DAYTONA BEACH — Site work has begun on a new restaurant at Tomoka Town Center with a vintage 1920s-era Ford Motor Co. theme: Ford’s Garage.
The eatery is set to go up just west of the Dave & Buster’s restaurant/video arcade that opened earlier this year.
It will be the first Florida east coast location for the fast-growing Tampa-based chain.
“We’re very excited to come to the Daytona community,” said Marc Brown, president of both the Ford’s Garage chain and its parent company 23 Restaurant Services, in a phone interview.
Brown said his company hopes to open its Daytona Beach restaurant by “late fourth quarter” and that it will employ approxomately 150 workers, 70 percent of which will be full time.
The chain’s website describes its restaurants as a “neighborhood burger and beer joint” specializing in gourmet burgers and craft beers.
“Ford’s Garage will give you the vibe of being in a 1920s service station to include vintage Ford vehicles, gas pumps, and fixtures,” according to the website. “Our bars feature prohibition-style elements of old brick, rich wood, and a hand-hammered copper bar top.”
Brown said prices for entrees at Ford’s Garage range from $9.95 to $17.95. The menu for each of the chain’s restaurants includes 12 “Hall of Fame” burgers named after prominent people in the community it services.
In addition, “We like to work with with craft brewers in each of the communities we’re in to feature their craft beers,” he said. “We offer over 150 different kinds of beer as well as wine and full liquor.”
John Albright, the president and CEO of Daytona Beach-based Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co., which sold the land where Ford’s Garage is now being built to Tomoka Town Center developer North American Development Group, said he has visited one of the chain’s restaurants in Tampa.
“It looks like an awesome presentation,” Albright said, adding that the chain offers “higher-end fast-casual dining.”
“They have a great presentation that’s family-friendly,” he said. “It’s got more of a sit-down, almost diner feel.”