Bodega Mini Mart NYC Deli has opened at 505 N Franklin Street in Downtown Tampa, stepping into the space formerly occupied by Taco Bus. The business is operated by Khalil Mohammad, who trained in Buffalo, and is built around a graffiti-painted Bodega Bus and a late-night mini-mart format, according to the operator's Instagram.
The menu draws on New York City deli signatures: a chopped cheese sub, smashburgers, loaded hot dogs, and beef-tallow fries. Legal hemp products round out the retail side of the operation, giving the concept a food-and-retail identity that sets it apart from the full-service restaurants and bars that define much of the immediate N Franklin corridor.
The prior tenant, Taco Bus, is a Tampa-area chain that operated from the 505 N Franklin address before the space changed hands. Its departure clears the way for a concept with a sharply different aesthetic and menu — the graffiti Bodega Bus and beef-tallow fries read as a deliberate distance from the chain's established brand, and the hemp retail component adds a layer that's uncommon in the corridor altogether.
The chopped cheese — a Harlem sandwich built on ground beef, American cheese, onions, and peppers on a hero roll — has spread well beyond New York in recent years, with operators in markets across the country building fast-casual and late-night concepts around it. The format's New York associations function as cultural shorthand: late-night, informal, unpretentious. In Tampa, where dedicated representations of that format have been limited, Mohammad's version at 505 N Franklin occupies relatively uncrowded territory.
N Franklin Street has absorbed a wave of hospitality openings as Downtown Tampa's residential base and office population have grown, but the late-night fast-casual category — distinct from bars and full-service dinner spots — has remained thin on the block. A bodega format oriented toward late-night hours addresses that gap directly, if the operational model can sustain it.
The operator's Instagram confirms the location is open; no precise opening date or additional build-out details were included in the announcement. Whether the Bodega Bus concept finds a durable audience on N Franklin — and whether the legal hemp retail brings meaningful foot traffic to the food program — will be the early signal to watch on a block that has seen consistent turnover at the casual tier.
