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                                                                    Exhibit 31.1

           CERTIFICATION REQUIRED BY RULE 13a-14(a) OR RULE 15d-14(a)

I, Milton Liu, Chief Executive Officer of BRIAZZ, INC., certify that:

         1. I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of BRIAZZ, INC.;

         2. Based on my  knowledge,  this  report  does not  contain  any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

         3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

         4. The registrant's  other certifying  officer(s) and I are responsible
for establishing and maintaining  disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

         (a)      Designed such disclosure  controls and  procedures,  or caused
                  such  disclosure  controls and procedures to be designed under
                  our supervision,  to ensure that material information relating
                  to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is
                  made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
                  during the period in which this report is being prepared;

         (b)      Evaluated the  effectiveness  of the  registrant's  disclosure
                  controls  and  procedures  and  presented  in this  report our
                  conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
                  and  procedures,  as of the end of the period  covered by this
                  report based on such evaluation; and

         (c)      Disclosed  in  this  report  any  change  in the  registrant's
                  internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
                  the registrant's  most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's
                  fourth  fiscal  quarter in the case of an annual  report) that
                  has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
                  affect,  the  registrant's  internal  control  over  financial
                  reporting; and

    5. The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed,  based
on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial  reporting,  to
the  registrant's  auditors  and the audit  committee of  registrant's  board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

         (a)      All significant  deficiencies  and material  weaknesses in the
                  design  or  operation  of  internal   control  over  financial
                  reporting which are reasonably  likely to adversely affect the
                  registrant's ability to record, process,  summarize and report
                  financial information; and

         (b)      Any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves management
                  or  other  employees  who  have  a  significant  role  in  the
                  registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

Date: March 29, 2004

                                                       /s/ Milton Liu
                                                       ------------------------
                                                       Milton Liu
                                                       Chief Executive Officer