Frank Fernandez had long wanted to open his own restaurant, but he hadn’t found the right location — until a chance lunch by visiting East Coast developers at his family’s North Naples cafe led to a promising opportunity.
Later this year, Fernandez will open the fourth Fernandez the Bull Cafe on Alico Road in south Lee County, where he will serve as managing partner.
“I’d been looking for a location for a while and when I saw this, I got goosebumps,” Fernandez said.
The location is across from the Amazon warehouses and down the road from Florida Gulf Coast University, Gulf Coast Town Center and Southwest Florida International Airport.
The north side of Alico Road is all commercial, the south side is residential.
“As a business owner, the commercial is great for lunch crowds and the residential is great for the dinner crowd,” he said.
Plans have been in the works since early 2025, Fernadez said.
He found the location by chance when the plaza’s developers stopped by Fernandez the Bull Cafe on Immokalee Road for lunch in January.
A vintage car is parked in front of the Fernandez the Bull Cuban Cafe & Bar in Bonita Springs, where the menu will mirror offerings at the brand’s upcoming Alico Road location in south Lee County.
“When we were there, we loved the food, ‘I said, wow this is delicious, this type of business is perfect for our plaza,’’’ said Carmen de Jongh, managing partner of Coral Gables-based Colfax Development.
They spoke with the manager, who connected them with the right person — and that’s when the conversation started.
“I went over there and looked at it and saw the traffic,” Fernandez said.
About 59,000 cars travel daily on Alico Road west of Interstate 75, about a mile from the restaurant.
The restaurant will have about 120 seats and be the size of the Bonita Springs location. The menu will be a carbon copy of the other restaurants.
Fernandez manages and helped open the Pine Ridge Road location in 2014.
He started working in his family’s restaurants when he was in his early teens. Fernandez, 43, took a break when he went to college. He also owns an insurance office.
The Alico plaza is Colfax Development’s first project in Southwest Florida. Colfax signed a barber shop, kava bar, smoke shop and book and coffee shop so far, de Jongh said.
Colfax also is building a small plaza on Three Oaks Parkway near Estero Parkway. Foxtail Coffee will become a tenant when it opens later this year.
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