By Kyle Coppola
Portillo’s To Open New Location in Middleton in The Villages
MIDDLETON, Fla. — Portillo’s, the beloved Midwest restaurant chain known for its Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches and creamy shakes, has signed a lease to open a new location in The Villages — but not where many locals originally expected.
Portillo’s has opted to bring its signature flavors to the brand-new Downtown Middleton area. The restaurant will occupy a 4,300-square-foot space inside the Cidery Building, a key commercial feature of Middleton — The Villages’ newest family-focused district designed for employees and their families.
The new Middleton location promises to be a dining hub for the rapidly expanding district, which includes schools, parks, and housing primarily for workers in and around The Villages.
An opening date for the Middleton restaurant has not yet been announced.
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.
