B.F.D.? Boca Fiesta Diner? Best Friends Dude? Burgers for Days?
Really, it can mean whatever the imagination can conjure up.
This interchangeable acronym belongs to a new diner located inside the Sun Center in downtown Gainesville opened by the owners of legendary Tex-Mex restaurant Boca Fiesta.
Jacob Inde, Warren Oakes and Geoff Humphreys opened Boca Fiesta on June 1, 2009. While celebrating the two-year anniversary of Boca Fiesta, the group decided to try a new challenge and opened B.F.D., a diner-style restaurant serving breakfast and lunch, on June 1 this year.
Unsure of the name, the diner owners kept quiet about its opening for about two weeks. Inde said they wanted a name that could stand for anything.
"It's like LL Cool J," Inde said, "when he goes on for 20 minutes about what LL means."
He said employees didn't even know what to say when answering the phone. Someone would just pick up and ask, "Are you hungry?"
New plans to renovate the diner are also underway. Inde said he is hoping to install a new beer tap once they get a beer and liquor license. "We think it'll be funny to just have one tap that says ‘beer,'" Inde said. "The actual beer will be a secret."
Oakes, former drummer of legendary Gainesville punk band Against Me!, has many visions for the new hangout, including some décor renovations, like covering every inch of the diner with bamboo.
Working at B.F.D. by day and Boca Fiesta by night, Oakes spends his time meeting his customers and learning more about what they would like to see at the restaurant.
"A new place doesn't even know what it is yet," Oakes said. "The menu will change as the customers describe their needs."
When it came to advertising the diner, he wanted to use an organic-growth appeal, meaning letting people find the place on their own.
"It's hard to trust a spot if someone is handing fliers into your hand, but if someone recommends it, you trust them more," Oakes said.
"No one is ever going to drive by and see us since there is no curb advertising. So we kind of want to enclose it more so you'll have to come into the mall and the bamboo to know there is awesome food hidden inside."
