FOLIO
“What could be better than fresh sushi among a beautiful beach view?” asked Indigo Road founder, Steve Palmer. Indigo Road is a hospitality group formed in 2009 and based in Charleston, South Carolina that owns and operates 25 restaurants and hotels in the Southeast. Among those businesses is modern Japanese-styled restaurant O-Ku.
O-Ku, the group’s most recent endeavor, will open in Jacksonville Beach in early 2022. According to Palmer, the restaurant’s cuisine is “modern Japanese [with a] high focus on quality ingredients,” including flying in seafood from Hawaii and Tokyo. At their Jacksonville Beach location, O-Ku will, of course, use local fish, as well.
There are currently six O-Ku restaurants—in Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville and Washington, D.C.—with Jacksonville Beach being their first venture into Florida. The 4,400-square-foot restaurant will have space for 165 guests to be seated. It will also have a rooftop bar overlooking the ocean, a perfect backdrop for their popular cocktail offerings.
“Our company is truly founded on hospitality. So, we pride ourselves on a high level of service and hospitality…we’re just very excited to bring our food to Jacksonville Beach,” said Palmer. Indigo Road is a community-focused group always looking to give back to the communities they serve in. When scouting for locations, Palmer felt Jacksonville Beach was the perfect home for Florida’s first O-Ku restaurant with the Beaches’ up-and-coming culinary and nightlife scene.
O-Ku will be located at 502 First St. N., a highly coveted spot directly across from the Jacksonville Beach Pier. Initially, it will be open for cocktails and dinner with lunch service being added in the spring. They are currently hiring for all positions and are excited, as are the locals, to bring a new rooftop bar and dining experience to the Beaches.
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