Kelly’s Roast Beef opened its doors Friday morning to its first of many restaurants planned in Collier and Lee counties.
After a brief delay, the Boston-area institution known for its roast beef sandwiches and lobster rolls launched its first Naples area location on an outparcel lot fronting Immokalee Road just east of Collier Boulevard in Founders Square. Initially expected to open earlier this month, potential customers drove through the parking lot of the freestanding drive-thru during the last couple of weeks to check on the status of the restaurant while it was in training mode.
“Every single day that we’ve been there we’ve had folks pull up at the drive-thru. We’ve had folks coming to the front door, stopping and asking us, ‘Hey, when are you opening? Can’t wait,’ and hearing the stories about their first trip to Kelly’s or how they’ve been going there for life. So, we’re excited to be able to open up and start taking care of our guests,” said Jeff Doward, the regional director of RAVentures Hospitality Group, the franchisee behind the opening of numerous area locations of Kelly’s Roast Beef and Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill—a spinoff of 110 Grill, another popular restaurant chain in Massachusetts.
Founded in 1951 on Revere Beach, a few miles north of Boston, Kelly’s plans two more fast-casual locations in the Naples area and at least one in Fort Myers. Its new location at 8900 Founders Square Drive is only the second location in Florida. The first in Florida launched last December in a space that Sweet Tomatoes vacated at University Town Center in the Sarasota area. The third location is set to open next month in South Pasadena, near St. Petersburg.
The next Naples area location will be in Gateway Shoppes at North Bay in North Naples. Kelly’s plans a 3,500-square-foot drive-thru fronting U.S. 41 just north of Wiggins Pass Road on the northern end of a new multitenant outparcel building under construction by Benderson Development, the owner of the retail center.
“We probably won’t even start [interior] construction on that until the first part of next year, I would guess—a complete guess at this point,” Doward said. “The landlord is building their shell and doing that work. They have to do all that before we can ever even get in there.”
A third Collier County location is planned near where Airport-Pulling Road meets U.S. 41 East in East Naples. Last August, a company representing Kelly’s purchased the 1.89-acre vacant commercial property at 3184 Tamiami Trail E. off Peters Avenue for $2.3 million, county property records show.
“Not sure what that looks like at this point. It’s definitely coming. I just don’t know when it is on the timeline,” Doward said. “We won’t probably break ground for some time next year.”
A Fort Myers location is planned next year near Topgolf, less than 10 miles north of JetBlue Park at Fenway South, the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox. “There’s a possibility we could break ground this year,” he said.
All the locations will share the same legendary Kelly’s menu of sandwiches, seafood, salads, soups and sides.
“Far and away, the roast beef sandwiches are our No. 1 seller, followed closely by the lobster rolls and our hand-cut onion rings,” Doward said.
Kelly’s roasts its signature beef in-house throughout the day at the quick-service restaurant.
“Folks can look forward to a fresh product, high-quality beef. We slow-roast top round daily, making a perfect medium rare, thin sliced to order and it gets piled high on a butter-grilled sesame seed roll.”
The seafood comes from New England and Kelly’s even makes its own tartar sauce.
“We have our shipments coming in from Massachusetts twice a week,” Doward said. “So, we have whole belly clams that come in from Ipswich, Massachusetts. We have cod for our fish and chips also comes in from Massachusetts and our scallops come in from Massachusetts all twice a week, fresh seafood.”
Notably, Kelly’s can execute its entire menu as gluten-free.
“I have gluten-free rolls. I have a dedicated fryer battery for gluten-free products. I have gluten-free flour or breading that I can do all of my fried food in. I have gluten-free hamburger rolls, hot dog rolls, sub rolls, bread,” Doward said.
The restaurant hired 37 employees for the Naples location, which is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
