Where Daily Eats, Edison and Cheese Please Went, and Who Kept the Kitchen

"But it was broke, they just didn't know it."

That was Jason Brunetti, director of operations for Ciccio Restaurant Group's local brands, explaining why a 20-year-old diner on South Howard Avenue had to change. Daily Eats announced on May 21 that it would close for a rebrand, and nearly 400 people commented on the Instagram post, many of them asking the owners to reverse course. Its last day was June 15.

The Daily Eats closure has been folded into a bigger story this year about South Tampa's long-timers disappearing. Edison: Food + Drink Lab is gone. Cheese Please is leaving MacDill Avenue. The three departures were decided by three different parties, though, and each one points to a different explanation.

Where each one stands on Sept. 29

The operator made the call on Howard Avenue

Daily Eats is the only one of the three where the owner chose the change and explained it. Ciccio Restaurant Group also runs Green Lemon, Fresh Kitchen and Jay Luigi nearby, so Brunetti was looking at the numbers for a group that knows the corner well. He told Creative Loafing that weekday breakfast had been too slow for years and pointed partly to the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. In his words, breakfast is the meal people are skipping. That is one operator's read of his own sales, and he is the only source for it.

The room at 901 S. Howard Ave. was rebuilt around a different meal. Meeting House opened Aug. 20 with a ribbon-cutting on Aug. 25, after roughly two months of renovation. It serves lunch and dinner, with brunch only on weekends. The format also moved from quick service to full service, and the signature Daily Eats orange gave way to earth tones. Hand-cut fries are brined for three days. There is a takeout window for grab-and-go orders, and a drink list that includes a matcha milkshake and a banana bread latte. Brunetti said no other Ciccio brand is as drink-forward.

The staffing numbers are the part that cuts against the mourning in the comments. About 75% of the back-of-house team and about 25% of the front-of-house team moved over to Meeting House. Most of the people cooking your Daily Eats order in May are cooking in the same building now.

The name is a callback too. Old Meeting House served the corner for roughly 60 years before ending its run in 2003, and Brunetti has described the new place as the same style, taken up several notches.

The landlord made the call on Kennedy Boulevard

Edison follows a different pattern, and the timeline shows it. In late June, Edison announced a summer closure for deep cleaning and what chef Jeannie Pierola called a brand refresh, with a reopening "not too far out." On Aug. 19 the Tampa Bay Times reported that the restaurant, which opened in 2012, was closed for good and had been sold. Pierola is a five-time James Beard semifinalist.

A Sept. 3 local business roundup fills in more, though the detail comes from one aggregator and should be read as reported. It says Pierola accepted an offer from her landlord, whose nephews run Byte Burgers, and that they plan a larger version of the Temple Terrace smashburger concept at 912 W. Kennedy Blvd. Byte was founded by brothers Ahmed, Ali and Matt Mansour. It opened its first restaurant earlier this year, launched a Westshore food truck, and has a permanent Westshore restaurant under construction.

Pierola did not leave the neighborhood. Counter Culture, her restaurant at 2909 W. Bay to Bay Blvd., which opened in Bayshore Plaza in late 2019, is still hers and still running.

Compare that with Howard Avenue. Meeting House kept the operator and most of the kitchen and changed the meal. Edison changed the operator and, reportedly, the entire format, while its owner kept a second restaurant a few miles away. A closing tied to a landlord offer has little to do with whether breakfast is selling.

The tenant made the call on MacDill

Cheese Please, which runs its wine and cheese bar as Bar Ten, has a banner on its site saying the shop is relocating and that its new home will be announced on Instagram. Its unit at 4205 S. MacDill Ave. is where it has operated for the past few years, after an earlier move. The shop describes itself as the only dedicated gourmet cheese store in Tampa Bay, and that is its own claim.

Nothing published so far says why it is leaving or where it is going. The site lists no date. A reasonable reader could assume rent, or a lease ending, or a bigger space, and each of those is a guess.

Cheese Please is the only one of the three where the address is the open question. Meeting House has filled its room, and Edison's room has a reported next occupant. The MacDill unit is currently listed as where the shop is leaving from, not what comes next.

Why the same story doesn't fit all three

Summer was hard on restaurants across the bay. Axios reported on June 30 that closures had piled up, with owners pointing to inflation, tariffs and high gas prices on top of the usual slow season. One co-owner told the Times that the busiest places right now are the ones that just opened. Creative Loafing's running tally for 2026 also lists South Tampa's Soho Saloon, which announced a rebrand and a new concept for its space.

That backdrop is real, but it explains only some of what happened here. Daily Eats had a stated reason tied to one meal period. Edison's change involved a sale that, by one report, ran through the building's ownership. Cheese Please has said only that it is moving. Sorting each address by who acted is a better guide to what comes next than lumping all three into one "tough year" story.

There is a practical version of this for anyone planning a dinner. Meeting House is the one place on this list you can eat at today with confidence about the kitchen, since it has been serving since Aug. 20. Edison's old room and Cheese Please's new home are the two to watch for announcements.

What's on this month

• Meeting House, 901 S. Howard Ave. Open for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch, with a takeout window.
• Hyde Park Pet Parade, Saturday, Oct. 24. The City of Tampa lists it from 10 a.m. to noon on Hyde Park streets. It is free and spotlights the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. The event's website carries registration details for the costume contest, so check it before you go, since the deadline and check-in time may have changed.
• Cheese Please's Instagram. The shop says that is where the new address will appear first.

Anyone who has wondered what makes a South Tampa storefront last through this kind of turnover can find how operators think about the corner in this guide to opening a restaurant or cafe in South Tampa.

If you operate a restaurant or cafe in South Tampa, or are weighing a lease for one, Alan J. Kronenberg can walk you through how landlord offers, lease terms and format changes look from the tenant's side of the table. Let's Connect.