If you suddenly felt a great disturbance in the Force, you’re not alone and you’re not imagining things: Tropical BBQ Market in downtown West Palm Beach has closed.
Owned and operated by chef Rick Mace and his business partner Jason Lakow, the much-loved downtown restaurant served its last meal on Friday, March 27.
The fast-casual outlet opened in August 2023 and is the sister restaurant to Tropical Smokehouse on South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach and the newly opened Tropical Smokehouse on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.
Much like the two Tropical Smokehouse locations, Tropical BBQ Market highlighted Florida and Caribbean flavors, but offered many dishes that its two sister locations did not.
Mace said it was a hard call to make and that one of the factors was the immediate success of the new Delray Beach restaurant. The booming business at the recently opened Atlantic Avenue location made them realize where they should focus their energy, he said.
“We have a location that’s three years old and is still doing smaller sales volume than a store that’s three months old.”
He stressed that it wasn’t the city, it wasn’t the building’s owners or rent, it was just a numbers situation.
“The thing that, you know, really kind of swayed our decision in the end was that Delray has gotten off to such a tremendous start. It just kind of verified that that location (in downtown West Palm Beach) wasn’t really the perfect fit for us.”
“It’s a sad moment in any restaurant when you have to do that,” Mace said. “We’re super proud of our team and in the food that we were were cooking.”
The location was led by Mace’s wife Siobhan. She also operated their catering operation out of the location.
“She’s grown quite a good group of catering customers and she’s working with both of the other locations as catering manager,” Mace said.
He said they were intent on helping staff through the closing. They were able to find about half of them positions at the other two Tropical locations and Mace worked with other restaurants to find the remaining employees jobs.
“You do right by people that have helped you along the way,” Mace said.
Mace said he still hasn’t decided what, if any, menu items from the downtown restaurant will be brought to the other two locations.
“Delray is too new to really start tinkering with the menu, but Dixie, I think you know would appreciate some rotation in the menu,” he said.
Mace said that they’re extremely proud of what they accomplished downtown and did not rule out a return to the downtown area one day.
“The city (West Palm Beach) has been extremely good to us. We’re extremely blessed and we’re gonna continue to spread the gospel of Florida barbecue and continue to explore options for us to grow.”
Tropical BBQ Market, West Palm Beach closed
Where: 206 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach
Closed: March 2026
Tropical Smokehouse, West Palm Beach
Where: 3815 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday; closed Monday
Information: eattropical.com
Tropical Smokehouse, Delray Beach
Where: 524 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday; closed Monday
Information: eattropical.com
Eddie Ritz is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at eritz@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Where to get your Tropical Smokehouse fix now that one outlet is closed
Reporting by Eddie Ritz, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
