Nine months after opening, PangeaKeto’s franchise owners posted on Facebook on Sept. 25 they closed the restaurant at southeast Beach Boulevard and San Pablo Road.
It starts “Sorry, We Are Closed.”
“Dear Pangea Keto Family, After much thought, we’ve made the difficult decision to permanently close Pangea Keto. We want to thank you all for your incredible support and loyalty over the years-it has meant the world to us,” says the Facebook post.
“While this chapter is ending, we are deeply grateful for the community we’ve built together. Thank you for being a part of our journey.
“With gratitude,
The Pangea Keto Team”
The location is at 14474 Beach Blvd.
‘Pharmacy of the future’
PangeaKeto.com says it is the first 100% ketogenic grocery and bistro with a selection of sugar- and gluten-free meals, snacks, desserts, salad dressings and more.
It was Ohio-based PangeaKeto’s first Florida franchise.
Franchisees Jacqueline Spring Miller and Rosanna Smith, managers of Spring Rose LLC, have been best friends for 20 years.
“I believe this is the pharmacy of the future,” Miller said Jan. 14, days before opening.
“They say let food be thy medicine. There is such a need for food like this that tastes good and is actually good for you.”
Miller is from Jacksonville. “I wanted to bring this to my hometown and there is nothing like this and I think that what you eat dictates the quality of your life,” she said.
“Mentally, physically and emotionally. I want to give people an outlet to live their best life.”
The pangeaketo.com site says PangeaKeto has more than 250 proprietary products and sells sugar- and gluten-free meals, snacks, desserts, salad dressings and more.
Miller said the restaurant is focused on those who follow a keto diet and lifestyle as well as those with celiac disease, eat gluten-free, are diabetic or need to watch their blood sugar levels.
“This will be such a safe haven for them to enjoy that food without the cost of what it does metabolically,” she said.
PangeaKeto carried frozen meals-to-go, other bistro items and the restaurant menu made-to-order.
The menu is based on low carbohydrates. The Jacksonville menu was similar to the other two in Ohio and Texas with burgers, melts, quesadillas, pizza, bowls, wings, sides and more.
While Miller and Smith each own and operate separate businesses, they joined to buy the franchise.
Miller said it is “for my own selfish purposes to be able to have healthy food that is not going to cause inflammation and to sustain me, to have proper nutrition.”
The location
Adkins Construction LLC renovated the 1,969-square-foot restaurant that began as a Taco Bell and more recently was the House of Leaf & Bean and Hakka Kitchen.
Chef Wen Raiti opened the organic food-focused House of Leaf & Bean in 2017 and then Hakka Kitchen in 2021 until she closed it in December
Miller and Smith leased the property from the owner of the shopping center, which is anchored by Publix Super Markets Inc.
Miller said the location is central to Atlantic Beach and Ponte Vedra as well as in South Jacksonville, and south to Butler Boulevard.