Tampa Bay’s Fresh Kitchen now open in Boca
There is a new addition to the expansive list of fast casual dining concepts in Boca Raton. Fresh Kitchen located in the Park Place retail center on North Military Trail opened last week.
Fresh Kitchen is a Tampa Bay original by the Cicc io Group, which focuses on health-andwellness-oriented restaurants.
“We needed a place that would be convenient and healthy. We made t h i s f o r o u r s e l ve s , we weren’t really thinking about: would this be popular or would that be popular? We loved everything about it and it was a true passion project for us and then it just blew up,” said co-founder Steven Lanza.
Lanza said menu options are 100 percent gluten-free, featuring hormone- and antibiotic-free meats, house-made sauces and a menu that changes with the seasons. The seasonal veggie for spring currently is an herb roasted cau- liflower and the seasonal protein is pesto chicken, for example.
“We spent about t wo years traveling around the country to get ideas. ... We were in California, Boston, New York, all over,” said Lanza, adding that they settled on health and convenience as a main focus.
The first Fresh Kitchen found success in 2014 in Tampa Bay’s South Howard community. The next two locations opened in St. Petersburg and Sarasota, before the partners leapfrogged to Boca Raton.
“We are looking to expand in South Florida, we have one in Orlando we are hoping to open in the fall sometime and do some opening like this as well,” Lanza said.
One customer said she appreciated Fresh Kitchen’s “portion control.”
“I l ove d t h e g r i l l e d c i t r u s chicken as well as the Parmesan broccoli, and the way they used scoopers for portions since most places don’t do that,” said Chloe Monaco, a student and wellness enthusiast. “Portion control is really important for healthy eating and it’s hard to find places that are cognizant of it.”
Fresh Kitchen offers several bowl sizes. The six bowl ($9.95) comes with two bases, two proteins, two veggies and one sauce; the four bowl ($7.95) comes with two bases, one protein, one veggie and one sauce; and the kids bowl ($6.45) offers one base, one protein, one veggie and one sauce.