Second Fred's Bar-B-Que opens

By CHRISTINA K. COSDON

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 16, 2000

CLEARWATER -- St. Petersburg's Fred Fleming's Famous Bar-B-Que has opened its second restaurant in Pinellas County in Clearwater and is on its way to becoming the chain Fleming intended.

A third restaurant is scheduled to open in New Port Richey next month or early October.

Although Fleming still is actively involved in the business, majority owners Tom Schelldorf and Terence Terenzi have taken the helm.

Schelldorf, who co-founded Hops Restaurant Bar and Brewery and helped it grow into a popular national chain, is the chief executive officer. Terenzi, who was Hops' chief financial officer, is president. Avado Brands of Madison, Ga., bought the Hops chain in 1997, and both men left the company several months ago.

"We hope to take this and grow with it," Schelldorf said. "We're pursuing other sites. At this point, we're looking at only the Tampa Bay area. We need to take our time and make sure we're making the right decisions and don't get too big a dream. We're going to try to have fun with it.

"If it has the potential to go national, then we'll look at it; but right now we're focusing on the Tampa Bay market."

The newest restaurant opened July 20 at 2257 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd., Clearwater. The single-story, 3,400-square-foot building has seating for up to 135 people. It's open seven days a week and has curbside pickup. The restaurant also does some catering, Schelldorf said.

Dinners range from $6.25 for a smoked turkey leg dinner to $16.95 for a full rack rib dinner. The menu includes appetizers, sandwiches, salads, side dishes, kids meals and desserts (including Fred's famous carrot cake and a homemade brownie sundae, both $2.95). Party packs to go are available and include a rib dinner for two at $20.95 to ribs and chicken for eight to 10 people for $58.95.

Fleming perfected his award-winning barbecue sauce on weekends while he was a home builder in Pinellas County. He took the sauce to the national barbecue competition circuit and frequently won trophies and blue ribbons.

He retired from competition and opened the barbecue restaurant in St. Petersburg last fall. Before that, he had a restaurant in Homosassa and after a year moved it to Crystal River.

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