarkets and restaurants and building up the brand.

"Now my elder brother has decided to simply sell up. This was a real Edinburgh landmark so it is unfortunate that it has disappeared.

"If someone new had been found who was passionate about the product, who had it in his blood, then I’m sure that Mr Boni’s could have gone from strength to strength.

"It is a very strong brand and if I had still been involved I would have wanted to keep supplying our products to restaurants and supermarkets."

The move came as a shock to ice cream lovers across the city, who have flocked to Boni’s to sample its wide range of Italian ices for generations.

Mr Boni’s ice cream was started by Biagio Boni, a young Italian who came to Scotland at the beginning of the last century to escape his poverty-stricken homeland. Biagio owned the Empress Cafe in Gilmore Place and, in 1910, invited his younger brother Giuseppe to join him.

The business remained in the family and, in the 60s, the Empress closed to make way for the Quernstone restaurant. The family’s cafe took on the Mr Boni’s name during the 70s. It led to further cafes being opened in St Mary’s Street and Cockburn Street.

In the last ten years the company expanded, breaking into the lucrative supermarket trade, supplying ice cream to Safeway and other stores.

Stefano and Joseph’s father Laurence handed over the reins of the company to his eldest son three years ago.

Stefano Boni was not available for comment today on the cafe’s closure.

However, it is understood he has moved to Australia and his brother says the family is unsure of whether he plans to return to Scotland.

It is not known whether the shops are being sold as a going concern or whether Stefano Boni has any plans to open another cafe elsewhere in the city.

In recent years Stefano, who was chairman of the Edinburgh Small Business Federation, had been a major critic of the city’s strict parking regulations, claiming they had badly hit small traders.

Joseph Boni, who has carved out a successful career working for another food company, said the closure had come as a surprise to other family members. He added: "This was a family tradition so to see the cafe up for sale came as a shock.

"Stefano was sole director so it was up to him what to do. He is out of the country at the moment but I do not know whether he is away on holiday or for a longer period.

"I don’t know if our father, Laurence, knows the cafe is on the market."

One restaurant owner, who sold only Boni’s ice cream at his restaurant, said the closure had come out of the blue.

The restaurateur, who didn’t want to be named, added: "We have always sold Boni’s ice cream so it was quite a shock to find out that it had closed down. This was an Edinburgh institution and was rightly famous for the quality of its ice cream."

Recent accolades for Mr Boni’s have included special commissions from the Holyrood Road visitor attraction Our Dynamic Earth, and a prize in a national ice cream awards.

The company was asked by Dynamic Earth to come up with eight new flavours two years ago to celebrate the new millennium. And in the run-up to the millennium celebrations , Mr Boni’s also picked up the novelty gateau award in the Scottish section of the National Ice Cream Alliance awards.