Operations
Front Burner Brands, Bavaro Hospitality create Italian fast casual concept
Restaurant veterans Dan Bavaro and Bob Johnston teamed up to open Oronzo Honest Italian in Tampa.
July 29, 2020 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
Restaurant veterans Dan Bavaro and Bob Johnston teamed up last month in Tampa to open a fast casual Italian concept — Oronzo Honest Italian.
"There is a void in the market for a fast casual Italian concept, especially one that is from scratch like Oronzo," Bavaro told FastCasual.
The founder of Bavaro Hospitality, which owns Bavaro's Pizza Napoletana & Pasteria, said aside from deep culinary culture, Oronzo is at the forefront of technology making it easy for guests to choose how to have their meals.
Johnston, the CEO Front Burner Brands, which owns the Melting Pot Restaurants Inc., said he and Bavaro started working on Oronzo in 2018, after forming a joint venture partnership.
"Through our work with the Melting Pot, Front Burner specializes in creating special experiences for our guests," he said in a company press release. "We are excited to join Dan Bavaro in opening Oronzo, a fast-casual concept that plays off our experiential DNA. Guests will enjoy authentic Italian food with an immersive experience, including an open kitchen where guests can see their food being prepared and the FIAT 600, an iconic Italian-made old-fashioned imported vehicle on display."
The duo plan to open a second corporate-owned location as a proof of concept sometime early 2021 in the Tampa Bay market but hope to eventually offer it as a national franchise.
"Our mission is 'to change the way people enjoy Italian food,' so everything we do will keep that as a deciding factor," Bavaro told FastCasual.
Designed by ScottSquared Design, Oronzo — located at 18027 Highwood Preserve Pkwy. — accommodates 52 inside and 40 outside. The restaurant is abiding by COVID-19 requirements with dine-in tables set 6 feet apart and employees wearing masks, said Bavaro, who named the restaurant after his grandfather, Oronzo Bavaro. He migrated in the early 1900s from Giovinazzo, Italy, to the Gravesend neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.
"Despite these crazy times, we are grateful to be open. We have more future locations in the works," Dan Bavaro said.
The menu
The Oronzo menu features from-scratch recipes with origins dating back to the 1800s in Rimini, Italy, a city on the Adriatic coast in the Emilia-Romagna region. It focuses around Italy's Piadina bread, made with imported Italian flour, sea salt, lardo and water. Similar to a tortilla, Oronzo uses the Piadina bread as a base for a pizza called Piatto — meaning flat in Italian.
The Piadina bread is also a wrap for Italian ingredients including the ancient grain and superfood, Farro. Other menu items include Italian soups and salads, as well as proteins such as crispy baked chicken, steak, grilled chicken, hand-rolled meatballs, Forza (power) bowls, homemade pasta, and gluten-free zucchini noodles and vegan options.
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