Sonny’s closes Bradenton restaurant

A Sonny’s BBQ restaurant that has served barbecue at 5715 14th St. W. since 2008 closed Tuesday to make way for Manatee County’s fourth Aldi supermarket.

All of the Sonny’s staff have been offered jobs at the company’s four other regional restaurants, marketing director Kristin White said Wednesday.

Sonny's other Bradenton restaurant is at 631 67th St. E. The other regional restaurants are in Sarasota, Venice and Port Charlotte.

Aldi has supermarkets at 4705 Cortez Road W., Bradenton; 605 10th St. E., Palmetto; and 4525 53rd Ave. E., East Manatee.

“This was a leased building and our lease was up,” White said. “I personally called each and every staff member this morning and told them that we value them and appreciate them. We would be happy to employ them at any of our four other locations.”

About 25 Sonny’s staff members were affected by the restaurant closing.

Aldi is seeking site plan approval for the new supermarket through the Manatee County Building Department.

An Aldi official recently told the Herald that it was too early to release any information about the new supermarket.

But Dave Rinaldo, vice president for Aldi’s Haines City division, said Aldi has a $1.6 billion nationwide plan to remodel and expand more than 1,300 of its stores by 2020.

“With approximately 20 Aldi stores in the Tampa/St. Pete area, we can’t wait to bring the new look of Aldi to shoppers who know and love us, plus new fans, as we make more room for a larger selection of fresh products, plus customer favorites like organics, gluten-free foods and premium baby items,” Rinaldo said in an email.

This story was originally published April 19, 2017 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Sonny’s closes Bradenton restaurant."