Tampa Spaghetti Warehouse Staying Put, Owners Say

TAMPA, FL — Vocal fans of the Spaghetti Warehouse’s Ybor City location are getting the credit for saving the eatery from the chopping block. Thanks to hundreds of emails and an “overwhelming response” the restaurant is staying open.

News of the impending closing of the chain’s only Florida store broke earlier this week. It was met with swift disapproval from fans, company officials said Wednesday.

“Our management team was so moved by the overwhelming response and tremendous support we’ve received from the community that we made a last-minute decision to stay open,” Doug Pak, president and CEO of BLD Brands, the parent company that owns Spaghetti Warehouse, said in a media release. “Our guests gave us a renewed reason why we should exist and there is a meaning and purpose in what we are doing.”

The kitschy restaurant is located in an old cigar factory at 1911 13th St. in historic Ybor City. It’s been a part of the neighborhood for more than 30 years, serving its first customers at that location back in 1983.

While Pak said Spaghetti Warehouse in now in Tampa to stay, the location will eventually have to change. BLD Brands has committed to keep the Ybor City site open for another year while it looks for a new home in the community.

"Spaghetti Warehouse is about celebrations and memories and just being together," Pak said. "We have been a special place for so many people, for so long; it means a great deal to all of us to remain open. We’re genuinely excited about the future and our commitment to relocating…and you can be sure that we’re coming back with a fresh, new look and feel and menu in 2017."

To help Spaghetti Warehouse find a new spot, the company plans to put up a polling site in the restaurant where guests can offer their location suggestions. The company also hopes to get ideas for a new prototype Spaghetti Warehouse concept it’s considering. The chain also has locations in New York, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

For more information about the restaurant, visit it online at www.meatballs.com.

Are you happy to hear Spaghetti Warehouse is staying put? Let us know by commenting below!

Photo courtesy of the Spaghetti Warehouse

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