Driving restaurant presence to park up in Lakeland

  • 2017-07-05
Lakeland will be the location of a new Ford's Garage restaurant.

The diner specializes in craft beers and burgers, with theming based on the early days of cars. It is owned by 23 Restaurants with its headquarters in Tampa, and uses the Ford Motor Co. name since the restaurant is licensed by the motoring giant. Servers dress as car mechanics and the menu allows customers to build their own burgers with both common and specialty ingredients.

According to its representatives, the location is planned to open by late 2017. Brandon and Wesley Chapel are home to franchises of Ford's Garage, and Fort Myers has three of its own. The company is building three additional locations by the end of the year in St. Petersburg, Westchase, and Countryside.

City planner Chuck Barmby said that Lakeland Park Center near Interstate 4 is currently where the restaurant is set to go, but all of the plans are preliminary at this stage. Last year, 23 Restaurant Services President Marc Brown revealed to the Journal that constructing the stores is becoming increasingly expensive. Banks and private investors handle the costs, he said.

With many new locations opening within the span of a year, companies like Ford's Garage could use a flyer printing company to advertise in the various towns of future restaurants.