Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ Opens Location in Venice, Florida

by Burkett · Published 08/19/2022 · Updated 05/17/2024

Last updated on May 17th, 2024 at 09:57 am

Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ completed their 17th franchise location in Venice, Florida where Burkett Restaurant Equipment & Supplies | Burkett Concepts assisted with the consult and installation throughout the space. According to Samantha Rincione, Crave’s Founder & CEO, 35 additional locations are currently under development. The franchise also has two food trucks that are currently under construction to add to the four already in existence! Since inception of Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ, they have partnered exclusively with Burkett and Andrew Martinez as their Key Account Manager.

As Burkett’s Key Account Manager, Martinez is responsible for creating equipment & smallwares templates for each franchise the company partners with, as well as reviewing floorplans to make sure the needed equipment will fit into the footprint of the new space. Once the project is underway, Martinez works closely with Barbie Nowakowski, Burkett’s Account Coordinator, who monitors delivery dates and execution of the project milestones. Nowakowski works closely with Crave & Ken Richards from Provost Construction, our main installers for the Crave franchise.

“Provost Construction is a great company to work with for project management because of their excellent communication and quality of execution from the early stages through completion of the project. Ken Richards, Provost Construction’s Project Manager, is always ready for any questions or concerns and keeps me informed on the construction schedule so that we can be up to date on our delivery schedule!”
Barbie Nowakowski, Account Coordinator
Burkett Restaurant Equipment & Supplies

Crave is Award Winning

Samantha and Salvatore Rincione, Crave’s founders, are accomplished restauranteurs. Crave began its franchising just a few short years ago in 2018 and has quickly earned several titles. The franchise jumped from number 20 (in 2021) to number 13 (in 2022) on the list “Mover and Shakers of 2022” by Fastcasual.com. They were also just voted one of the Top 10 BBQ franchises by Franchisewire.com.

As if their growth isn’t impressive enough, Crave founded a nonprofit called “Crave Saves” – where the mission is to reduce the overall cases of child trafficking throughout the United States as well as bring awareness to the public on what to look for, signs, and symptoms, all in an effort to reduce the number of child trafficking cases throughout the nation.

Venice Florida Location

The Venice, Florida location opened for business on August 6^th, 2022 at 1693 US 41 Bypass South, Venice Florida. The location includes 20 pour-your-own beer taps and a delicious menu that includes their signature hotdogs, (with an incredible lineup of hot dog toppings), barbecue, macaroni and cheese, yummy cheesecake and so much more!

This location utilized Burkett’s wide variety of equipment and supplies to fully stock their kitchen, serving area, dining area, break area, and restrooms!

“Burkett is a great partner for Crave. Working with Andrew puts us at ease, and we know our furniture and equipment packages will be correct and come on time. HE truly cares about the customer.”
Samantha Rincione
Founder & CEO of Crave Hotdogs & BBQ

When you first enter the beautifully landscaped property you see modern dining patio furniture by Just Chair Manufacturing, a leader in the manufacturing of quality commercial seating & table solutions. The indoor dining area, also furnished with Just Chair Mfg. products, is complete with Squeeze Bottle Holders full of Crave’s delicious sauces on every table. Crave is prepared for kiddos to join the fun by having Winco High Chairs close by, an Impact Baby Changing Station in the restroom, and a great kids menu.

Commercial work tables are designed to hold heavy commercial kitchen items such as the Nemco Hot Dog Roller Grill, Amana Commercial Microwave Oven, Nemco Food Warmers, Server Signature Touch Triple Squeeze Bottle Warmer, a TurboChef Double Batch Ventless Countertop Oven (used to cook some of their best-selling menu items), and a Hatco Warming Station. All essential equipment to Crave’s cooking line.

The kitchen also consists of an Advance Tabco Three Pan Electric Hot Food Table which holds sides and sauces, Metro Pan Proofer Cabinet, a Turbo Air Reach-In Freezer, a collection of Turbo Air equipment (Sandwich Prep Table, Under Counter Freezer and Under Counter Refrigerators). Inside the Crave kitchen, you’ll also find an Alto-Shaam Halo Heat Double Deck Electric Cook & Hold Oven is essential to maintain the quality of their mouth-watering BBQ. This impressive Alto-Shaam oven doubles cooking capacity while using Halo Heat technology to control and uniformly cook the food items which improves overall food quality and cuts down on waste. Cooking multiple items at once and in different styles is possible as the two compartments can be independently controlled!

Two walk-in coolers by AmeriKooler were customized for Crave’s kitchen using the industry’s longest lasting and most energy efficient insulation. The larger of the two coolers is the home for dozens of kegs for their self-serve 20 beer taps (other locations could have up to 36 taps) which are accessible from the dining area. Channel Manufacturing Keg Dollies make it easy to manipulate the kegs that Crave keeps on tap and the Channel Keg Storage Racks provide ample storage for the smaller space.

The warewashing area includes sinks and shelving from BK Resources, as well as a variety of racks, storage solutions, food pans, and more from Cambro. Winco is the manufacturer for most of the smallwares chosen for this project, and Libbey Glass, made in our hometown of Toledo, Ohio, was the chosen glassware company for wine and beer glass needs.

Knowing the importance of cold drinks, Crave uses the Arctic Air Glass Chiller & Froster to keep their Libbey Glass beer glasses frosty cold for each customer. A Scotsman Ice Maker makes delicious and perfect ice for those customers who choose to enjoy a fountain pop or water.

“Burkett will be partnering with Crave for many more openings across the nation. I enjoy working with the Crave franchise because they were the first chain I had the pleasure to be a part of. Burkett took a chance on Crave and in return Samantha and Sal took a chance on me. I truly consider Samantha and Sal close friends and it is always a pleasure working with them to see where we can take this amazing franchise!”
Andrew Martinez, Key Account Manager
Burkett Restaurant Equipment & Supplies