Pasco County residents looking to grab a bite to eat will have two new dining options starting this month.
One of those options, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, opened on June 6.
Chick-fil-A will open June 30.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photos)
The restaurants are side-by-side on Sun Vista Drive, in front of Tampa Premium Outlets, off State Road 56, in Wesley Chapel.
Before opening day at Cheddar’s, about 170 employees received training and worked at an invitation-only dinner session to get ready for customers.
“I think we’re excited. It’s a new destination, a new area,” said Mark Garcia, a general manager from Laredo, Texas. He was on temporary assignment to launch Cheddar’s at the Cypress Creek Town Center, a major retail center anchored by the outlet mall.
Pasco County resident John Seebach will be the new restaurant’s general manager.
Diners weren’t the only ones eager to have Cheddar’s on their radar. Garcia said about 1,500 people applied for jobs.
The restaurant seats nearly 320 people and serves meals made fresh from scratch daily. Menu items include hand-battered onion rings, grilled hand-cut salmon, homemade chicken pot pie and hot fudge cake sundaes.
“Everything is made pretty much in house,” Garcia said.
This is the first Cheddar’s in Pasco.
Next door, construction crews are busy getting Chick-fil-A primed for its opening.
Owner Britt Young previously owned a Chick-fil-A in Moultrie, Georgia.
“I’ve got family all around here,” said Young, who lives in Lutz. “We love the area.”
The chicken chain got its start in 1946 as a diner in Atlanta, opened by Truett Cathy. Cathy opened his first Chick-fil-A brand restaurant in 1967, also in Atlanta. From the beginning, Cathy kept his restaurants closed on Sundays, saying employees needed time to spend with their families.
According to the company website, Chick-fil-A has about 1,700 locations in 38 states and Washington D.C.
Published June 8, 2016
