Colorful illustrated sign for “King of the Coop,” featuring a muscular cartoon chicken wearing a gold crown and chain with arms crossed. Bold white text reads “KING OF THE COOP,” and below in a blue box, “THIS IS COOP COUNTRY.” Trees and sky are visible in the background.
King of the Coop in Tampa, Florida. Credit: Photo via officialkingofthecoop/Facebook

Florida’s notoriously-slow summer season has claimed yet another locally-owned restaurant.

King of the Coop, a Best of the Bay-winning hot chicken spot located at 4815 N Nebraska Ave. in Seminole Heights, has closed.

“Coop fans, after a lot of thought, we’ve made the call to close our Seminole Heights location. Since day one, our team has been our #1 priority,” owner Joe Dodd wrote on Instagram yesterday. “The thought of continuing with the very real risk of not being able to pay them is something we simply can’t do.”

The last remaining King of the Coop is located inside of Depot 303 food hall in Mulberry where Dodd also runs a porchetta sandwich shop. King of the Coop and Bottega Porchetta—which dishes out sandwiches and platters loaded with slow-roasted, tender pork—are open seven days a week at 303 NW 1st Ave.

King of the Coop returned to its original neighborhood of Seminole Heights just six months ago, when it took over the former Nebraska Mini Mart. Dodd switched up the menu a bit to include healthier options and vegetarian choices in addition to his classic spread of hot chicken tenders, fries, hush puppies and loaded mac and cheese.

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

While King of the Coop is certainly known for its Nashville-style hot chicken—which varies in heat level from the mild “Country” to the extremely spicy “Coop’s Fury”—the restaurant has also run a variety of specials like its Hawaiian huli huli chicken platters, Irish spice bags and more.

“I just want to thank all of the team members that we’ve had over the years, King of the Coop wouldn’t be anything without them and I can’t thank our customers enough for their support,” Dodd tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “I’m not sure what this means for the future of King of the Coop in Tampa, or if there’s even a place for it in Tampa. But at the end of the day, all I can be is thankful and hopeful.”

“My team will always come first before anything else. And I just couldn’t put them in a in a position where they could come to work and potentially not be able to be paid,” Dodd adds.

Dodd launched the flagship King of the Coop in Seminole Heights back in 2019, when the trend of Nashville-style hot chicken just started to reach nationwide popularity, eventually finding its way onto the menus of fast food chains and fast casual franchises.

In the following years, King of the Coop opened several other restaurants including locations in St. Pete and Soho, and planned for more in areas like Wesley Chapel, Westchase and even an expansion into the tri-state area.

King of the Coop was also located inside of the Seminole Heights food hall Flocale from 2022-2023, and most recently operated out of a small restaurant space in Ybor City’s Cigar City Cider & Mead.

For more information about King of the Coop and Bottega Porchetta, head to their respective Instagram pages at @officialkingofthecoop and @bottegaporchetta. Both food hall concepts are open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. 8 p.m. on Sundays.

Dodd also mentions that anyone who is interested in catering services or local pop-ups can email him at joe@kingofthecoop.com.

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This article appears in Sept. 11-17 2025.

Kyla Fields is the food critic and former managing editor of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay who started their journey at CL as summer 2019 intern. They are the proud owner of a charming, sausage-shaped, eight-year-old...