The brothers and owners of Designer Greens restaurants in Gainesville and Orlando opened a third restaurant, Kay Bros. BBQ, during Spring Break.
The restaurant, located at 1620 W. University Ave., is just down the street from the sandwich and salad joint they opened two years ago.
Doors opened March 9, and within the first hour, Steven Kay, 27, said the new barbecue restaurant was nearly at maximum capacity, seating about 50 people inside and 16 on the patio. He said he was pleasantly surprised, especially because the brothers had done no formal advertising other than a banner outside.
“It was actually a bit much for the first day,” Kay said.
According to employees, the extensive preparation paid off. Cashier Kacey Overstreet, a UF sophomore, said the restaurant operates similarly to Tijuana Flats, emphasizing quick service. Customers order at the counter and their food brought out to them by cashiers clad in denim cut-offs and cowboy boots. Darren Kay, 25, said he thinks his brother “wanted the Jessica Simpson look.”
Instead of a hot sauce bar, the restaurant features a bar of eight different barbeque sauces that the brothers tested and perfected themselves, including a Kentucky Bourbon, Kansas City and traditional Memphis sauce.
Eddie Gilley, 49, a minister at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, had lunch there for the first time on Tuesday. He said the rib combo was “very tasty” as he licked some of the sauce from his finger.
“I eat barbecue everywhere I go,” Gilley said. “If they can keep this up, I think they’ll do real good.”
