The Fry Shoppe is a passion project decades in the making

Florida Foodie

Wilson Santos has been thinking about opening a French fry-centric restaurant for years.

“This concept is like decades in the making,” Santos said. “To be honest, I went to Amsterdam, the first trip was in 1994. I was doing a study abroad program in England and on the weekends, I would try to take a trip around Europe. And I just took a trip with some friends that I met in England, went to Amsterdam and I saw these fries.”

The fry shops became a common snack for Santos during his visits.

“I just thought, ‘Why don’t we have this in the U.S.?’” Santos said.

He got his first chance to try the concept when his first restaurant concept, Vinyl Arts Bar was undergoing a rebranding during COVID. Vinyl Cafe served as Santos interpretation of an Amsterdam coffee bar, but instead of marijuana, he offered hemp. He also offered fries.

“So I put about six different sauces on the menu, I did the cone fries, and then you have the hemp,” Santis said. “Now people are smoking hemp They’re eating the fries and they get the whole Amsterdam experience.”

Santos sold the space about six months later. That was in 2020.

In March, he was finally able to open The Fry Shoppe at 489 N. Semoran Blvd.

“We’re a few blocks up from Full Sail University — just light up from University Boulevard to Aloma (Avenue) so we’re right on the corner of Semoran Boulevard and Aloma (Avenue) — really high-traffic intersection for us,” Santos said.

The business owner truly believes in the concept and is taking a big gamble on himself to get The Fry Shoppe up and running.

“I was looking for investors for a long time, I had presentations and meetings and nobody wanted to invest. Nobody believed in it. You know, people said I was asking too much,” Santos said. “I’m glad I didn’t get any investors at the end of the day. It would have been a mistake. So things happen for a reason. I ended up — I couldn’t get funding for it and I didn’t have the money. I just — I’m a risk taker, I sold my house.”

Santos is now renting a place near his restaurant. He believes the concept is ripe for a franchise.

“I’m not gonna stop until we have multiple locations. I’m persistent,” Santos said.

He believes The Fry Shoppe could find itself in mall food courts, food halls, or at airports. However, he needs to get this original location firing on all cylinders first.

I know that in the next month, we’ll be at 100%. We have to add delivery — so we have to add DoorDash UberEATS are the two big ones. We haven’t even marketed heavily to the student population right down the street at Full Sail They have over 20,000 students. This is affordable food for students,” said.

On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Santos talked more about his trips to Amsterdam that inspired his restaurant. He also gives Candace Campos a rundown on his most popular sauces.

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