Norma’s Ybor City Cuban Sandwich shop closed Friday, March 31, with only one day’s notice.
Norma’s Ybor City Cuban Sandwich shop, the Eastside eatery that served Plant City for more than three decades, has closed.
The sign with the announcement, handwritten on a white board in black sharpie, was posted on the small Baker Street restaurant’s counter Thursday, March 30:
“This is to share news which is not very exciting and which compels us to say goodbye to our loyal customers. We would like to thank y’all for your continued patronage over the past 35+ years. It is with sincere regret that we will be closing at the end of this week.”
By 2 p.m. Friday, March 31, Norma’s made its last Cuban. It was three hours before the scheduled closing time, a premature end due to an influx of customers and running out of
bread.
“I’ve been coming as far as I can remember,” Lindsey Riley, 28, said. “I just found out last night.”
The restaurant was packed for much of the last day. Scott Snapp, a Plant City native and Norma’s regular, said the long lines and packed house were normal sights.
“This isn’t because it’s the last day,” he said. “They’re here like this on a regular basis. It’s a Norma’s norm.”
“We are devastated. We’ve been coming from Savannah, Georgia twice a year. We’ve been known to go to Orlando for vacation and come here for lunch. It’s a very sad day.”
– Donna Evans, Norma's customer.
But there was something different happening. Many customers weren’t picking up the usual lunch specials, like the popular half-Cuban and cup of garbanzo bean soup. Some picked up sandwiches by the box and soup by the gallon. There were some were trying to figure out how to ship sandwiches to relatives who they’d brought to the shop on vacation, or to friends who had moved away. Some wanted to take cases back to homes across the country. Seating was scarce.
“We are devastated,” Donna Evans, another customer, said. “We’ve been coming (to Plant City) from Savannah, Georgia twice a year. We’ve been known to go to Orlando for vacation and come here for lunch. It’s a very sad day.”
For decades, Evans said, she has come to visit family in Plant City, always making sure to stop by Norma’s. She took a cooler full of Cubans back to Georgia.
It was about more than just the sandwiches for Snapp — though he said they were the best around, unlike those anywhere else.
“It’s like pizza in New York,” he said. “It’s a different experience.”
To Snapp, losing Norma’s is a travesty, like losing a family member. His two daughters, one now in college and one living in South Florida and planning a wedding, grew up at Norma’s. He said they were all treated like family.
“I always felt (like) the most important customer,” Snapp said. “I know I’m not, but they make me feel that way. Candy (owner Candace Haywood) always asks how the wedding is going. It’s a very familial environment.”
On Norma’s last day, Snapp said, he found out about the closing through panicked texts from his daughters, who had seen the photo on Facebook. He had been in Ohio on business and flew into Tampa that morning. After a brief stop at home, he went straight to Norma’s.
The shock was widespread. With a day’s notice, no one saw it coming or understood why.
Haywood has been in a legal battle over allegations she did not send more that $29,000 in sales tax she collected at the cash-only business during periods between October 2013 and February 2016, according to a Florida Department of Revenue news release and court documents.
Haywood was arrested mid-October 2016 on two misdemeanor charges of failure to file sales tax returns and a felony charge of theft of state funds, to which she pleaded not guilty, court records show.
According to Florida statutes, theft of state funds is a second degree felony carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Court records also show attorneys appeared in court for Haywood as recently as March 27. The next scheduled court appearance is May 8.
Haywood’s attorney in the case, Aldo Ojeda Jr., said he was unaware of the restaurant’s closure, or any plans to close.
He added that Haywood had recently suffered a heart attack, affecting her ability to work.
Haywood, 61, of Tampa, did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.
Contact Daniel Figueroa IV at dfigueroa@plantcityobserver.com
