What Now hosted its Tampa Accelerate networking event on Thursday, October 15, from 3 to 6 p.m., to a marvelous turnout. Held at Mise en Place, located at 1229 E. 8th Avenue, the gathering was hosted by What Now COO Joshua Spivak and brought together restaurant owners, café operators, franchisees, and hospitality industry service providers for an afternoon of networking and relationship-building.
The event welcomed 39 attendees representing 25 businesses and organizations, including 23 food-and-beverage attendees from 13 businesses and 16 industry partner attendees from 12 companies.
Food-and-Beverage Attendees
Mise en Place — 1229 E. 8th Avenue, Tampa, FL 33605
Maryann Ferenc, owner, and Dave Madera, GM, represented Mise en Place, the host venue. An established Tampa restaurant that relocated earlier this year, it is known for its contemporary cuisine and dining experience.
Danny’s Coffee and Friends — 6800 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Suite 188, Tampa, FL 33614
Owners Danaleesa Borden and Michael Jimenez represented Danny’s Coffee and Friends, a Latin Caribbean brunchery serving breakfast, lunch, coffee, and other drinks. The concept also offers catering and private event services.
Valentino Ristorante Italiano — 2930 Gulf to Bay Blvd., Clearwater, FL 33759
Tara RosenBum, Marketing Rep, attended on behalf of Valentino Ristorante Italiano. The Italian restaurant serves a menu featuring pasta, seafood, meat dishes, and Italian wines in Clearwater.
Rasoi Indian Cuisine — 1701 E. 8th Ave., Tampa, FL 33605
Manashi Boruah and Amit G attended, representing Rasoi Indian Cuisine. Rasoi, a concept from Mumbai immigrants, is located in Historic Ybor City and offers dine-in and catering options.
Cousin Vinny’s Sandwich Co. — 2063 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL 33713
Vinny Andriotti, Co-Founder/Head of Operations, represented Cousin Vinny’s Sandwich Co. The Tampa-based sandwich shop is expanding to St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District, expected to open in November.
Bookends: Literature and Libations — 2208 E. 2nd Avenue, Tampa, FL 33605
Co-owners Teresa Rodriguez and Laurie Rodriguez represented Bookends: Literature and Libations, an independent bookstore and wine bar in Ybor City. The sisters opened the permanent storefront this year after operating as a mobile bookstore and pop-up business.
Lucky Cup Coffee Co. — 2606 Fairfield Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712
Co-owners Lauren Kirk and April Lupkey represented Lucky Cup Coffee Co. The independent coffee business is expanding to its second location inside The Factory, a prominent creative arts campus in St. Petersburg’s Warehouse Arts District.
Playa Bowls — 1244 E. Madison Street, Tampa, FL 33602
Tabatha Castro, franchisee, represented Playa Bowls, a fast-casual brand known for açai bowls, smoothies, and other fruit-based offerings. Castro is bringing the business to Tampa’s Channel District.
Shiso Crispy — St. Petersburg and Tampa, FL
Ronicca Whaley, Owner, and Abbey Ross, Operations Manager, represented Shiso Crispy, a Tampa Bay business known for its hand-folded gyoza, bao, and rice bowls. Its menu features dishes such as bang bang chicken dirty rice and barbecue beef short rib dirty rice.
BBQ Spot — Florida
Shane Ross, Operations Manager, attended on behalf of a business identified as a “BBQ hotspot.” Details about his business name and location are still under wraps.
Blush Wine Room — 5863 Goldview Pkwy Unit 107, Wesley Chapel, FL 33544
Owners Nimesh Desai and Felicia Desai and Social Media Manager and Event Coordinator Sara Desai attended representing Blush Wine Room. The wine room and speakeasy concept offers wine, cocktails, and small plates at The Krate at The Grove in Wesley Chapel.
Trattoria Napoli — 5470 7th Street, Zephyrhills, FL 33542
Matthew Zappoli, Owner and Chef; Valentina Rivera, PR Manager; and Idania Reyes represented Trattoria Napoli. The independent Italian restaurant opened its doors this summer in Zephyrhills.
Tiki Bagel — 455 75th Ave, St. Pete Beach, FL 33706.
Owner PJ Powell represented Tiki Bagel, a bagel business that opened in St. Pete Beach in 2024. The venue serves bagels, cereal, breakfast sandwiches, handheld beach meals, avocado toast, and local coffee.
Partner Attendees
Global Payments — Genius Point of Sale
Andreas Hingsamer, SRM, represented Global Payments’ Genius Point of Sale business. Genius offers payment processing and point-of-sale technology for restaurants and other businesses, with tools for taking orders, handling payments, and coordinating front- and back-of-house operations.
Human Interest
Tanya White, PAM, represented Human Interest, a company offering workplace retirement benefits and 401(k) plans to help employers provide retirement savings programs for their teams.
DoorDash
Tracy Breittberg, Merchant Lead, represented DoorDash. The company provides restaurant delivery, pickup and merchant technology services, helping food businesses reach customers through its marketplace and manage online orders.
Easy Ice
Ric Campbell and Robert Jann, Sales Manager, represented Easy Ice. Easy Ice provides commercial ice machine subscriptions that include equipment, maintenance, cleaning, and repairs, helping restaurants and other businesses maintain reliable ice production without managing the equipment themselves.
ADT
Tiffany LeTendre, Sales, represented ADT, a security company providing alarm systems, monitoring, and related security services. Its business security offerings can help commercial operators protect their premises and equipment.
inKind
Jessi G. and Parker Homans represented inKind. The company operates a restaurant-focused dining and payments platform that lets customers discover participating restaurants, bars, and cafés across the United States, and earn rewards when paying through the app.
Auris
Tammi Kopec, Territory Manager, represented Auris. Auris is a cloud-based payroll, human capital management (HCM), and HR platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses.
Restaurant Technologies, Inc
Rex Hellmann, Sales Executive, represented Restaurant Technologies, Inc. The company provides automated cooking-oil management for commercial kitchens, including bulk oil delivery, filtration, monitoring, used-oil removal and recycling.
OpenTable
Brittany Giardina and Adrian Arifaj, Account Executive, represented OpenTable. OpenTable provides restaurant reservation and guest-management technology, helping diners discover restaurants and book tables while supporting operators with reservations and guest relationships.
Broward Nelson
Zach Snow, Sales, represented Broward Nelson, a Florida beverage supply company for commercial customers. Its offerings include beverage-grade carbon dioxide, draft beer gases, soda systems, water purification, and related equipment and services.
SpotOn
Kevin Agren, Senior Hospitality Specialist, and Nicole Patten, Hospitality Specialist, represented SpotOn. The company provides restaurant technology and payment solutions, including point-of-sale systems and tools designed to help hospitality businesses manage transactions and daily operations.
Auto-Chlor System
Jacob Eide, Account Executive, represented Auto-Chlor System, a commercial cleaning and sanitation provider. The company supplies commercial dishwashing equipment, cleaning products, service, and training to help operators maintain kitchen sanitation standards.
What Now Media Group shares restaurant opening news in 33 cities across North America, breaking news, and provides timely insight into yet-to-open brick-and-mortar businesses. The platform shares news of thousands of openings across all 33 cities annually.
Stay tuned for future Accelerate events from What Now Media Group in 2026. For more details, see the Accelerate page here.
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