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| A look at Italio's line |
While we have an abundance of great eating options here in
Central Florida there are a few brands that we're missing. One of the ones that people seem to always
bring up on missing here in Central Florida is Fazoli’s. The Italian fast food
chain experienced major expansions throughout the 1990s with Central Florida
being at the center of the expansion.
The first store outside of its home state of Kentucky was right here in
Orlando. Its 100th store was
found in Ovideo. The company was then hit
with the low carb diets crazes of the 2000’s and soon it began closing up
restaurants all over the nation. Now
there is only Fazoli’s left in Florida, found in Pensacola (two of the
locations here were transformed into a different concept that was introduced to
the region; Del Taco)
Since 2006 the restaurant has been under the ownership of
Boca Raton based Sun Capital Partners.
Sun Capital also owns many other chains, such as the Orlando based chain
Smokey Bones and Friendly’s who is going through their own downsizing. Other brands within the Sun Capital family
include Boston Market, Bar Louie, and Sweet Tomatoes.
Finally last year Fazoli’s, under the guide of its CEO Carl
Howard, began seeing profits once again.
Earlier this week at the 2013 National Restaurant
Association (NRA) Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show Howard announced a new fast-casual concept for Fazoli’s. While
the name is still awaiting a final trademark ruling the menu and concept
seems a bit familiar.
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| Italio's menu |
A customer would enter a line where they choose a piada (a
wrap like sandwich), a pasta bowl, or a salad bowl. Then the customer would select their meat,
dressings, and toppings such as croutons, fried capers, or crispy
pancetta. Then they can opt for cheeses
and a side dish such as focaccia sticks or fries.
Howard himself admitted the idea isn’t new and used Piada, an
Ohio based chain, as a successful model of the concept. Here locally we have Italio; which also seems
to be an exact copy of the concept. But
Howard points to one aspect that separates Fazoli’s concept from the others; theirs
will franchise.
The first locations for the new concept should open by end
of the year. The exact location of the
first store has yet to be set but Dallas and Denver were mentioned as possibilities. Instead of stand-alone locations the restaurant
locations will focus on end-cap locations within strip malls. No word at this
time on if the new concept has Florida in its expansion plans.
Photos from Italio Modern Italian Kitchen's Facebook
