A new restaurant featuring healthy dishes will make its Florida debut when it opens in Lakewood Ranch this spring. Flower Child is coming in May to Center Point at Waterside on University Parkway.
On the menu are bowls, wraps and salads, as well as mix-and-match vegetables, grains, fruits and proteins.
The fast-casual eatery is a creation of Sam Fox, a restaurateur based in Arizona who has been nominated 11 times for the James Beard Award, according to a statement.
“We’ve been looking for the right opportunity to bring Flower Child to Florida, and Sarasota is the perfect place to introduce one of our most popular restaurant concepts,” Fox says in the statement.
There are 40 Flower Child restaurants nationwide across 13 states, from California to Oklahoma to Maryland. The Sarasota location will be the first in Florida for the concept, which is geared toward anyone looking for a healthy meal as well as those who subscribe to vegetarian, vegan or paleo diets.
“With its focus on wellness, active living, and a strong sense of community, we can’t wait to be part of this incredible city and provide a space where people can gather and enjoy wholesome, flavorful meals,” Fox says.
All dishes at Flower Child are made from scratch. Some popular items include the Mother Earth Bowl, which features ancient grains, sweet potatoes, portobello mushroom, avocado, cucumber, broccoli pesto, hemp seed, charred onions and leafy greens in red pepper miso vinaigrette; and the Flying Avocado Wrap, which combines smoked turkey with gouda, romaine, tomato and avocado hummus. The chicken enchilada bowl and gluten-free mac and cheese are also among customers’ favorites, according to a statement.
Flower Child will be in a 3,500-square-foot restaurant with patio at 6532 University Parkway. Guests will be able to dine in at the bright, airy eatery, or they can opt for pickup or delivery. Catering service will also be available.
“We were really lucky. UTC had been trying to get [Flower Child], but they’re just not a mall tenant,” Brett Hutchens, president of Casto Southeast Realty, told sister publication YourObserver.com in a recent interview. Casto owns the property in Center Point at Waterside where Flower Child will be located. Construction began in December on the restaurant, which will be across from the Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar.
Flower Child is part of Fox Restaurant Concepts, a hospitality group based in Phoenix that includes more than 60 locations across the country and has 5,000 employees.
Author: Elizabeth King
Published by: Business Observer
