Keke’s Breakfast Cafe, owned by Denny’s Inc. since July 2022, intends to open at least two more Jacksonville restaurants.
The city is reviewing permit applications for Keke’s to build-out in OakLeaf Town Center in Southwest Jacksonville and in East Arlington where Sugarfire Smokehouse closed in 2022.
Quantum Facilities Services LLC of Sarasota is the contractor and Haas Modern Architecture of Tampa is the architect for the build-outs at an estimated cost of $800,000 each.
Both had been restaurants for Panera Bread, which moved into stand-alone sites nearby.
The locations are:
• OakLeaf at 9570 Crosshill Blvd., No. 106, at 4,198 square feet enclosed and a 650-square-foot exterior area.
• East Arlington at 12959 Atlantic Blvd., east of Girvin Road, at 4,875 square feet enclosed and a 650-square-foot exterior area.
Keke’s has three area restaurants that opened since 2017 at:
• The Strand at St. Johns Town Center at 4906 Town Center Parkway near St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville
• The Pavilion at Durbin Park at 450 Durbin Pavilion Drive, Suite E10, in Saint Johns.
• In St. Augustine at 135 Jenkins Street, Unit 106.
Orlando-based Keke’s has 56 locations in Florida, with three coming soon to Orlando, Tampa and Palm Harbor, according to kekes.com.
Keke’s Breakfast Cafe locations are open 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. They are closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
The online menu shows waffles, pancakes, omelets, other egg dishes and more on a breakfast menu served during all operating hours.
It shows the lunch menu starts at 10:30 a.m. and includes paninis, sandwiches, burgers, salads and more.
An $82.5 million acquisition
Denny’s announced July 21, 2022, that it closed on its $82.5 million acquisition of Keke’s Breakfast Cafe, which then had 52 units across Florida.
At the time, average unit volumes at Keke’s 44 franchised and eight company-owned restaurants were about $1.9 million, according to Restaurantdive.com.
Restaurantbusinessonline.com reported Aug. 2, 2023, that Denny’s intends to test the concept outside of Florida by opening a unit in the Nashville area.
The site reported that Denny’s CFO Robert Verostek said the company will likely build corporate stores in Nashville, Tennessee, over the next few years to refine the concept and build a support structure. He suggested that at least six company units will be developed there.
He said Keke’s will grow by eight to 12 stores toward the end of the current fiscal year, which is year-end.
The Denny’s chain currently has 1,646 locations, it said.
CoStar.com reported Aug. 2, 2022, that executives of Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Denny’s said significant expansion was pending.
Sugarfire closes; OakLeaf Panera moves
Sugarfire Smokehouse Jacksonville owner Juli Dharna posted on Facebook July 26, 2022, that it permanently closed July 24.
The St. Louis-based chain opened July 26, 2021, as the pandemic continued to influence the economy.
Dharna posted that the decision to close came down to three factors: supply chain shortages, staffing deficiencies and inflation.
The Sugarfire franchise group had converted the former Panera Bread into a 90-seat restaurant, including patio seating.
Panera Bread had relocated from the strip center, where it did not have a drive-thru, in March 2019 to a stand-alone former Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar at 13201 Atlantic Blvd. and added a drive-thru.
Applebee’s closed in July 2017.
In OakLeaf, Panera Bread recently opened a stand-alone building at 9725 Applecross Road. It had operated in a strip center where Keke’s is opening.