Tampa Bay Towns Vie For Spaghetti Warehouse Location

BRANDON, FL — If Brandon residents get their way, the Spaghetti Warehouse will pull up roots in Ybor City and move into their community sometime in the coming months. Brandon topped a recent survey conducted by the chain’s owners, BLD Brands, to see where customers would like to see the Ybor City location move to.

Spaghetti Warehouse made headlines earlier this year when it was announced the company planned to close its only Florida location. Fans of the Ybor City eatery rallied and convinced the chain’s management that staying put was worthwhile. Even so, the owners of the popular Italian restaurant announced they do have to move from the current 1911 13th St. location in the next year or so. That announcement also signaled the kickoff a survey conducted to find out where Ybor City customers would like to see the restaurant to move.

As of Thursday, the chain had received 5,440 votes in the poll. Customers voted for a Brandon location over all other options. In fact, the community netted 1,061 votes in total. Wesley Chapel was the next closest community with 929 votes, followed by Apollo Beach at 816. Only 660 respondents said they would like to see the warehouse remain in Ybor City, the company announced in a media release.

“When we announced our decision to remain open in Tampa and the Historic Ybor City neighborhood, we promised to conduct a poll to ask people to share with us an area they would like for us to consider as part of our plans to relocate. And, we couldn’t be more excited and encouraged not only by the results, but the tremendous response we received,” said Doug Pak, president and CEO of BLD Brands, in a media release.

While Brandon and Wesley Chapel topped the list, BLD Brands noted other communities also received nods from poll participants. Carrollwood received 518 votes, Southshore 188 and Zephyrhills 98. The Port of Tampa even pulled in 35.

“In addition, 1,135 people offered suggestions with ‘write-in’ votes that included a wide variety of locations throughout the state of Florida, including, among others: Pinellas County, Orlando, Sarasota, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Lakeland and Seminole Heights.,” the media release noted.

The Ybor City location opened in 1983 and has become a Tampa favorite ever since. There are 14 Spaghetti Warehouse locations in total, including stores in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Back in March, Pak said the Ybor City site would remain open for 12 months. Just how soon the company will announce where it will relocate to remains unclear. The restaurant is still open for business in Ybor City.

And, while poll results might indicate there’s enough interest in the Tampa Bay area to support more than one location, company spokesman David Ayers told Patch that’s just not in the cards at the moment.

“There are no immediate plans at this time to open more than one location (aside from the relocation),’ Ayers said.

Photo courtesy of the Spaghetti Warehouse

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