The long-rumored P.F. Chang’s China Bistro has filed an application for a restaurant in The Villages.
The Asian-themed restaurant chain has filed an application for a location at 3676 Meggison Road at Brownwood Paddock Square, according to a document on file with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The filing offers little information other than, “Application in Progress.”
The possibility of P.F. Chang’s coming to Florida’s Friendliest Hometown has fueled the rumor mill for several years in The Villages. The document on file with the state is the first indication that Villagers’ desire for the popular restaurant chain’s cuisine will be fulfilled.
Last year, Sumter County Commissioner Doug Gilpin referenced attempts to lure P.F. Chang’s to The Villages as part of the rationale for a 25 percent tax increase.
The first P.F. Chang’s opened in 1993 and was founded by Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang. P.F. Chang’s traces its roots to the Mandarin, founded in San Francisco by Chiang’s mother Cecelia, who started a second restaurant in 1974 in Beverly Hills where she began feeding celebrities like John Lennon and Yoko Ono. That year, she was called back to China for an extended trip and her son stepped in to run the restaurant.
Today, the restaurant chain serves up $1 billion in annual revenue.
The name “P.F. Chang’s” is derived from those of Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang, whose surname was simplified to Chang. There are now more than 200 P.F. Chang’s in the United States and another 100 locations around the world.
The Coronavirus pandemic has upended the restaurant industry in The Villages and across the United States. The stomach-churning rollercoaster ride the restaurant industry is on right now might prompt one to wonder if P.F. Chang’s will forge ahead with planting its flag in The Villages.
P.F. Chang’s has switched up most of its social media to include detailed reheating instructions for dishes like the Dynamite Shrimp Bowl and it is heavily promoting its take-out fare.
