{"id":241706,"date":"2026-04-22T11:42:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/241706\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:42:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:42:02","slug":"cafe-riviera-opening-in-st-pete-beach-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/241706\/","title":{"rendered":"Cafe Riviera Opening in St. Pete Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Pete Beach<\/a><\/p>\n

This French Riviera-inspired concept will be family run. <\/p>\n


\n \"Laura
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cafe
\n Picture courtesy of Cafe Riviera.<\/p>\n

ST. PETE BEACH, FL \u2014 Cafe Riviera is targeting an opening in the first week of May at 116 8th Ave., St. Pete Beach, FL 33706<\/a>, pending final health inspection approval, Veronica Afonzo told Business Debut. <\/p>\n

Afonzo is opening the caf\u00e9 with her sister, Rosa Dennis, as the pair launch what Afonzo described as their first restaurant and family business together.<\/p>\n

What to Expect<\/p>\n

Cafe Riviera is designed around a French Riviera-inspired beach caf\u00e9 concept with full service and about 20 seats, Afonzo told Business Debut. <\/p>\n

The former Paradise To Go space is being converted from a takeout-only operation into a sit-down caf\u00e9 with friendly service and an open-concept kitchen where guests will be able to watch the chef prepare crepes and sandwiches.<\/p>\n

The menu is expected to include savory and sweet crepes, salads, cold and pressed paninis, sandwiches, pastries and a bakery selection with items such as croissants and salmon croissants, Afonzo told Business Debut. She said the team is also planning a coffee program in partnership with Kawa Coffee.<\/p>\n

Menu and Vision<\/p>\n

Among the menu items Afonzo highlighted are a savory crepe with salmon, honey and goat cheese, as well as sweet crepes with Nutella, which she called a favorite, Afonzo told Business Debut. She also said the caf\u00e9 is testing a quiche made with shrimp, smoked salmon, pesto, spinach and goat cheese as part of its beach-oriented menu direction.<\/p>\n

Afonzo said she spent seven years working in a French restaurant and previously helped open two locations for her former employers before deciding to open a business of her own. She said her sister handles the accounting and provider relationships while she oversees operations.<\/p>\n

Opening Timeline<\/p>\n

Cafe Riviera is aiming to open in early May, but the final date depends on the completion of health inspection and licensing steps, Afonzo told Business Debut. She said beer and wine service could come later after the food license is in place, with tapas and expanded hours as a future goal.<\/p>\n

Hours<\/p>\n

The caf\u00e9 plans to operate seven days a week, opening at 7:30 a.m. and closing around 4 or 5 p.m., Afonzo told Business Debut. She said those hours could expand later depending on traffic and future licensing.<\/p>\n

Follow for More<\/p>\n

Visit their Facebook<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Drive community buzz with Business Debut<\/p>\n

We aim to create local buzz before you even open.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Pete Beach This French Riviera-inspired concept will be family run. Picture courtesy of Cafe Riviera. ST. PETE…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-241706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241706","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=241706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}