After 30 years in the restaurant business, family and employee-owned Ciccio Restaurant Group has been revolutionizing healthy food in Tampa. A variety of new plant-based options have been added to Cali’s colorful, Venice Beach-inspired menu of wraps, pizzas, tacos, and bowls created to be delicious with or without animal proteins. The Californian fare is accompanied by a wide variety of fresh-pressed juices, agua frescas, locally sourced loose leaf tea and superfood wellness lattes.
“With so many different diets and beliefs, we allow you to create your own balance,” says Cali founder Matt Lanza.
The CRG team has put nearly as much thought into how their food is served as they do sourcing the food. The new menu features only sustainably sourced antibiotic and hormone-free meats, plus Sea Change-certified tuna. Cali is in the process of phasing out plastic to-go containers as part of their sustainability initiatives. The restaurant has also partnered with Aurora Dawn with Astrapto and hired sustainability coordinator Ali Cammissa to organize local beach clean-ups and reduce overall food waste at each location to improve the restaurant’s environmental footprint.
As part of their effort to give back to the planet and the local community, the managing partners of each of CRG’s four Cali locations have also personally selected local organizations to which they’ll donate 5% of the restaurant’s profits this year, resulting in $50,000 to $75,000 going right back into the Tampa Bay area.
