Famous St. Pete’s Biff Burger Closed, Everything Up For Auction Next Week | Openings & Closures | Tampa

Since the mid-1950s, Tampa Bay’s last Biff Burger has offered milkshakes, melt-in-the-mouth patties and flame-grilled burgers from its 5,000-square-foot building featuring the original W-shaped roof and exterior. checkered pattern.

Sadly, those days are history as the last Biff Burger store in Tampa Bay closes. All remaining assets of the St. Petersburg Biff Burger at 3939 49th St. N, including the accompanying Buffy’s BBQ, will be auctioned on Tuesday, December 7 at 10 a.m. Facebook The page says “we’ll be back,” but everything except the building itself will be for sale, including signs, decor, and kitchen equipment.

“On behalf of the owner / principal prior to the demolition and redevelopment of the property, we have been commissioned to sell the entire asset inventory of this iconic burger bar in the area,” the auction website. States

According to St. Pete Catalyst, Justin Basil of Tampa-based Rockwell Investments bought the burger restaurant and adjoining barbecue for just over a million earlier this year, and intended to continue operating as usual.

For decades, there were only two Biff Burgers in the country: one in St. Petersburg and a sister restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Clearwater-based burger chain spread like wildfire across the southeastern part of the country, as well as the east coast. The expansion was short-lived as most locations closed in the late 1980s due to Florida dominance by Miami-based Burger King and then the rest of the country.

Despite several owners since its inception, the exterior of the Biff Burger has remained unchanged over the decades. The local culture surrounding the roadside burger joint has drawn bikers, classic car fans and hot rods from across the Bay Area. Biff Burger also started hosting a weekly flea market when its neighbor Wagon Wheel closed in early 2020.

Last summer, the iconic restaurant temporarily closed due to sanitation violations – and customer reviews online continued to indicate that the quality of food and service continued to deteriorate. In 2018 there was a foreclosure action between former owners George and Sandra Musser, then current owner, Raphael Prezioso, in which the Mussers said that Biff Burger “was deteriorating both physically and in terms of patronage and reputation”, due to mismanagement of Prezioso and his family. Some long-time customers agreed.

Despite the increase in negative reviews in recent years, St. Petersburg will nonetheless mourn the loss of an iconic restaurant that has served its surrounding community for over 65 years. As the auction website indicates, the building will be demolished sometime after its equipment and decor is auctioned off next week, but the future of its historic location remains unknown.

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