Hardee's Restaurants LLC is an American fast-food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. ("CKE") with locations primarily in the Southern and Midwestern United States. The company has evolved through several corporate ownerships since its establishment in 1960 in North Carolina.
Roy Rogers Franchise Company, LLC is a chain of fast food restaurants primarily located in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States. The chain originated as the rebranding of the RoBee's House of Beef chain of Fort Wayne, Indiana, acquired by the Marriott Corporation in February 1968. However, Marriott first used the Roy Rogers Roast Beef name on conversions of the company's Junior Hot Shoppes in the Washington, D.C. area in April 1968, then the existing RoBee's stores. An aggressive nationwide franchising campaign was launched. At its peak, the chain included over 600 locations. The chain now has 37 locations in six states, either company owned or franchised.
Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed casual dining restaurants, serving American cuisine, based in Tampa, Florida. The chain has over 1,000 locations in 23 countries throughout North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. It was founded on March 15, 1988, with its first location in Tampa by Bob Basham, Chris T. Sullivan, Trudy Cooper, and Tim Gannon. It was owned and operated in the United States by OSI Restaurant Partners until it was acquired by Bloomin' Brands, and by other franchise and venture agreements internationally.
White Castle is an American regional hamburger restaurant chain with about 350 locations across 13 states, with its greatest presence in the Midwest and New York metropolitan area. Founded on September 13, 1921, in Wichita, Kansas, it has been generally credited as the world's first fast-food hamburger chain. It is known for its small, square hamburgers referred to as "sliders". The burgers were initially priced at five cents until 1929 and remained at 10 cents until 1949. In the 1940s, White Castle periodically ran promotional ads in local newspapers which contained coupons offering five burgers for ten cents, takeout only. In 2014, Time named the White Castle slider "The Most Influential Burger of All Time".
Lee Roy Selmon was an American professional football player who was a defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a defensive tackle at the University of Oklahoma, the youngest of three brothers to play football there.
Chevys Fresh Mex is an American chain of Mexican-style casual dining restaurants located in the United States. The chain was founded in 1986 by Warren Simmons in Alameda, California. The chain's headquarters are currently located in Cypress, California. The chain is owned by Xperience Restaurant Group.
The Lee Roy Selmon Expressway is a 14.168-mile (22.801 km) controlled-access toll road in Hillsborough County, Florida. It connects the South Tampa neighborhood near MacDill Air Force Base with Downtown Tampa and the bedroom community of Brandon. The expressway was built in stages, opening between 1976 and 1987. An approximately 1.9-mile extension to the thoroughfare's western terminus opened to traffic on Monday, April 19, 2021.
Bloomin' Brands, Inc. is a restaurant holding company that owns several American casual dining restaurant chains. The company was established in 1988 in Tampa, Florida, where it is headquartered.
Brandon Exchange, formerly known as Brandon Mall, Brandon Town Center,Westfield Shoppingtown Brandon, and Westfield Brandon, is a shopping mall located eight miles (13 km) east of Tampa, Florida, in the suburban community of Brandon. The mall is owned by North American Development Group. Brandon Exchange is located directly off Interstate 75, sitting on land between State Road 60 and the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
Carrabba's Italian Grill is an American restaurant chain featuring Italian-American cuisine. It is owned and operated by Bloomin' Brands, and headquartered in Tampa, Florida.
Guy Ramsay Fieri is an American restaurateur, author, and an Emmy Award winning television presenter. He co-owned three now defunct restaurants in California. He licenses his name to restaurants in cities all over the world, and is known for hosting various television series on the Food Network. By 2010, The New York Times reported that Fieri had become the "face of the network", bringing an "element of rowdy, mass-market culture to American food television" and that his "prime-time shows attract more male viewers than any others on the network".
The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) owns, operates and maintains the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway in Tampa. The Selmon Expressway is a tolled highway. The Reversible Express Lanes (REL), a highway within a highway, runs in the middle on the eastern side of the highway with two non-tolled feeder roads, Brandon Parkway in Brandon and Meridian Avenue in Tampa, providing the entrance and exit to the REL. Additionally, THEA owns and operates the Selmon Greenway, a multipurpose recreational pathway running beneath and alongside the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
Cheeseburger in Paradise was a casual dining theme restaurant chain in the United States that operated between 2002 and 2020. The chain started in 2002 as a partnership of American musician Jimmy Buffett's company, the Orlando, Florida-based Margaritaville Holdings LLC, and OSI Restaurant Partners, with Buffett licensing the name and Outback Steakhouse operating the franchising of restaurants. After a change of ownership in 2012, most of the restaurants were closed by 2014. The last location, located in Secaucus, NJ, closed in September 2020.
Bonefish Grill is an American casual dining seafood restaurant chain owned and operated by Bloomin' Brands, headquartered in Tampa, Florida. The company was founded on January 15, 2000, in St. Petersburg, Florida by Tim Curci and Chris Parker.
Lee's Sandwiches International, Inc., is a Vietnamese-American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in San Jose, California, with locations in several states and in Taiwan. Lee's Sandwiches specializes in bánh mì, "European-style" baguette sandwiches, Vietnamese iced coffee, and Vietnamese dessert chè. It is credited with popularizing Vietnamese sandwiches and iced coffee among mainstream American consumers and inspiring several other Vietnamese-owned bakery chains.
Roy's is an upscale American restaurant that specializes in Hawaiian and Japanese fusion cuisine, with a focus on sushi, seafood and steak. The chain was founded by James Beard Foundation Award Winner Roy Yamaguchi in 1988 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The concept was well received among critics upon inception. The concept has grown to include 21 Roy's restaurants in the continental United States, six in Hawaii, one in Japan and one in Guam.
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar is an American steakhouse restaurant chain owned and operated by Bloomin' Brands, headquartered in Tampa, Florida. In addition to steak and wine, they serve a variety of American cuisine associated with fine dining, such as calamari, chocolate desserts, crab, lobster, and other seasonal specials.
OSI Group is an American privately owned holding company of meat processors that service the retail and food service industries with international headquarters in Aurora, Illinois. It operates over 65 facilities in 17 countries. Sheldon Lavin was the owner, CEO and chairman until his death in May 2023.
The University of South Florida athletic facilities are the stadiums and arenas the South Florida Bulls use for their home games and training. The University of South Florida currently sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and has 11 facilities in the designated Athletics District on or adjacent to its Tampa campus, one on its St. Petersburg campus, and one elsewhere in Tampa. 18 of the 19 teams have some sort of facility in the USF Athletics District.
