{"id":125108,"date":"2026-01-20T17:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/125108\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T17:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:26:06","slug":"bavaros-opens-central-kitchen-on-north-nebraska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/125108\/","title":{"rendered":"Bavaro\u2019s opens central kitchen on North Nebraska"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bavaro\u2019s<\/a> has built out a central kitchen on North Nebraska Avenue following its 2024 acquisition of Gulf Coast Sourdough.<\/p>\n

Owner Dan Bavaro said the facility consolidates catering and a growing share of food production outside the company\u2019s restaurants, a shift designed to improve consistency across six locations.<\/p>\n

The 3,500 sq ft building now produces sourdough bread, prepares fresh pasta and sauces and handles all catering for Bavaro\u2019s Pizza Napoletana & Pastaria.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a central kitchen,\u201d Bavaro said. \u201cWe utilize the building to do wholesale production. We do sourdough bread out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acquisition drives production shift<\/p>\n

Bavaro said the Nebraska Avenue project grew directly out of the Gulf Coast Sourdough<\/a> acquisition, which brought wholesale bread production and the property under the company\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

The wholesale business had operated through local farmers\u2019 markets<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Its owners were leaving Florida, opening the door for Bavaro\u2019s to bring the operation in-house rather than outsource production.<\/p>\n

READ: TAMPA BAY BUSINESS NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I purchased that building last September, we purchased the wholesale part of the farmers market business because they were moving out of state,\u201d Bavaro said.<\/p>\n

He said the deal also preserved jobs tied to the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe helped keep ten jobs that people can work in there for like a decade,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Restaurants still drive revenue<\/p>\n

Despite the expanded production footprint, Bavaro said the company remains primarily restaurant-driven.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably like 85% restaurant, 15% wholesale,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bavaro\u2019s operates six locations across Tampa Bay including downtown Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Clearwater, Tampa International Airport and Benchmark International Arena.<\/p>\n

READ: ST. PETERSBURG BUSINESS NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n

From the Nebraska Avenue facility, the company produces a few thousand loaves of sourdough bread each week and supplies pizza dough to other restaurant groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sell about three tons of pizza dough a week,\u201d Bavaro said.<\/p>\n

Labor strain and consistency drove the move<\/p>\n

As the company added locations, producing labor-intensive items inside each restaurant became harder to manage.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got six different locations making ravioli,\u201d Bavaro said. \u201cThere are variations. That\u2019s not fair to the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Centralizing prep allows restaurant kitchens to focus on service and execution rather than production.<\/p>\n

READ: TAMPA BAY REAL ESTATE NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt frees up stress inside our kitchens for our teams to focus solely on execution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bavaro said the shift also improves job quality and retention in a tight labor market.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployee retention will be higher,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about high quality wholesale. It\u2019s about improving the quality of the jobs in our kitchens.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the investment as part of a broader philosophy that long-term growth depends on systems that protect food quality while reducing strain on restaurant teams.<\/p>\n

Catering fully routed off-site<\/p>\n

As of January 1, all Bavaro\u2019s catering now runs through the Nebraska Avenue facility.<\/p>\n

Before the change, catering was produced inside restaurant kitchens alongside regular service.<\/p>\n

READ: TAMPA RETAIL & HOSPITALITY NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we got a huge order in a restaurant, it also had to make way for the catering,\u201d Bavaro said. \u201cNow 100% of our catering comes out of that facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small storefront planned<\/p>\n

About 3,000 sq ft of the building is dedicated to production. Roughly 500 sq ft will be used for a new concept called \u201cCafe Bavaro.\u201d <\/p>\n

The space will support an in-house concept focused on craft coffee, prepared goods and catering pickup rather than a full-service restaurant or new Bavaro\u2019s location.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the biggest walkable area,\u201d Bavaro said. \u201cBut I do see a draw.\u201d<\/p>\n

A plan paused and revived<\/p>\n

The central kitchen concept is not new for Bavaro\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Bavaro said the company tested a similar model in 2019 but paused the effort when Covid disrupted the restaurant industry.<\/p>\n

The Nebraska Avenue facility reflects lessons learned since then and gives the company room to scale production without adding pressure inside its dining rooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to expand the brand,\u201d Bavaro said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also to expand wholesale and keep our food more consistent inside the stores.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Bavaro\u2019s, the project represents a shift toward infrastructure-led growth, prioritizing operational stability over adding new dining rooms.<\/p>\n

Stay Informed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bavaro\u2019s has built out a central kitchen on North Nebraska Avenue following its 2024 acquisition of Gulf Coast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[39436,62040,24110,3090,39121,688,276,687,135,1703,52537,7682,137,136],"class_list":["post-125108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-acquisitions","tag-bavaro-hospitality","tag-business-growth","tag-dining","tag-family-owned-businesses","tag-food-and-drink","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-restaurants","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-business","tag-tampa-bay-business-news-and-top-stories","tag-tampa-bay-hospitality","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}