Breakfast, brunch and lunch cafe about to open fifth Jacksonville-area restaurant

An Orlando-based restaurant known for its freshly made-to-order fare is preparing to open its fifth Jacksonville-area breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant.

Keke's Breakfast Cafe plans to open March 27 at 9570 Crosshill Blvd., Suite 106, in Oakleaf Town Center, a restaurant representative confirmed to the Times-Union. The new restaurant is in the storefront previously used by Panera Bread Co., which relocated to 9725 Applecross Road, also in Oakleaf Town Center.

Keke's is best known for its large breakfast menu of waffles, pancakes, French toasts and more as well as a lunch menu of paninis, sandwiches, burgers, wraps and salads.

The Oakleaf restaurant's opening comes a little more than five weeks after Keke's opened at 12959 Atlantic Blvd., Suite 101, near Lowe's in East Arlington, in the space that previously housed Sugarfire Smoke House and before that, Panera.

Other area Keke's locations include 4906 Town Center Parkway, Unit 104, at The Strand at Town Center in Jacksonville; 450 Durbin Pavilion Drive, Suite E106, in Saint Johns; and 135 Jenkins St. Unit 106 in St. Augustine.

Keke's tagline is "mornings from scratch." The restaurant chain also promises "no microwaves ever."

When the East Arlington location opened, Steven Decker, area operations leader for Keke's, told the Times-Union that the restaurant chain has "some deep-seated roots in Florida" given its founding in Orlando and ongoing expansion.

"Coupled with the fact that Florida will be home for us, as well with the quality of ingredients that we can get inside of Florida and that is one of our cornerstones is having those fresh, quality ingredients," he said at the time.

Although nothing is concrete yet, Decker noted that Keke's is looking to continue growing in the Jacksonville area.

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All Keke's restaurants are open from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.

Teresa Stepzinski is the dining reporter for the Times-Union. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @TeresaStepz or reach her via email at [email protected].

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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Keke's Breakfast Cafe opening fifth Jacksonville-area restaurant