{"id":63259,"date":"2026-03-02T21:49:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T02:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63259"},"modified":"2026-03-02T21:50:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T02:50:01","slug":"bartow-sonnys-will-soon-rise-from-the-ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/02\/bartow-sonnys-will-soon-rise-from-the-ashes\/","title":{"rendered":"Bartow Sonny’s, will soon rise from the ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is a tough break for the Bartow community, but the spirit of the “Pit” is clearly still burning. After the devastating fire on January 7, 2026<\/strong>, which leveled the building at 595 N. Broadway Ave, the plans for a comeback are already in motion.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Incident Recap<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The fire broke out early on a Wednesday morning. A pitmaster arriving for the morning shift discovered the blaze after hearing a “popping” sound from the attic. Despite the efforts of the Bartow Fire Department and Polk County Fire Rescue, the roof collapsed, resulting in a total loss of the structure that had been a local staple since 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

The fire-ravaged Sonny\u2019s Restaurant in Bartow will rise from its ashes, possibly by the fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sonny\u2019s BBQ\u00a0in Bartow\u00a0will\u00a0be\u00a0rebuilt\u00a0at the same site\u00a0at\u00a0Polk Street and Mill\u00a0Avenue,\u00a0using\u00a0plans for a new prototype\u00a0that include\u00a0a\u00a0new look and a\u00a0drive-thru,\u00a0said\u00a0Scott Frantz, president of ACG Barbecue, the franchise\u00a0that\u00a0operates\u00a0the\u00a0location.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Plan for Reconstruction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While a specific reopening date for the new building hasn’t been set yet (construction of this scale typically takes 9\u201312 months), the franchise owners, ACG Barbecue, have signaled their commitment to the site:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Food Truck “Bridge”:<\/strong> To keep the staff employed and the community fed, there have been discussions about placing a Sonny\u2019s food truck<\/strong> in the parking lot during the interim.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Staff Support:<\/strong> Many of the displaced workers are being offered positions at other nearby Sonny\u2019s locations to ensure they aren’t left without income.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Modern Design:<\/strong> When the restaurant “rises from the ashes,” it will likely feature the updated Sonny\u2019s prototype\u2014meaning a more modern dining room and potentially enhanced drive-thru capabilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    Note:<\/strong> For those missing their BBQ fix, the closest operating locations are currently in Lakeland<\/strong> and Winter Haven<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It is a tough break for the Bartow community, but the spirit of the “Pit” is clearly still burning. After the devastating fire on January 7, 2026, which leveled the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTUud2VicD9maXQ9MTAyNCUyQzU3NiZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkJhcnRvdyBTb25ueSYjODIxNztzLCB3aWxsIHNvb24gcmlzZSBmcm9tIHRoZSBhc2hlcyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.Gyhw5dK9pOg4AWuFamjNKJUo8YtZ7AkOGpecNsW_MSAMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13890,13891],"class_list":["post-63259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bartow-sonnys","tag-will-soon-rise-from-the-ashes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63262,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63259\/revisions\/63262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}