Growing Korean BBQ chain pays $2.65M for Brandon restaurant building

A chain of Chinese hot pot and Korean-style barbecue restaurants has bought space in Brandon and will open its fourth location in the area later this year.

Hong BBQ & Hot Pot has bought the former Black Rock Bar & Grill location at 804 Providence Road. The building originally housed Mimi’s Café.

The company paid $2.65 million. The seller was National Net Lease Portfolio, which paid $2.87 million in 2011.

Eli Dioso, with LQ Commercial Real Estate Service’s Tampa office, says the buyer is an LLC named Peng Tong. That is the company itself, not a franchisee he says.

Image courtesy of LQ Commercial Real Estate

The chain currently has locations open in Tampa and Bradenton. A third, on Florida Avenue in Lakeland, is set to open soon. 

As for the Brandon restaurant, Diloso says the space will need a complete interior renovation to make the design and brand consistent with the other locations. That should take about eight months.

There is no opening date yet for the Brandon restaurant.

In addition to Florida, Hong has one restaurant each in Pennsylvania and Michigan scheduled to open June 21.

Chinese hot pot, according to Hong’s website, is also known as Chinese fondue.

According to the website, “the broth inside the pot boils over our specially designed heaters, and you have a variety of protein options (meatballs and thinly sliced beef are popular) to add to your pot. In addition to the protein choices, you can add noodles, vegetables, tofu, and more into your soup.”

The cooking method is popular in China and across Asia.