Midwest scratch-kitchen restaurant brand to make Florida debut at UTC

A restaurant popular in Ohio is coming to University Town Center, the rapidly expanding retail, dining and entertainment center outside Lakewood Ranch in Sarasota. Kitchen Social has five locations in the Buckeye State serving brunch, lunch and dinner through its scratch-kitchen concept. It plans to open at UTC by the first day of 2026, according to Kitchen Social founder Brian O’Malley.

Kitchen Social will occupy a 4,270-square-foot space in the West District at UTC, next to Rocco’s Tacos, according to Julie Fanning, a spokesperson for UTC owner Benderson Development. The restaurant will go where Rusty Bucket used to be.

Demolition began in the past week, and construction on the new space will start next week, O’Malley says in an Aug. 20 phone interview with the Business Observer. He founded Kitchen Social in 2019 after working for Bravo Brio restaurants, including as president and CEO of the national company.

“Having worked for an Italian restaurant for 20 some years, we were tired of doing one cuisine,” O’Malley says. He adds that he and his three business partners designed the menu for Kitchen Social to incorporate a “little bit of everything,” from Mexican to Italian to Asian fare. His partners are Phil Yandolino, Brian Harvey and Justin Stratford.

Craveable dishes

The common theme at Kitchen Social is its food is “craveable” across a variety of cooking styles, O'Malley says.

“We do food that you might be familiar with, but we do it with a twist,” O’Malley adds. As an example, he says, Kitchen Social has meatballs on the menu. Rather than traditional meatballs in marinara, the eatery serves eggplant meatballs with tikka masala sauce.

The most ordered menu item is the cheddar and scallion biscuits, which are homemade, then topped with turbinado sugar “to give them a little sweetness and crunch,” O’Malley says, finished with honey butter. Approximately 65% of tables get the biscuits, he adds.

Other favorites are miso-glazed salmon and Asian pastas, like Szechuan ramen noodles. There are also children’s, gluten-free and brunch menus.

Only five items on the menu are above $19, according to O’Malley, who says the average check is $25. The goal is to get guests in more than once a month, he says. 

“It’s the food, it’s the service, it’s the ambience and the price points,” O’Malley says, explaining why Kitchen Social has seen such success since its founding in 2019. In addition, it’s a place “where you can get all those things and afford to go there all the time.”

Broad appeal

The audience for Kitchen Social ranges from bank presidents to families to older couples, according to O'Malley. Some people go there for date night, while others stop by for brunch after church or following yoga to grab mimosas and creme brulee French toast.

At UTC, Kitchen Social will have 35 tables as well as 25 to 30 spots at the bar in addition to patio seating, for a total capacity of about 175, according to O’Malley. Kitchen Social eateries in Ohio have an indoor-outdoor concept, which will be the case in Sarasota, he says.

Part of the reason for expanding outside Ohio is the challenge, according to O’Malley. Kitchen Social operates two restaurants apiece in Columbus and Cleveland as well as one in Cincinnati.

“If we want to be more than a regional brand, we had to get outside of Ohio,” O’Malley says. “And I’m very familiar with restaurants in Florida.” (Bravo Brio had nearly 20 businesses in the Sunshine State, including at UTC and in Naples, so he knew of the strong markets in the region.)

He says he happened to be touring the UTC area with a commercial real estate agent when he saw the Rusty Bucket space was empty, and he pursued the opportunity.

In addition to working on the construction project at the location, the owners are establishing relationships with vendors for items like produce and seafood. They will also be hiring staff. When the restaurant opens, it will employ 85 to 100 people, according to O’Malley.

“Everything's important,” O’Malley says, from service to cleanliness to the food. “I don’t want to miss any details.”