Goody Goody will close this month in South Tampa

Just shy of the 100th anniversary of its initial opening, old school Tampa diner Goody Goody says it’ll close in South Tampa this month.

In a letter, Richard Gonzmart, President and Caretaker of The 1905 Family of Restaurants, said his company was evolving and adapting to “changing circumstances” as it looks for new ways to serve its community.

The last day of service at Goody Goody—located at 1601 W Swann Ave. in Tampa’s Hyde Park Village—is Sunday, Sept. 29. Starting this Tuesday, Sept. 24 the spot famously open early for breakfast will operate with a limited menu from 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m.

A press release says the move allow 1905. to focus on its core restaurant brands while preserving the Goody Goody brand elsewhere, adding that the group did work closely with its landlord, WS Development, to try and find a way to say.

The 60 employees at Goody Goody's Hyde Park location will be offered opportunities at other 1905 concepts including Columbia Restaurant, Columbia Café, Ulele and Casa Santo Stefano, the release added.

Tampa’s Goody Goody first opened as a barbecue stand in 1925 on what’s now known as Kennedy Boulevard. Its last location on Florida Avenue closed in 2005, but the brand was revived in 2014 when Gonzmart purchased it from the family of owner Mike Wheeler.
Gonzmart—a sucker for nostalgia who also displays statues from Tampa’s long-shuttered Fairyland at his Ulele restaurant in Tampa Heights—reopened in 2016 and honored Goody Goody’s classic dishes as “an homage to a simpler, yet profoundly rich time in Tampa’s food history.” As a kid, Gonzmart said his mom would pick up a bag of Goody Goody’s burgers with “P.O.X.”, aka pickles, onions and secret sauce.

He thanked customers and described running the concept over the last eight years as a “labor of love.”

The closure in South Tampa is not the end of Goody Goody in the Bay area though, since the restaurant will continue to operate at Tampa International Airport’s C terminal as well as at Tampa Bay History Center’s Columbia Café, which will start serving the P.O.X. burger, Hyde Park Burger and butterscotch pie starting Tuesday, Oct. 1.

UPDATED: 09/23/24 9:01 p.m. Updated with info from a press release sent by the 1905 Family of Restaurants.

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