Chicken Kitchen targets Nov. 15 soft opening

Manatee County's first Chicken Kitchen expects to have a soft opening Nov. 15.

The restaurant shared the news on its Facebook page late Tuesday night:

Post by Chicken Kitchen - Tampa Bay.

Chicken Kitchen will be located beside Tijuana Flats in the Kohl's anchored shopping center at 5215 University Parkway. Brothers-in-law Gris Bettle and Justin Mattina of Bradenton are the franchise owners overseeing the fast-casual spot.

Chicken Kitchen, based in Miami, is known for its hour-long grilling process and aims to give a more personable experience than the cafeteria-line fast food restaurants. The signature items include Chop-Chop, a diced chicken that has a distinct chopping sound customers hear while in line. It also offers Wrapitos, which are grilled tortilla wraps.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2014/04/02/5080430/manatee-natives-opening-chicken.html#storylink=cpy

Goodbye Sweetbay, Hello Winn-Dixie

Sweetbay no more, the Winn-Dixe signs are up at the
5802 14th St. W store in Bradenton. Photo provided

The end of Sweetbay is near my friends, and the signs are here.

Winn-Dixie installed its sign at its 5802 14th St. W location this week to make it official. The store along with the location at 2501 Cortez Road West is due to reopen Friday as Winn-Dixie while the West Bradenton Sweetbay store at 5805 Manatee Ave W and Palmetto location at 515 Seventh St. W are scheduled to close at 1 p.m. Saturday and reopen the following Friday.

The final days of Sweetbay turned out to be a bit of a supermarket sweep. I visited the Palmetto location Tuesday with the hopes of ordering one last sub for old time's sake, but they were out of bread. The deli line was packed as deli, bakery, meat and produce are all offered at 50 percent off. A man in front of me ordered two whole blocks of cheese while others ordered roast beef, salami and other deli meat two pounds at a time.

The meat department is barren and all that was left in the produce department includes some onions and a couple odds and ends. If you're lucky, there might be a stray cake somewhere in the bakery for cheap.

Do you plan to shop at the converted Winn-Dixies? Drop a line in the comments.

Sweet deals at Sweetbay as grocery store discounts food before Winn-Dixie conversion

Sweetbay, 5802 14th St. W, will close Saturday and reopen
March 29 as Winn-Dixie. File photo by Paul Videla

Shoppers looking for a way to cut down their grocery bill will be in luck this week if they head to Sweetbay.

The first round of stores to convert to Winn-Dixie are set to close Saturday for a remodeling, and discounts on food are continuing to be offered. For stores closing Saturday, private label brands  like Hannaford, My Essentials, Taste of Inspirations are 50 percent off this week with the exception of bread, milk and eggs.

Products in the produce, deli, bakery and meat departments are now 25 percent off. Good luck finding any of the private label food left over.

During a trip to the Sarasota Midtown Plaza Sweetbay on Sunday, the 50-percent products were all but picked over. I couldn't find any of the usual private label items I buy like soup and spaghetti sauce. However, the deals in the meat, produce and deli/bakery departments are worth it. Grab some meat and an ice cream cake for cheap and stick it in the freezer for later. The Sweetbay location I went to was also thin on supply of hamburger and chicken, but there was still enough fresh items to go around. I saved more than $15 just from the discounts, so get it while it's gone.

Bradenton stores at 5802 14th St. W, and 2501 Cortez Road West, are due to close Saturday and reopen March 28 as well as Sarasota stores at 2881 Clark Road, 4230 Bee Ridge Road and 1325 S. Tamiami Trail. Stores at 5805 Manatee Avenue in Bradenton and 515 7 St. W in Palmetto are expected to close March 29.

Employees will be working to transform the store in a week’s time, keeping the layout of the stores similar to Sweetbay, and receive training on doing things the Winn-Dixie way.

“Upon reopening as a Winn-Dixie, we believe customers will be pleasantly surprised to see that we have been working hard to provide the fresh, quality products they want at prices they can afford,” said Joey Medina, Winn-Dixie’s regional vice president, in a news release. “Plus, we will offer a suite of in-store savings programs, like the “fuelperks!” rewards program, which lets customers earn incredible savings at participating Shell stations every time they shop with their Winn-Dixie Customer Reward Card.”

The conversion is part of the acquisition of 30 Sweetbay stores by Bi-Lo, parent company of Winn-Dixie. The Tampa headquarters for Sweetbay will close at the end of the conversion while employees in good standing at stores that remain open will be offered to stay on with Winn-Dixie. To avoid monopoly concerns, the Federal Trade Commission ordered to have another chain acquire locations, resulting in 12 Sweetbay stores in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina to be sold to Rowes IGA Supermarkets,HAC, Inc., W. Lee Flowers & Co., Inc. and Food Giant.