Red Mesa Group expands to two new locations in St. Pete
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 2, 2022

St. Petersburg’s Red Mesa Group is expanding with plans to open another restaurant and a food truck in the city.

The group announced it will open Quatro, an Americana cuisine food truck, this month. Quatro will be next to the original Red Mesa Mercado in front of Green Bench Brewing Company.

A second Red Mesa Mercado will open this winter in St. Pete’s Pasadena area, at 6001 Central Ave., at the former location for The Reading Room and later Two Graces, which closed in August. It will be modeled after the “Cali-Mex casual fast-food concept” found at the flagship location in the Edge district.

Red Mesa Group first opened Red Mesa Restaurant in 1995 at 4912 Fourth St. N. In 2008, the company opened Red Mesa Cantina at 128 Third St. S, and in 2014 it created Red Mesa Mercado at 1100 First Ave. N as a fast-casual dining option. Red Mesa Quatro came about during the pandemic when restrictions were placed on in-house dining, and the company began operating a ghost kitchen at the Cantina.

According to a release, once restrictions began to lift, Quatro “found itself on the back burner,” but in 2022, it began operating as a food truck. Quatro is changing up the menu theme found at the other RMG locations. Instead of Mexican or Latin American cuisine, the food truck will feature “classic Americana cuisine with a St. Pete spin.”

The company has been in St. Pete for more than 25 years and, according to the release, is “one of the first Mexican restaurants in St. Petersburg.”

“At Red Mesa Group, we hail from spectacularly different walks of life,” the release read. “We are telling the story of Mexican, Latin and American dishes inspired by the people and places of this community. The Bay area doesn’t limit itself, and neither do we. We make mindful business decisions that connect the flavors of our family; further the prosperity of our team members and purveyors, and enrich the communities we live in.”