25 People to Watch: Jeff Gigante, co-CEO, Next Level Restaurant Brands
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 4, 2020

Tampa restaurateur Jeff Gigante has always kept himself in the headlines — but 2021 will be a notable year for him.

Gigante has moved on from Ciccio Restaurant Group, which he co-founded with James Lanza and Luis Flores. He’s now creating Next Level Brands from the ground up and has brought on Tampa real estate executive Andrew Wright as his financial partner.

Next Level Brands has big ambitions for a property Wright owns in the Westshore business district: A 10,000-square-foot, two-level restaurant at a time when more restaurant companies are fighting for survival in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic. We’ll be closely watching the planning and execution of this concept to see how it adapts to a post-Covid world.