King of the Coop, Westshore Pizza taking over old Refinery space with new concept
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 1, 2021

The long-vacant Refinery property in Seminole Heights will be reborn as a new concept from the creators of King of the Coop and Westshore Pizza.

Flocal — think Florida meets local — will offer sit-down dining and a blended menu from King of the Coop, a Nashville hot chicken joint, and Westshore Pizza, which offers pizza shop classics like subs, salads and wings alongside its pies. Rock Bros. Brewing, an Ybor City brewery, will manage Flocal's bar. The space will also house multiple ghost kitchen concepts.

Joe Dodd, founder of King of the Coop, and Westshore Pizza CEO Travis Masters on Wednesday signed a lease for the 8,000-square-foot restaurant at 5910 N. Florida Ave. It's a five-year lease, the partners said, with two five-year renewal options. They plan to invest between $500,000 and $600,000 in the space. The partners in the project — which include Cigar City Brewing founder Joey Redner — expect Flocal to be fully operational by late 2021.

King of the Coop, Dodd said, will move to the building within the next month to offer takeout service. He's outgrown the Seminole Heights building where he launched more than two years ago and said the space limitations were affecting his operations.

"The building cannot sustain the volume we are doing," Dodd said. "The move is just so we can get ourselves situated and get our flow down. I don’t want to wait on providing a better experience for our team."

Westshore Pizza previously had a location at North Dale Mabry Highway and Lambright Street, and Masters said he was looking to replace it with a store in Seminole Heights when Dodd approached him with the idea of taking over the old Refinery. The Refinery building is owned by Greg and Michelle Baker and a group of private investors.

The Bakers consolidated The Refinery and their other restaurant, Fodder & Shine, at the property before closing it in 2019. Greg Baker is a five-time semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation's best chefs in America award, and The Refinery is widely credited with launching the farm-to-table movement in Tampa.

Dodd and Greg Baker have "leaned on one another through the years," Michelle Baker told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Greg Baker has also known Redner for decades.

"We feel this concept will be embraced wholeheartedly by the Tampa Bay community and will become a destination for years to come," Michelle Baker said in a statement. "We have had several lease offers for the space over the last three years but they never felt right. We wanted something that would not only be sustainable but would add to the culture of Tampa Bay and the Seminole Heights community."

Dodd said his top priority is creating a space for the Seminole Heights community.

"Seminole Heights made King of the Coop," he said, "and it's kind of like, 'Don’t forget where you come from.'"