Ken Pendery, the First Watch CEO and president, will be celebrating First Watch’s 11th Cincinnati-area restaurant opening in his hometown on October 12. The award-winning breakfast, brunch, and lunch concept will open the doors to its newest location in Florence Square on Monday, 24 years after First Watch made its Cincinnati debut. The new restaurant occupies a 3,500-square-foot space at 7727 Mall Road, Suite A.
Pendery is no stranger to the Queen City. The CEO was born and raised in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, just 5 miles from the heart of the booming city where he still owns breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant The National Exemplar, and event venue The Phoenix. Pendery’s brother, Paul Pendery, serves as the regional vice president of First Watch’s Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Nashville restaurants.
“To have taken First Watch, which started as just one restaurant more than 30 years ago and now have developed more than 10 First Watch restaurants in our hometown—that’s really something,” Ken Pendery says. “The people here have been loyal to First Watch since we opened our first Cincinnati location in 1991. They trust us, and we really cherish the relationship we’ve built with them.”
The Florence Square restaurant will feature the company’s new restaurant design. The new prototype combines the high energy of city life with comfortable farm-inspired elements, creating a warm, inviting atmosphere.
First Watch will bring the company’s fresh approach to breakfast, brunch, and lunch to Florence with healthy, flavorful favorites like cage-free eggs, house-made granola, and salsa, house-roasted vegetables and 100 percent fresh-squeezed orange juice. The new First Watch will also serve options from its Fresh Juice Bar, including Day Glow, Kale Tonic and the new seasonal Surprise and Shine, freshly juiced in-house daily from only the finest fruits and vegetables. The restaurant will also serve its exclusive Sunrise Select Premium Blend Coffee, which is made from slow-roasted, hand-selected, high-grown coffee beans from mountains across North, Central, and South America.
