The new Beef 'O' Brady's at 2514 Santa Barbara Blvd., in Cape Coral.

The building a 2514 Santa Barbara Blvd. in Cape Coral used to be a Ruby Tuesdays. On Nov. 11, it was reintroduced as a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s.

The restaurant relocated to the new site from its previous home of 15 years.

One major change is that the former Beef’s location was in a strip mall. This new spot stands on its own.

When owner Warren Frye, saw that the building was available, he started calling to see if it was affordable.

“And we got a deal worked out,” he said. “It’s something I believe would be affordable for us so we decided to relocate the restaurant. It’s a better location and a freestanding building.”

The new location is also in a more densely populated area compared to its old digs at 3015 S.W. Pine Island Road.

Vice president of marketing and events Dino Komosinski says they did things like paint the interior and exterior and update the kitchen.

“They put a lot of work into it,” he said. “It’s really beautiful.”

It’s also much bigger than the old location.

For one, Komosinski says the kitchen is huge.

And there is a private dining room.

“KJ’s is known for that,” Komosinski said. “People always ask if we have a place in Cape Coral. When we got the new building, we wanted to put in a room for private dining.”

The Fryes also own KJ’s Steakhouse in Fort Myers and another Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Cape Coral.

“We did mostly cosmetic changes to the building and brought in a bunch of new furniture and equipment,” Frye said.

The fact that the restaurant isn’t nestled into a strip mall is important.

“It’s more visible along the road,” Frye said.

There’s also a new paint scheme, wood finishings, the bar area is bigger and there’s a much bigger TV package than what they had before.

Customers can watch their favorite games on over 30 TVs.

In addition to opening a new restaurant, the owners also found a way to give back during the pandemic’s early months.

They opened a grocery store in March 2020 about two weeks after restaurants were shut down.

“We noticed Publix and other stores running out of food,” Frye said. “In the restaurant business, we have different suppliers than grocery stores have.”

So, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s gets things like hamburgers and meats in bulk whereas grocery stores get those things individually.

Prices were hard to beat.

“I think ground beef was less than $2 a pound at one point,” Komosinski said.

Customers would pull up to the curb and open their trunk; employees would place the items inside and payments were made over the phone.

“People loved it and didn’t have to stand in line,” Komosinski said. “Especially during the early days of COVID when there wasn’t much on the shelves.”

He said people came in for things like wings, produce, chicken breasts and steaks.

“People were having barbecues at that point,” Komosinski said.

Restaurant vendors had the food, but it was difficult to distribute the items because restaurants were either closed or weren’t doing as much business.

“It (opening the marketplace) helps the food suppliers and also helps the customers in the community,” Frye said.

It was a win-win.

For more information, call 239-574-2060 or visit https://www.beefobradys.com/midpoint