The four locations, first reported by the South Florida Business Journal last week include the former spots of Lime on Alton Road and Miami’s Best Pizza on South Dixie Highway across from the University of Miami. There will also be a Broward restaurant east of Wilton Manors and one at Miami International Airport.
No word yet on the breadth of the menu, though Kunkel told the Business Journal the fledgling operation will share recipes with his Yardbird flagship. One possibility, however, is a fried chicken sandwiches Kunkel recently posted on social media.
It comes at the perfect moment when chicken sandwiches are being launched at Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack and Momofuku boss David Chang’s Fuku. There are a handful of decent variations around town, including GastroPod’s gochujang-marinated crispy chicken sandwich and the Chicken Cordon Jew from Josh’s Deli in Surfside.
Yet it also seems certain now that Kunkel is pivoting back to fast casual after a few years or trying to move to upscale concepts. It’s where he made he first succeeded, selling off Mexican chain Lime to Ruby Tuesday in 2012 for $24 million. Since then he’s opened high-profile spots like Yardbird, Coral Gables’ Swine, and Lincoln Road’s now-shuttered Khong River House. All at one time or another had high-profile chefs like Danny Grant and Jeff McInnis overseeing the kitchen.
There are no plans to franchise Spring
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