A new Seminole Heights food hall, Pepper Lunch’s exact Tampa Bay location and more local food news

If you’ve driven by Florida Avenue’s former Little Care Bears daycare recently, you may have noticed the speedy construction happening on the Seminole Heights building.

The owner of NYC-based chain Champion Pizza Hakki Akdeniz tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that a brand new food hall is slated to open out of the former plaza at 4205 N Florida Ave.

Records from the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser show that the 5,184-square-foot Seminole Heights strip mall was purchased for $750,000 in 2021 by 4205 Florida Ave LLC, an entity owned by Chong Yo, Akdeniz’s business partner and co-owner of Tampa's various Champion Pizza locations.

Both Akdeniz and Yo tell CL that their new food hall will boast 8-9 different concepts—from Korean street food and Japanese fusion to Vietnamese fare and American offerings like pizza and smashburgers.

Since the former strip mall is in the middle of a complete build out, it’s hard to pinpoint a projected opening date, although Yo is confident that it will be open by the end of the year.

Japanese fast-casual chain Pepper Lunch to open in Pinellas Park this fall

There are more than 500 Pepper Lunch locations across the word, but the first ones in the Southeastern U.S. will be in Florida. Last week, the Japanese-born experiential fast-casual teppanyaki concept announced that its first Tampa Bay location hopes to open in Pinellas Park by September. The restaurant at 4699 Park Blvd. will pack 38 seats into a 1,435-square-foot dining room, with 25 more seats on the 500-square-foot patio.

Free beer returns to Busch Gardens Tampa this summer

Since nothing beats the combination of lagers and roller coasters, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is once again bringing back its best attraction – free beer. Last week, the park announced that from now until "a limited time" annual pass holders who are 21-and-over can score two free 7-ounce beers per visit, while guests with regular admission can score one free beer.

Last year, the free beer ended on July 20. The free beers will be available at Orang Café in the Jungala area of the park from 11:00 a.m. to one hour prior to park closure.