Food + Beer prepares to open Lakeland restaurant Aug. 21 off South Florida Avenue

LAKELAND — Food + Beer is preparing to open its Lakeland restaurant next week off South Florida Avenue. Its name may be simple, but it hopes to prove its food is anything but.

Owners Casey Daniels and Mike Whalen are expanding their Sarasota-based sports bar into a sixth location in Lakeland's Merchants Walk at 3615 S. Florida Avenue, Ste 1350.

"We're a sports bar in a lot of ways, but not in the frozen food kind of way," Whalen said. "We have a lot of unique dining options and everything is made from scratch."

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Daniels, 46, and Whalen, 41, met while working as restaurant managers for various corporate chains and developed a friendship. The duo bounced ideas off each other and gradually developed a concept of their own. Food + Beer was launched in 2018.

"When we first started, it was so simple it's stupid," Daniels said. "We didn't want to confuse people, so we called it Food + Beer. We wanted people to know we were a restaurant who served beer and food."

While the restaurant serves burgers, wings and its "obligatory buffalo chix' sandwich," its menu had gradually expanded and become more complex over time, Whalen said. Wings can be served tossed in homemade PB+J sauce. The "You Jel?" burger comes topped with a homemade chipotle cream cheese and jalapeño pepper jelly with bacon and roasted jalapeño.

"We are always trying different things and bringing in different things," Whalen said.

Food + Beer will have a seasonal aspect to its menu with specialty dishes and cocktails that rotate four times a year, Whalen said. It will have 16 beers on tap, a full wine list and liquor license to serve up cocktails people have come to expect at weekend brunches. Vegetarian and vegan options are also available, including the plant-based Impossible Burger.

"That's the beauty of a sports bar, we can be a sports bar when it's convenient," Whalen said. "We are the neighborhood spot."

Football fans will find 38 flat-screen TVs inside the restaurant to watch the big game. Whalen said the focus shifts to taco and tequila Tuesdays before trivia contests take over on Wednesday night.

The pair said they were attracted to Lakeland in the Tampa Bay area while still short drive from Sarasota County - all due to its rapid growth while maintaining that small-town atmosphere.

"People were telling us we should open in downtown St. Pete and naming all the cool places that they've been," Whalen said. "I want to be in a community where people are living there, working-class people like ourselves and they are the people you see at lunch, then out Friday night with family."

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The restaurant will take over the storefront briefly occupied by HomeCourt, a restaurant opened by NBA Hall-of-Famer Tracy McGrady. It opened in February 2021 during the COVID pandemic and shut down 11 months later.

Daniels said he isn't concerned, knowing firsthand how difficult it was to open a restaurant during the COVID era.

"Some people have told us it's not a good location," he said. "I reply, 'Well you should see our others, this is a good location compared to some of them.'"

Food + Beer will open at 4 p.m. Aug. 21 serving dinner on the first day. The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. 7 days a week to start, according to Whalen, with changes possible over time. It hopes to attract a late-night crowd with an arcade featuring Skee-ball, basketball and driving games. Sunday brunches will kick off at 10 a.m. and feature bottomless, build-your-own mimosas.

Guests will have the option for outdoor seating along the storefront screened off by planters. There may be a small outdoor lounge section, Whalen said, as the area was in the process of being set up and designed.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Food + Beer opens its sixth restaurant in Lakeland Aug. 21