Juicys Food, Starbucks, Ed’s Tavern, Wicked Cantina: Restaurant News

SARASOTA-BRADENTON, FL — Here's the latest restaurant and bar news in Sarasota and Manatee counties:

Mediterranean Tapas Restaurant Opening on Lemon Avenue

A tapas restaurant serving Mediterranean cuisine is coming to Lemon Avenue in Sarasota.
Besos will open Saturday in The Mark, a downtown condo complex, according to the Business Observer. Its owners also operate the State Street Eating House + Cocktails.

“Tapas isn’t only about taste,” Chris Voelker, Besos’ owner, said. “It’s communal; it’s passing dishes around the table and indulging in conversation with friends. It’s the social aspect along with the food that make up the overall experience.”

Sarasota Starbucks Unionizing

A Sarasota Starbucks was the 20th store in the country to file for a union election in May, Starbucks Workers United tweeted at the end of the month.

Eight workers from the store at Honore Avenue and Fruitville Road wrote a lottery to company CEO Laxman Narasimhan about their plan to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board after their store manager “was abruptly terminated” on May 15.

“Our store manager was dismissed without any explanation with a record without any corrective action,” they wrote. “We are led to believe, as partners still reeling under interim management, that our store manager was wrongfully dismissed for having a sympathetic ear to our justifiable workplace grievances and our growing inclination to achieve unionization.”

Among their grievances are working conditions, benefits, decrease in real wage and sustainability, according to the letter.

Juicys Food to Serve Fair Food

A new restaurant coming to Bradenton serves up county fair staples - deep-fried oreos, turkey legs, funnel cakes and more.

Juicys Food will open in the former Burger King location at 2319 Cortez Road W., according to the Bradenton Herald.

The company got its start in 1984 as a one-person corn dog stand, according to the Juicys website.
The business, once featured on A&E Network’s “Deep Fried Dynasty,” grew into one of the largest concession providers for fairs and other events in California.

This Bradenton eatery, operating only as a drive-thru, is the brand’s first brick-and-mortar location.

“Now that to-go orders are in higher demand than ever before, this is the perfect opportunity for Juicys to expand its footprint to the drive-thru only restaurant,” the company wrote.

6 Restaurants, Businesses Participated in “A Day Without Immigrants”

Six Sarasota- and Bradenton-area restaurants and businesses participated in the June 1 “A Day Without Immigrants” protest of new immigration law targeting undocumented workers, according to the Sarasota-Herald Tribune.

Among the businesses that closed out of protest that day were the Acapulco Tropical supermarket and restaurant, La Primavera restaurant and market, La Brisa Tacos y Marisco, BomBon Cafe, and Colombian Point Restaurant.

Restaurant Owes Worker $60,000 After Denying Medical Leave

A Bradenton Beach restaurant owes a worker $60,000 in back wages after denying them medical leave, according to a U.S. Department of Labor news release.

Investigators with the agency’s Wage and Hour Division found that Wicked Cantina, owned by The Wicked Taco Inc. in Sarasota, didn’t tell the worker about their rights to use protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act because of their medical situation.

After a brief hospitalization on March 1, 2020, the worker was released with instructions not to resume work duties until three days later on March 4, 2020, the agency said.

The day of their release, the employee went to Wicked Cantina to give a copy of the doctor’s order to the restaurant’s general manager. The manager told the employee to work despite the doctor’s orders and never told them about FMLA-protected leave.

The manager fired the worker on March 6, 2020, allegedly for excessive tardiness and spreading rumors among co-workers about the management, the agency said.

Ed’s Tavern Opening Second Location

Ed’s Tavern in Lakewood Ranch is opening a second location by the end of the year, according to the Observer.

The new location is being builtat the intersection of State Road 64 and Upper Manatee River Road/Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, according to the Observer.

The owners are optimistic about the success of the new location.

"I have zero concerns," Bob Bender said. "I am so bullish on this (new) restaurant. I am extremely confident.