The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa reopened a popular dinning spot closed since COVID on Thursday, the same day it opened a new gaming area with 350 slot machines.
The unveiling also included an official introduction to an upgraded 240 room hotel in the west tower, the resort’s original hotel, which are now fully non-smoking.
In all, the completed projects that were on display at the Tampa resort on Interstate 4 and Orient Road totaled $65 million in improvements and created 200 jobs, company officials say.
While the slots are bound to get a lot of action and the renovated rooms and hotel building are unlikely to stay empty for long, the biggest attraction, at least on Thursday morning, was the long-awaited reopening of the Fresh Harvest Buffet.
The buffet includes six themed stations, and if there were any doubts about whether it was the correct decision to reopen it, a line to get in was growing 45 minutes before the official grand reopening at 11:30 a.m.
The popular eatery closed during COVID, and despite the desire — and clamor — to get it back open, the resort struggled to get it done.
Hard Rock Tampa President Steve Bonner says there have been several stumbling blocks, including getting enough staff after COVID, a time when a lot of restaurants — and companies — were struggling to find and keep workers.
That shortage affected the Hard Rock’s other restaurants as well, which operated for shorter hours and had limited menus for some time.
But now it's economically feasible, Bonner says.
“We literally made the decision to do it, like, eight weeks ago, and we really just went in,” he says, adding that the challenges included that the ovens had been turned off for four years and that they had to begin ordering and staffing up.
"Logistically, it's been kind of crazy,” he says.
With the additional of 200 jobs, the total number of employees at the resort jumps to 4,293.
Far flashier — and noisier — is the new gaming area in the space previously occupied by the resort’s food court.
The area has slots that take bets from one penny to $5 with max bets up to $100. It also has several Dragon Link slot machines. These popular machines, according to the Hard Rock, paid out 10 jackpots of $1 million or more last year.
And, like the buffet, it was a quick turnaround, says Bonner. “Seven weeks ago, they were serving pizza right where we're standing.”
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino first opened in 2004. Today, the resort owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida has 5,230 slot machines, 168 table games, a poker room with 46 tables and 13 restaurants.
The two hotel buildings, including the 240 rooms renovated in the west tower, total 802 rooms.
And if that weren’t enough, greeting you as you walk in through the main entrance is a 24-karat gold leaf grand piano that belonged to Elvis Presley.
Source: Business Observer
