NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – Pappas Drive-In & Restaurant, long a staple for fans of burgers and fried chicken in New Smyrna Beach, has been demolished after it burned down earlier this year, according to the eatery’s original owners.
Used in January for filming parts of “F1,” an upcoming Brad Pitt movie about racing, the restaurant was deemed to likely be a total loss after it caught fire in March.
(PREVIOUS COVERAGE | STORY CONTINUES BELOW)
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
Friday afternoon, Chris and Soula Pappas — the original owners of Pappas Drive-In & Restaurant — made a statement on social media announcing the eatery’s demolition and bidding farewell on its behalf to the New Smyrna Beach community that they were proud to serve “for many wonderful years.”
We want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to our cherished patrons for your unwavering support throughout the years. Your smiles, laughter and shared moments have been the heartbeat of our establishment from family gatherings to impromptu celebrations, each day spent together has been a joy that we will always treasure.
We also want to think our incredible employees who have loved the restaurant as much as we did. Your hard work, dedication and passion for serving our community have been immeasurable with your help, we built a place filled with warmth and laughter where countless memories were created.
Our doors may be closing, the memories we created together forever in our hearts we invite you to come and visit Chris and Soula when you can. They would love to hear your stories and reminisce about all the wonderful times we shared as a community. Thank you once again for being more than just customers and employees; you have been our friends and family. We are profoundly grateful for the love and kindness. You have shown us during our journey where we started as young immigrants with a dream and a hope to be a part of and serve this community.
Chris and Soula Pappas | "To our New Smyrna family, friends and community members (...)" | Aug. 2, 2024, at 1:05 p.m. (excerpt)
The Pappas’ statement invited readers to post their memories and kind words to a memories page dedicated to the restaurant.
Check out the Florida Foodie podcast. You can find every episode in the media player below: