Tim Tebow is one of the most recognizable faces in Florida, thanks to his football career with the Gators. Now, he's getting into the restaurant business.
People are buzzing about a new restaurant coming to Ocala, not necessarily because they know much about its food, but they certainly have heard of one of its principal partners.
“That would be really cool if Tim Tebow took your order,” said Kevin Teaf of Ocala.
That’s right Tim Tebow, last seen wearing a Patriots jersey before he was cut from the team and the NFL, is backing a number of fast food chicken restaurants planned for North Florida and Georgia.
Tebow's LLC, called H2, notes the number of combined Heismans won among his four equal partners. The other belongs to former Miami Hurricane, former Tampa Bay Buccaneer and former New York Jet Vinny Testaverde.
The restaurant is called PDQ. The Q in the acronym doesn’t stand for quarterback, but quality and quick.
A spokesperson for the company sayid Tebow decided to go in on a venture to bring the chain north after being impressed by one of PDQ’s 10 restaurants in South Florida and Tampa.
Signs outside a former Ocala hibachi grill with shattered windows say the proposed new restaurant is undergoing a site review.
It’s on State Road 200, right across the street from one of the nation’s most popular chicken chains, Chick-Fil-a.
But customers there said they thought any Tebow-backed venture would flourish, whether or not he’s back on a football field by the time it opens.
“We’re not that far from Gator nation, so it will bring some people in,” said Dale McCarthy of Ocala.
“I think it’s a great thing, He’s a great role model for a lot of people,” said Evan Janowsky of Ocala.
The Tebow group just opened their first PDQ in Jacksonville. Tebow’s business partner said he hopes to have the Ocala restaurant open by this summer.