Tampa’s Southern Luv BBQ expanding to downtown St. Pete

Grab a bib and a handful of napkins, on yarn of a fresh barbecue residing is headed to downtown St. Pete.

Southern Luv BBQ, a rapid-casual theory that debuted its first self-discipline in Tampa two years ago, is coming rapidly to the EDGE District.

Chef Essi Tadrus and a local franchisee have signed a lease for a 1,256-square-foot rental at 900 Central Avenue that was previously portion of Anytime Neatly being.

The restaurant will have seating for roughly 20 traffic indoors, with extra outdoors seating alongside Central Avenue.

The local franchisee, a St. Pete resident with greater than 30 years of restaurant expertise, has committed to opening 13 areas in some unspecified time in the future of Florida, including Clearwater, Pinellas Park, Lakeland, and South Florida.

The St. Pete self-discipline is anticipated to commence later this yr.

Apart from to to the restaurant, Southern Luv will additionally consist of a puny country retailer promoting branded potato chips, beef jerky, St. Pete-themed merchandise, and varied retail objects.

“St. Petersburg is awfully advance and dear to me,” Tadrus acknowledged in a dialog with St. Pete Rising. “It’s the accumulate my wife and I met and is full of vitality and pleasure. I’ve had my eyes on St. Pete for a basically very prolonged time.”

Southern Luv’s menu involves St. Louis-trend ribs, smoked sausage, pulled pork, 12-hour smoked beef brisket, smoked rooster, and ham, served as platters, bowls, or sandwiches.

Company can make a option from loads of rental-made sauces, including Sweet and Tangy, Sweet Carolina, Bama White Sauce, and Florida Sweet Heat.

Apart from to to the long-established menu, Southern Luv presents pick objects extraordinary to every put it on the market serves.

“Having a culinary background and flexibility, we desire to have dishes that cater namely to varied markets,” Tadrus acknowledged.

As a tribute to Tampa’s culinary heritage, Southern Luv BBQ presents its occupy address the Cuban sandwich that contains smoked pork and rental-made ham.

The restaurant’s smoked-pork Cuban sandwich positioned 2d in the World’s Easiest Gentle Cuban Sandwich competition on the 2026 World Cuban Sandwich Festival. A yr earlier, its brisket-based Cuban finished 2d in the non-veteran class.

“Within the fresh Citadel Lauderdale self-discipline, we might possibly possibly additionally have Latin-influenced objects bask in our brisket empanada, which we’ve made earlier than, and crowds loved it,” Tadrus acknowledged.

“In St. Pete, you have gotten many energetic folk who are on the dash, and we might possibly possibly per chance be ready to produce lighter objects bask in smoked rooster Caesar salad, a cucumber and tomato salad, and fruit.”

Aspects equivalent to coleslaw, potato salad, and macaroni and cheese will additionally be accessible.

Cakes consist of scratch-made banana pudding, a minute item that usually sells out snappy.

To drink, Southern Luv BBQ will provide iced tea, Coke products, beer, and wine.

To withhold consistency across areas, most of Southern Luv’s meals will seemingly be willing at a central production facility earlier than being delivered to particular particular person restaurants.

The approach differs from veteran barbecue restaurants, which usually rely on clear people who smoke.

“It’s no longer easy for a barbecue accumulate to commence in a fresh market with large buildouts, excessive overhead prices, late carrier, and minute self-discipline flexibility,” he acknowledged. “Our proprietary kitchen operations model allows us to nick wait on out these prices and focal point on the guest expertise that begins on the window.”

Tadrus, who lives in the Tampa Bay accumulate, traces his passion for barbecue wait on to childhood. He had his first style of barbecue at age four at Rudy’s Nation Store and Bar-B-Q in Citadel Hood, Texas, the accumulate his father was stationed.

“As an Military brat, at any time when my dad would advance home from deployment, we would have these huge barbecues bringing the household together,” Tadrus acknowledged. “I right desire to raise folk together and rep pleasure from scrumptious meals.”

Tadrus later traveled in some unspecified time in the future of the southern United States, discovering out regional barbecue kinds and ways earlier than opening his first restaurant at age 19.

Pending permits and interior renovations, the restaurant is anticipated to commence by November or December subsequent to a future BankUnited branch.

“It will additionally seem bask in this franchise growth took accumulate in a single day, however this has been two decades in the making to rep it to fruition,” Tadrus acknowledged. “We have every plan to let St. Pete know we’re there to attend them.”

The restaurant will firstly be commence from 11 a.m. to eight p.m. Monday thru Saturday.