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New themed eatery occupies Winter Garden commercial real estate

It takes guts to try to penetrate the restaurant market in Orlando, the home turf of Darden Restaurants’ Olive Garden and Red Lobster.

The owners of a new themed eatery seem undaunted, however.

Cave Inn BBQ has occupied commercial real estate along Tilden Road in Winter Garden and recently opened for business.

The restaurant, which was founded by two brothers, have a caveman theme. Its menu features items like the “pterodactyl wing” turkey leg, La Brea Tar Pit barbecue sauce and the “Tyrannosaurus” two-pound rib. Employees often wear leopard-print accessories with their uniforms as a nod to the conventional cartoon image of a caveman in a leopard-skin toga.

These days, traditional sit-down restaurants like Cave Inn face increasing competition not only from fast food restaurants, which are altering hours and tweaking menus to suit patron tastes, but also from “fast casual” establishments like Panera Bread and Chipotle. This type of restaurant has exploded in popularity lately and has forced sit-down dining options to really give customers a reason to pay higher prices and take longer to eat.

It remains to be seen whether Cave Inn’s Stone-Age theme will be enough to keep patrons coming back.

One of the things we enjoy about our work as business and commercial real estate lawyers is that it brings us into contact with entrepreneurs. These people tend to be bold, smart and creative — they have business ideas and want to see them succeed. We think it’s a privilege to help them set up their businesses.

Source: The Orlando Sentinel, “Cave Inn BBQ has opened in Winter Garden,” June 15, 2013

Fri Aug 24, 5:23pm