Tony Roma’s, the ribs, steaks and seafood franchise, closed its location near Orlando International Airport last week. Next week it will reopen as TR Fire Grill & Lounge with a new menu. An invitation to the VIP grand opening December 10 (which I was not invited to, I might add) says, “We’re igniting a new legend.” It doesn’t say who “we” are — in fact, Tony Roma’s isn’t mentioned on the simple invite. (There’s also no phone number to rsvp and no website for more information.

But it’s definitely Tony Roma’s, though no one with the organization will talk about it. (One manager at one of the other Tony Roma’s did say, “These are exciting times.”) I doubt that it’s a chainwide rebranding — if that were the case the company would have launched it with the recent announcement that a Tony Roma’s would be opening across from the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn. I suppose that could happen.

What have you heard?

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