By Kyle Coppola
Crave BBQ in The Villages Closes Less Than Year After Opening
Well that was fast! Crave BBQ has called it quits in The Villages less than a year after opening in Rolling Acres Plaza last October. Crave BBQ was a hot dog and axe-throwing restaurant. After a lot of excitement especially since this was the first axe-throwing location in The Villages, the owners didn’t appear to think the location would be successful.
In a note that was left on the door, it says “While we wish the best to any franchisee that comes in after us, we don’t foresee this establishment being successful long-term. Franchisees are investing personally to pay the franchise and set up the store. This is not a reflection on anyone that may come in to run this store after us, and if we have the opportunity to warn them of the risk they run with this franchise, we absolutely will.” said franchise owner Philip Jones who opened the location with his wife Amanda last year.
(The location offered a beer wall, hot dogs, and axe-throwing but the franchisee owners did not see a path forward.)
This is not the first local Crave BBQ location to face this situation. A location up in Ocala also closed recently.
What are your thoughts on the Jone’s statement? Let us know in the comments below.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
