A trio of food court restaurants at the Tampa Premium Outlets is slated for completion by Oct. 5, about three weeks before the mall’s opening day.
Green Leafs, Bananas Smoothies & Frozen Yogurt, and South Philly Steaks & Fries are a package deal for Eclipse Building Corp. The South Florida-based company, with additional locations in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, is a frequent contractor at malls built by Simon Property Group, the developers behind the outlet mall at State Road 56 and the Interstate 75 interchange.
(Courtesy of Eclipse Corp.)
The mall will have 110 outlet stores including Michael Kors, Gymboree, J. Crew, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and PacSun.
Franchisee Raitom LLC hired Eclipse to build the three gourmet eateries in the mall’s food court, which represent about 40 percent of the mall’s food court.
The grouping of these particular eateries is a first for Raitom, which hopes to market them similarly at other malls.
“They all kind of complement each other,” said Todd Whalen, founder and president of Eclipse.
Green Leafs specializes in fast food, healthy dining with fresh made-to-order and signature salads, wraps, grilled paninis and homemade soups. Bananas Smoothies creates fruit smoothies and nonfat yogurt treats. South Philly serves a heartier menu with classic cheese steaks, salads, loaded potatoes and potato skins.
Eclipse is bidding on contracts for retail vendors at the outlet mall as well as an Asian-themed food court eatery, also part of Raitom’s franchises. With that contract, Eclipse would be responsible for 65 percent of the food court.
Other Eclipse clients include For Eyes, J. McLaughlin, Build-A-Bear, Fresh Healthy Café and Perfumania.
Whalen said his company takes a unique approach in its bidding by offering a two-year warranty including maintenance services. The industry standard generally is for one-year warranties, he said.
“We just keep the place looking brand new,” Whalen said.
The Oct. 5 completion date for the eateries allows time to stock the restaurants and train employees, he added.
“It’s going to be a very, very exciting shopping experience for everyone,” Whalen said.
Published August 19, 2015
