As White Castle prepares to open its Daytona Beach location next week, the Ohio-based slider giant has nailed down a site for its next Orlando store in one of the region’s most desirable retail corridors.
“The sixth free-standing White Castle location in Florida will be in Lake Nona,” Chief Marketing Officer Jamie Richardson confirmed to GrowthSpotter. “We’re excited about continuing to grow the Crave in Florida and look forward to being part of this great community. Plans are underway for this new site, and we hope to open sometime in later 2027.”
White Castle is under contract for a 1.2-acre lot on Narcoossee Road in front of the Ellison Nona apartments on Lake Whippoorwill. Company representatives held a pre-application meeting with Orlando city planners in August to discuss the project plans for a 2,524-square-foot QSR with 33 parking spaces and double drive-thru lanes. The building would accommodate a 1,000-square-foot dining area and have a small covered patio.
The site was one of two retail pads retained by Tampa-based 2nd Wave Development when it sold the apartment property to Flournoy Development Group in late 2024. Austin McWilliams with First Capital Property Group confirmed that both lots are under contract, with the smaller parcel planned for an EV charging facility.
The planned Lake Nona White Castle would be the smallest store since the company entered the Florida market in 2021. (Site plan by American StructurePoint Inc.)
The Narcoossee store would be White Castle’s smallest building since the company entered the Orlando market in 2021 with a super-sized 4,567-square-foot store in O-Town West, followed by a second location in the same center exclusively for take-out orders and meal delivery services.
White Castle has since opened two new locations in Clermont’s Plaza Collina and next to Old Town on Kissimmee’s W192 tourism corridor using its new “neighborhood” prototype, which is approximately 3,400 square feet. The company has also started construction on its fifth Florida store in St. Augustine, which will utilize the smaller footprint planned for Lake Nona.
The Daytona Castle at 1944 LPGA Boulevard will open Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 9 a.m. The new 3,430-square-foot restaurant will include indoor and outdoor seating, two drive-through lanes, and an iconic tower design. The company has replaced the traditional drive-through window with a more personalized experience, where team members deliver orders directly to customers’ vehicles. The business is expected to generate 70 jobs.
White Castle opened its Kissimmee store next to Old Town in May. (Courtesy of White Castle)
“There is nothing else quite like a White Castle, and we always select new locations thoughtfully,” Richardson said. “Every new Castle lets us carry forward our 105-year family legacy while celebrating the Cravers who make satisfying the Crave so meaningful. Daytona Beach has a character all its own. We are honored to become part of it.”
White Castle had previously filed plans to build a restaurant on Universal Boulevard next to Epic Universe. At 6,450 square feet, it would have been the largest White Castle on the planet. But the company withdrew its application last October, leaving cravers wondering if the Orlando expansion was on hold.
White Castle has over 336 locations in 14 states, with the chain mostly concentrated in the Midwest and New York City metropolitan area. The century-old chain has long inspired slavish devotion for its 2-inch-square, griddled-and-steamed burgers, long peddled with the slogan “Buy ’em by the sack.”
The company, which sells frozen foods nationally, opened an automated kiosk this year at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW), one of two airport kiosks serving the brand’s freshly heated, ready-to-eat beef and chicken sliders on demand. The company plans to roll out 1,000 more automated Crave & Go kiosks at airports, colleges and workplaces in the coming years.
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