By Nick Nahas
Kraftologee is a new concept restaurant located in Riverview, where adults can enjoy a relaxing dining experience, and kids can partake in supervised creative play. It is a full-service food restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and features a full coffee bar and a large selection of craft beer and wine. It is also the only place in Brandon that serves the popular Buddy Brew Coffee, and they offer free wifi as well.
Owners John Fontana and Chris Harman opened Kraftologee in May of last year. Fontana said they were inspired with the idea for the restaurant by the other kids’ company that he owns called Bricks 4 Kidz, where they teach kids STEM concepts using legos. At Kraftologee, kids can check into Creativity Labs, or rooms for supervised creative projects and play, so that parents enjoy time in the cafe.
Kids are broken up into different age groups, and are supervised by trained staff that keeps them engaged with fun and educational activities. In the 6-12-year-old room, they do arts and crafts, play with Legos, or watch TV. In the younger age group, kids can enjoy arts and crafts, as well as play with toys.
The restaurant serves sandwiches, wraps, rice bowls, quesadillas, nachos, hamburgers and salads, among other things. Kraftologee is locally owned and run. Both Fontana and Harman were born and raised in the Brandon area, Harman graduating from Bloomingdale High School and the University of South Florida, and Fontana a Jesuit High School graduate. Adults don’t even need to have kids in order to enjoy the restaurant. They can enjoy the coffee or food while using the free wifi.
Fontana’s goal is to open several more Kraftologees in different areas that could potentially include locations such as FishHawk and South Tampa.
Visit www.Kraftologee.com. The restaurant is located at 10312 Bloomingdale Ave., Suite 101 near the SuperTarget.
