January is pirate season in Tampa Bay, and with that brings two Gasparilla parades. The Gasparilla Children’s Parade took place on January 24, with the main Gasparilla Parade on January 31.
To kick off the parade season, the Riverview Chick-fil-A hosted its own pirate invasion for local families ahead of the Gasparilla Children’s Parade.
“Chick-fil-A has been a sponsor of the Gasparilla Children’s parade for years,” said Toni Miller, restaurant marketing director of Chick-fil-A Riverview. “Our operator, Gabe, says that it’s one of his favorite events and loves that our restaurant gets to participate year after year.”
The Riverview Chick-fil-A was approached by the local pirate krewe, the Krewe of the South Shore Marauders, to host a fundraiser for its scholarship fund at the restaurant.
“We saw this as a great opportunity to bring a smile to the faces of our guests and combined forces to make it a whole experience by turning it into an event and bringing a taste of Gasparilla to Riverview,” Miller said. “Their krewe dressed up in their pirate gear and passed out beads and balloon swords to our guests both inside the restaurant and in our drive-through. Our restaurant was decked out in pirate flags and maps, we had a DJ playing music outside and, of course, we were visited by the cow.”
Local children were invited to craft their own parrot out of paper tubes, feathers and pipe cleaners. Families dressed for the party with lots of eyepatches and bandanas.
“We loved hosting the event and supporting their fundraiser and hope to grow it to be even bigger next year,” Miller said. “Riverview is such a unique and special place to live. The people here are wonderful, and we love that they have embraced us from the very beginning. We are honored to be a place where this community gathers to celebrate, connect, and enjoy each other’s company.”
Chick-fil-A Riverview is owned and operated by Gabriel Porrata. It opened in October 2020 as the first Chick-fil-A in Riverview and was immediately very popular within the community. Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy believed “a great company is a caring company,” and Porrata strives to bring that energy to his store in Riverview.
“No matter the title or job description, our reason for coming to work is to generously share our time, talents and resources,” Miller said. “Everyone’s job at Chick-fil-A is to care for and serve others. Chick-fil-A Riverview aims to be the most caring company in our community by serving great food that people can feel good about and strengthening our community. We do that by being involved in local schools and organizations in the area, by serving great food and by offering memorable experiences within our restaurant.”
The Riverview location hosts a breakfast bingo twice a month where guests can compete to win prizes while they enjoy their food. The next breakfast bingo will be held on Thursday, February 19. The Riverview Chick-fil-A is located at 12810 Summerfield Crossing Blvd.
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