Four food businesses have opened or are about to open around The Villages High School since late September, and three of them were designed to get food into your car. Piesanos Stone Fired Pizza gave takeout its own storefront. Smalls Sliders takes orders at a walk-up window or a drive-thru. Coffee for the Soul is building the first drive-thru its family-owned chain has ever had.
That shared design choice tells you how to use Middleton's newest blocks. The summer downtown, with dinner, dessert and duckpin bowling a short walk apart, is still there. Around it, a second layer has grown up that's built for the drive home: a pie picked up at a dedicated counter, sliders handed through a window, and soon an arepa and a cortado without leaving the driver's seat.
Piesanos built two front doors
Piesanos opened at 2259 Dr. Randy McDaniel Way, next door to Woodrow's DuckPin, and began full operations on Monday, Oct. 12, according to Villages-News.com. The main dining room has brick and wood accents, booths and pendant lights. The detail that matters for a weeknight is next to it, though. The building has a separate storefront and entrance built just for takeout orders, so carryout customers don't have to walk through the dining room.
This is Piesanos' third location in The Villages, after Southern Trace Plaza and Lake Deaton Plaza. When a chain on its third location here builds a second entrance just for takeout, it's planning for a lot of carryout traffic.
The Piesanos Middleton location page links to pickup ordering and lists the phone number, 352-492-1100. Online ordering for the new location may not be turned on every day yet, so calling is the safer bet for now.
Smalls Sliders orders through a window
Piesanos added a takeout door. Smalls Sliders built its whole ordering setup around windows. Its Middleton location at 2228 Intermediate Drive held its grand opening at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29. QSR Magazine describes the building as the brand's orange "Can," made from shipping containers, where you order at a walk-up window or the drive-thru. The menu is short: cooked-to-order cheeseburger sliders, fries, shakes and queso.
The franchise group behind it, DPC Smalls, also runs locations in Ocala, Fort Walton Beach, Tallahassee and St. Johns. To mark the opening, the Middleton team gave $1,000 to The Villages Charter School's Buffalo Scholarship Foundation. QSR Magazine reports the foundation has awarded more than $4.45 million to graduating seniors. Smalls also gives Villages employees 10% off when they show a valid employee ID.
"With each new Can we open, we've had the opportunity to become part of another Florida community, and we're looking forward to doing that here in Middleton," a DPC Smalls Franchising spokesperson told QSR Magazine.
Coffee for the Soul's first drive-thru
The next opening shows the same pattern from the other end of the day. Coffee for the Soul, also called CFS Coffee, is getting ready to open at 2211 Alder Avenue. Villages-News.com reports this will be the chain's first location with a drive-thru. Paola Bornacelli and her son, co-founder Matteo Gutierrez, started the Colombian family-owned brand in Winter Park in 2016. It now has more than a dozen Florida locations, including the one that opened in 2025 in the former Dunkin' at Spanish Springs.
So a brand with more than a dozen locations waited until Middleton to put in a drive-thru. The Middleton menu will cover single-origin Colombian coffee, espresso drinks, cold brew and artisan teas, plus stuffed arepas, empanadas, tropical bowls, pastries and light breakfast. The building has light stone masonry and a covered outdoor patio, so there will be seats for anyone who wants to stay.
Timing is the open question. Spectrum News 13 reported in early October that the co-founder expected the drive-thru to open in about a month. Villages-News put it at "sometime in November." No exact date had been announced as this post went to press, so check before you drive over expecting coffee.
When each pickup window is open
Here's the evening and morning picture side by side, based on the hours posted on each open restaurant's own location page:
| Spot | Address | Posted hours | How you get your food |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smalls Sliders | 2228 Intermediate Drive | 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily | Walk-up window or drive-thru |
| Piesanos Stone Fired Pizza | 2259 Dr. Randy McDaniel Way | Sun.–Thu. 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. | Dining room or separate takeout storefront |
| Jersey Mike's Subs | 2210 Wellington Street | 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily | Counter service |
| CFS Coffee | 2211 Alder Avenue | Expected to open in November | Drive-thru, café and patio |
Closing times are staggered. Jersey Mike's stops at 9, Piesanos at 9:30 Sunday through Thursday, and Smalls keeps its window open until 10 every night of the week. If a weeknight runs late, the Smalls Sliders location page lists the latest posted hours in this group. On the Jersey Mike's Middleton page, the shop opens at 10 a.m. daily, an hour before Piesanos.
Built around a grocery store that isn't open yet
Jersey Mike's location makes more sense once you know what's going up beside it. Villages-News.com reported in mid-October that Jersey Mike's Subs was open next to the Publix site, with China Taste working on its own restaurant next door. The Publix had finished its main framing, with masonry and facade work well along, and is scheduled to open in early 2027. No month has been announced.
So the sub shop sits where the grocery run will soon begin. Once the Publix opens, picking up dinner and picking up groceries could happen in one parking lot. The same report noted that both Smalls Sliders and Coffee for the Soul have drive-thrus.
China Taste, a Chinese-American restaurant at 7625 Middleton Drive, was still under construction in the Oct. 14 Villages-News.com report. In September, What Now reported a target of October or November, but no firm opening date has been confirmed since.
December brings people who will need dinner
Toward the end of the year, the area adds something new: overnight guests. The five-story Green Grove Hotel at 7659 Powers Avenue is in its final exterior finishing stages. It was hiring staff in October while crews finished the exterior painting and the entrance canopy. Villages-News.com reports that its online system is taking reservations for December 16 and beyond. No official opening date has been announced. Plans include an outdoor pool, a gym and gathering spaces.
If family is visiting over the holidays, that puts a hotel a short drive from the counters in the table above, as long as the opening stays on schedule. Before that, the Middleton events page lists Light Up Middleton, the downtown tree lighting, on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. The Middleton upcoming events page is the place to check for updates.
From now until the tree lighting, getting dinner on the way home is easier than it has ever been on these blocks. Smalls is open until 10 every night, Piesanos has its takeout door off Dr. Randy McDaniel Way, and the CFS drive-thru on Alder Avenue is expected to open sometime in November.
I look at new construction the way a contractor does. If all this new activity around The Villages High School has you wondering what it means for your own Middleton home, I'm happy to walk you through it. Martha Ridgway can put together a clear, no-pressure look at where your home stands today. Request Your Free Home Valuation.
