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Nellie's expands, adds Nellie's Too
By JOY DAVIS-PLATT, Times Staff Writer A popular Weeki Wachee restaurant will soon add another location in Spring Hill. Weekend crowds at Nellie's Restaurant are often so large, said owner Marty Ogden, that customers have to wait to be seated. To capitalize on the popularity of his restaurant's homestyle food, Ogden plans to open Nellie's Too in early June. "This is going to be the same casual dining people are used to," said Ogden, who bought the original Nellie's Restaurant in 1999. "People have told us what they like and we'll stick to that." Open for 15 years, the original Nellie's Restaurant will provide the road map for the new place, Ogden said. The menu at Nellie's Too will be the same, he said, and the atmosphere will have the same homey charm. "We've had a lot of chain restaurants coming in, but people seem to like our style," he said. With seating for 165 people, the new restaurant holds the same number of diners as the original Nellie's. Unlike the other location, no smoking will be permitted in the new location. The expansion comes as Ogden, 40, says his annual revenues have doubled since he bought the restaurant three years ago. "We were pulling in about a million then, and now that's up to about two," he said. Ogden plans to split his staff and managers between the two locations, hiring new people to fill in the rest. "It's good to have some of your more experienced people around to help smooth transitions," said Ogden, a national food broker based in New Port Richey. Set to open June 1, the restaurant will be at the old Bobby Socks' location on Mariner Boulevard, just north of Northcliffe Boulevard, but Ogden says people will hardly recognize the building that was once a Captain D's seafood restaurant, and after that a '50s diner/drive-in. Ogden signed the 15-year lease on the location just two weeks before Publix announced that it would open a new location across from the property. If he had not already made the deal, Ogden said he would certainly have been outbid. "Things are just going our way," he said. "Ultimately I'd like to have five locations, but for now we'll stick with two."
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From today's Hernando Times |
