Chains lead the way in Jacksonville’s culinary movement

Although Jacksonville is changing its image as a national restaurant chain-laden city, foods experts agree that there’s nothing wrong with chain restaurants — especially when they are based in the area and are contributing to the local economy and helping to change the culinary perception of the area.

There are numerous examples of locally-based chains that are providing jobs and acting as an economic stimulus locally, while growing regional, national or even international footprints.

Firehouse Subs, for instance, operates more than 600 restaurants throughout the nation and in Puerto Rico, and it all started with two firefighting brothers and a small space in Mandarin in the mid 1990s.

Firehouse is the largest chain based in Jacksonville, but there are other examples — such as Larry’s Giant Subs, Woody’s Bar-B-Q, Bono’s Pit Bar-B-Q and The Loop Pizza Grill — of restaurateurs that have found success multiple times and in multiple places.

Smaller chains too, while not franchises, have made a name for themselves in Jacksonville with multiple locations, like Al’s Pizza Italian Restaurant, European Street Cafe and Mojo BBQ, which has a slightly different name for each location.

The number of independent local restaurants is on the rise locally — offering diners innovative, edgy and, in some cases, even exotic-to-Jacksonville cuisines.

And an avant-garde group of foodies are leading the charge into a new era of dining in Jacksonville that they hope will lead to the city some day being considered a culinary destination. But, it won’t happen over night, they say, and it won’t happen unless the momentum keeps building with more local restaurants, from the white table clothed-fine dining to the multiple locations of locally-based chains.