The founders of the wildly popular PDQ chicken sandwich chain are starting a new line of restaurants with a name that might turn heads pretty darn quickly.
Officially, the new restaurant chain will be called Wow! That's Fresh. Burgers, Salads and Pizza, though executives with the company give a wink and admit that many people will shorten all that to just the text message expletive “WTF.”
Whatever people end up calling it, construction on the first location begins this week at 1426 W. Brandon Blvd., with a planned opening about 120 days later, and then other locations soon afterward.
“Maybe we'll have signs in front of the construction site that say things like 'What's The Fuss,'” said Nick Reader, who is starting the new restaurant group along with his PDQ co-founder, Bob Basham, who was also an original Outback Steakhouse founder. “We're trying to have a little fun with it.”
Behind the scenes, the project is all business. For months, PDQ executives have been quietly testing new burgers, pizzas and salads at a location in the company's Tampa headquarters that doubles as an employee cafeteria and restaurant for nearby office dwellers.
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