MenuSpy / City reports / Tampa, FL
Market snapshot · October 2026
Tampa, FL restaurant market snapshot
What local menus charge, which weeks fill the town, and which rules change the math, for operators in Tampa, FL. Every number links to the page it came from.
In Tampa, FL (checked October 2026), a chicken sandwich ran $10.95 to $14.50 across 2 menus. Restaurant meals are taxed at 7.5%, the minimum wage is $15.00 per hour ($11.98 tipped cash wage), and 4 events have published dates in the next twelve months.
Population and income: US Census QuickFacts.
Observed menu prices
10 prices read from 2 independent menus on October 1, 2026, from the restaurants' own websites or first-party ordering pages. Delivery-app prices are excluded. A median is shown only when three or more observations exist. This is a small sample; use it as a range check, not a rule.
| Benchmark item | Observations | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheeseburger | 1 | $15.50 | n too small | $15.50 |
| Chicken sandwich | 2 | $10.95 | n too small | $14.50 |
| Wings (10 or closest count) | 1 | $19.25 | n too small | $19.25 |
| Cuban sandwich | 2 | $8.95 | n too small | $13.00 |
| Entree salad with protein | 2 | $10.95 | n too small | $13.50 |
| Draft beer (pint) | 1 | $4.75 | n too small | $4.75 |
| Fountain soda | 1 | $3.45 | n too small | $3.45 |
Part of the MenuSpy Menu Price Index. Restaurant names are kept in our source file and not published; a paid report names them and links each menu.
The next 12 months
Dates come from organizer or official pages opened on October 1, 2026. An event with a published 2026 or 2027 date is marked confirmed. Everything else is a recurring pattern with its date not yet announced, listed so you can watch for it, not staff for it.
Confirmed dates
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2026 home season (Raymond James Stadium)
Home games Sun 10/04 vs Packers, Sun 10/18 vs Steelers, Sun 11/01 vs Falcons, Mon 11/30 vs Panthers, Sun 12/06 vs Chargers, Sun 12/20 vs Saints, Week 17 vs Rams (TBD) · Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Each home game brings 60,000+ fans to the Westshore/Dale Mabry corridor before and after kickoff.
Children's Gasparilla
January 23, 2027 · Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla / EventFest, Inc.
Family-oriented parade a week before the main event drives daytime traffic along Bayshore Boulevard.
Gasparilla Pirate Fest (Parade of Pirates)
January 30, 2027 · Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla / EventFest, Inc.
Tampa's largest single-day street festival floods Bayshore, downtown and Ybor with hundreds of thousands of revelers.
Florida State Fair
Feb 4-15, 2027 · Florida State Fair Authority
Twelve-day fair at the state fairgrounds pulls regional visitors into east Hillsborough.
Recurring, dates not yet announced
Tampa Riverfest presented by Publix
Last held Friday and Saturday, May 1-2, 2026 (10th annual; 2027 dates not yet posted). Next date not announced on the page checked. · Friends of the Tampa Riverwalk
Free two-day festival spanning Curtis Hixon Park to Water Works Park along the downtown Riverwalk dining corridor; the 2026 edition has already passed.
Rules that hit the P&L
Minimum wage: $15.00 per hour, tipped cash wage $11.98
Effective September 30, 2026. The tipped cash wage and the fixed $3.02 tip credit are confirmed by the Florida Constitution, Art. X, Sec. 24; the 2026 poster PDF itself was not reachable when checked.
Sales tax on restaurant meals: 7.5%
6% Florida state sales tax + 1.5% Hillsborough County discretionary sales surtax (DR-15DSS, Calendar Year 2025 form) The DOR 'current' DR-15DSS form fetched was labeled Calendar Year 2025; the 2026 edition was blocked by robots.txt.
Food service license
Florida DBPR, Division of Hotels and Restaurants. Annual renewal on a district schedule; new locations need a satisfactory opening inspection.
Local signals
Recent local reporting on the Tampa restaurant scene. One article is a signal, not a trend; a trend needs two independent publishers.
Tampa Bay restaurants face a brutal stretch of closures
Axios Tampa Bay reports a wave of summer 2026 closures including Red Mesa Cantina, Good Intentions, Rome + Fig Global Bistro, Baba and BarBouni, with owners citing inflation, tariffs and reduced tourism; one CEO called it probably the worst off-season since 2020, while some operators are launching new concepts in the vacated spaces.
Tampa Bay restaurants adjust venue fees and close temporarily to survive summer
Tampa Bay Times reports local restaurants adopting strategies such as venue-fee changes and temporary closures during the slow summer season, with St. Petersburg vegan restaurant Good Intentions among the venues shutting down.
Coverage and limits
This is a dated snapshot built from public pages opened on October 1, 2026. It is not a sales forecast, legal advice or a site approval. Menus, calendars and rules change; open the linked source before acting.
Not confirmed when this page was checked:
- Official FloridaCommerce minimum wage page (floridajobs.org) returned 403; $15.00/$11.98 effective 2026-09-30 is confirmed only via US DOL schedule language and a law-firm summary.
- Florida DOR DR-15DSS fetched was the Calendar Year 2025 edition; 2026 edition blocked by robots.txt.
- No visitor/tourism figure captured: Visit Tampa Bay research page returned 404 and homepage shows no figure.
- Tampa Bay Lightning 2026-27 schedule page did not render schedule data; Tampa Bay Margarita Festival site unreachable; ReliaQuest Bowl date not shown on homepage.
- No price observations for items 3 (tacos), 4 (large cheese pizza), 7 (breakfast plate); Columbia Restaurant, Datz, Goody Goody and Taco Bus menus are JS-rendered or 404 and could not be read.
- Hattricks menu read via curl after WebFetch timed out (page content is server-rendered HTML with prices).
Questions operators ask
What is the sales tax on restaurant meals in Tampa, FL?
7.5%. 6% Florida state sales tax + 1.5% Hillsborough County discretionary sales surtax.
What is the minimum wage for restaurant workers in Tampa?
$15.00 per hour, with a tipped cash wage of $11.98, effective September 30, 2026. The tipped cash wage and the fixed $3.02 tip credit are confirmed by the Florida Constitution, Art. X, Sec. 24; the 2026 poster PDF itself was not reachable when checked.
How much does a chicken sandwich cost in Tampa?
Across 2 independent menus read on October 1, 2026, a chicken sandwich ran $10.95 to $14.50. Small sample; check the menu price index for the full table.
Want this for one restaurant in Tampa?
A one-time $79 report names the nearby menus, links every price, lists a year of local dates and the rules that apply to your address. Sources linked. No account.
Related: all city reports · menu price index · restaurant pricing strategy guide