EXCLUSIVE — Look for wall-to-wall Wahlbergs when Wahlburgers has its grand opening in downtown Orlando in December. It will be a Hollywood premiere-style event covered by A&E network that will feature the Wahlberg brothers — yes, including Mark — on the red carpet. Pencil in December 11 for the party. (There will be a VIP event inside the restaurant, but a celebration open to the public on the street is also planned.)
Ahead of the grand opening, a ground-breaking ceremony will be conducted on Sept. 25.
The first Florida Wahlburgers will occupy the former Simply Puur space in the SunTrust Center at the southwest corner of Church Street and Orange Avenue. It will feature both quick service (order at the counter) and full table service and it will have a full liquor license. Considering the location, it should not come as a surprise that the restaurant plans to stay open until 3 a.m. on some nights to feed after-hours revelers.
Wahlburgers is another player in the ongoing burger game. The idea for the restaurant was developed by Paul Wahlberg, who was not as well known as his brothers, the actors Mark and Donnie, who are partners in the business. Through the A&E reality program that follows the brothers and the operations of the original restaurant, in Hingham, Mass., Paul has gained a bit more fame.
The Orlando restaurant is part of a franchising expansion that was announced in December. Longtime Central Florida restaurateur Manny Garcia signed a deal to open 20 Wahlburgers locations in Florida over the next several years. But Garcia was quick to tell me that while the restaurants are being developed under his Davgar Holdings, LLC, they will be run by his daughter and son-in-law Gina and Mike Buell. The family also owns and operates three full-service restaurants in The Villages: Two City Fire American Oven and Bars and the newer Honest John’s Whiskey and Provisions.
The hunt for more Central Florida Wahlburgers locations is underway near UCF and in Tampa. Preliminary negotiations have been made, I hear, for a restaurant space in the tourist corridor. However, that location is currently occupied by another restaurant, albeit one in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
