Texas pizza franchise makes Florida debut

Houston-based pizza chain Russo's New York Pizzeria will make its Florida debut later this month with a location in Clearwater.

“We are thrilled to bring Russo's New York Pizzeria to Clearwater and Pinellas County,” says Mike Daner, President of Daner Fine Restaurants and the Tampa Bay Area developer for Russo's Restaurants, in a statement. “We love the food and believe it is a great fit for the Tampa Bay market.”

Daner says the concept is a hybrid, with lunch in a fast casual model and full service during dinner hours, along with delivery and catering. The Clearwater restaurant, at 2233 Gulf to Bay Plaza, features a brick oven along with an open-air kitchen as a focal point for the space, which seats 80 guests for lunch and dinner, the release adds.

Russo's, through its upscale casual dining brand Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen, has one other Florida location, in Pembroke Pines, according to its website.

Restaurateur Anthony Russo founded the company in 1992 in the Houston area. The company now has 44 Russo's New York Pizzeria and Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen locations worldwide. That includes mix of corporate and franchised locations across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida and Hawaii. Internationally Russo's is in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates. The company has an additional 30-plus units in development across the world.