Fast-food clams? A drive-thru chain is expanding in Florida. See the details
A restaurant serving up New England comfort food — roast beef sandwiches, lobster rolls, clam chowder — is expanding in Florida.
Kelly’s Roast Beef has opened a second location in the Sarasota and Bradenton area. The Boston chain already has four other restaurants on Florida’s Gulf Coast, in the Naples, Fort Myers and St. Petersburg areas.
The new fast-food sandwich shop and drive-thru, opening Tuesday, May 6, is in Parrish’s Creekside Commons shopping plaza. Kelly’s opened in December 2022 in the Square at University Town Center, a familiar pit stop for South Florida travelers just off Interstate 75.
Kelly’s Roast Beef menu
Despite the name of the restaurant, there’s more than roast beef sandwiches on the menu. The lineup also features lobster rolls, fish sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs, whole-bellied clams, scallops, clam chowde and, soft-serve ice cream.
Kelly’s Roast Beef history
Company history says it was almost a fluke for the restaurant, which began in 1951 in the Boston area, to popularize the roast beef sandwichs. Founders Frank V. McCarthy and Raymond Carey opened Kelly’s as a hot dog shack on Revere Beach outside Boston.
They also worked next door for a special events venue, and wound up with multiple roast beefs after a wedding was canceled, the company history says. The duo made thinly-cut roast beef sandwiches on grilled hamburger rolls the next day. The new item was a hit, running out in an hour, the company history says.
McCarthy and Carey named the shack after their best friend, Thomas Kelly.
“Kelly’s has built its reputation on serving high-quality, made-to-order food that people crave, and that commitment shines through at every location,” RAVentures Hospitality regional director Jeff Doward said in a statement. “We’ve found that the classic flavors and Boston tradition behind Kelly’s really resonate with South Florida residents and visitors alike — whether they’re discovering us for the first time or reconnecting with a taste of home.”
RAVentures, which owns the franchise rights to Kelly’s, is also opening a seafood restaurant, Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill, in the same plaza in June.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 7:34 AM.
