The Michigan-based franchise group, STA Management, recently inked a 14-unit deal with sandwich shop Potbelly for the greater Tampa region, with plans to open the restaurants over the next five years beginning with a location in downtown Tampa, according to franchisee and STA managing partner, Ronnie Asmar.
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Despite the fact that STA is currently in the process of negotiating a lease in downtown Tampa, Asmar was unable to go public with the address. Nevertheless, the franchisee tells What Now Tampa that STA is “super excited to bring Potbelly to a market and a state that has never seen it, and show our customers what a real oven-baked sandwich is like.”
STA currently operates two Potbelly outposts in the region, one on Falkenburg Road that opened this past June and another near Raymond James Stadium that opened last July.
Meanwhile, Potbelly, which was founded in Chicago in 1977, has nearly 500 locations throughout the country, with watershed years coming in 2002 when the company opened its first location outside Chicago, followed by 2005 when the 100th Potbelly Sandwich Shop opened and it was named one of “America’s 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies” by Inc. Magazine, all of which culminated in 2013 when the company went public.
Billing itself as a “first-class dive,” Potbelly takes its name from the once-ubiquitous stoves that “warmed homes, acting as gathering places for meals and conversations,” as the restaurant writes on its website, adding, “They might be a thing of the past, but you can find the same warmth and good vibes at your local Potbelly.”