8 Things Publix Does Differently in Florida vs the Rest of the South (Looking at You, Complicated BOGOs)

Publix is a Florida company through and through.

The chain started in Winter Haven in 1930, the headquarters has been in Lakeland since 1951, and Florida is home to over 60 percent of all Publix locations.

But Publix operates in seven other Southern states now. Floridians who travel to visit their grandkids in Atlanta or hike in North Carolina often discover the stores work a little differently than their Publix back home.

Here are nine things Publix does differently in Florida compared to the rest of the South.

The “True BOGO” Rule

In Florida, Publix BOGO deals are true buy-one-get-one-free promotions.

The first item rings up at full price. The second item rings up at zero dollars.

You have to buy both items to get the discount.

In Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, northern Georgia, northern Alabama, and northern South Carolina, Publix runs the same BOGO ads. But the math at the register is different.

Each item rings up at half price, and you can buy just one and walk out with a 50 percent discount.

The whole rule started decades ago because of state tax laws on food.

Florida doesn’t tax most groceries. The other states did. Publix had to set up the BOGOs differently to comply with the math in each state.

The tax laws have since changed. Publix kept the policy anyway in Florida.

The result is that a Florida shopper visiting family in Asheville can grab one box of BOGO Frosted Flakes and pay 50 percent off.

A North Carolina shopper visiting Naples has to buy two or pay full price.

There’s an active Change.org petition asking Publix to give Florida the same option. It’s been gathering signatures for years.

Publix Liquors Right Next Door

In Florida, Publix Liquors is just a few steps away from the grocery store entrance.

You can do your weekly shopping, walk through one door, walk out the other, and pick up a bottle of vodka, a fifth of bourbon, and a case of wine.

The stores are connected at the property level but separated by a wall, because Florida law requires liquor sales to happen in a different physical space than groceries.

In every other Publix state except Kentucky, this isn’t an option.

There are no Publix Liquors stores in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, or Virginia.

Liquor sales in those states are regulated by state and local laws that prevent grocery chains from operating standalone liquor stores adjacent to their supermarkets.

The first Publix Liquors opened in Miami in 2003. The chain now has over 350 of them, almost all in Florida.

The first non-Florida Publix Liquors opened in Kentucky in January 2024, the same week Publix entered the Kentucky market.

For Floridians, picking up a bottle for a Friday-night dinner is part of the same trip as picking up the salmon.

For shoppers in other Southern states, it’s two trips and two checkout lines.

The Cuban Bread Cart

Walk into a Publix in Tampa, Miami, Hialeah, or Jacksonville, and you’ll see something that doesn’t exist in any out-of-state Publix: A green cart with fresh-baked Cuban bread.

The bread comes from Casino Bakery in Tampa, which has been baking Cuban loaves for almost 90 years.

As of 2025, La Segunda, another famous Tampa Cuban bread bakery, also started supplying select Publix stores in the Bay Area.

Both bakeries deliver fresh loaves daily.

The Publix Bakery itself also makes its own version called Authentic Cuban Bread, which is sold across Florida.

Most Publix stores in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia don’t carry Cuban bread at all.

For Floridians, a fresh Cuban loaf is a $2 grocery staple. For shoppers in Charlotte or Knoxville, it’s something they have to drive to a specialty bakery to find, if they can find it at all.

The same goes for the deli’s pressed Cuban sandwich. It’s everywhere in Florida Publix locations and almost nowhere else.

Publix Pours Bars

If you walk into the Publix at the Gandy Shopping Center in Tampa, you can order a beer flight before you start shopping.

Publix Pours is the chain’s in-store café and bar concept. The bar serves draft beer, wine, locally roasted coffee, kombucha, smoothies, and acai bowls.

Customers can order a pint and sip it while they shop.

Some of the newer Florida stores even have cup holders on the shopping carts.

There are now 16 Publix Pours locations in Florida, including stores in Tampa, Wellington, Naples, Orlando, Clermont, Ormond Beach, and St. Augustine. The concept first launched in Tallahassee in 2018.

A handful of Pours bars exist in Georgia and Tennessee, too, but the program is heavily concentrated in Florida.

Most non-Florida Publix stores don’t have anything like it.

The Wellington store that opened in November 2024 has both a Pours bar AND a Publix Liquors next door. It’s basically the full Florida Publix experience under one roof.

For Floridians, sipping a glass of Cabernet while picking out a Pub Sub is a normal Friday afternoon.

For shoppers in Roanoke, the idea seems like science fiction.

The Florida-Sourced Produce Wall

Florida grows things in winter and spring that other states can’t grow at all.

Strawberries from Plant City, ripe in February.

Sweet corn from Belle Glade, fresh in March.

Tomatoes from Immokalee through April and May.

Citrus from the Indian River region from November through April.

Bell peppers, cucumbers, and squash from across the state during peak winter months.

Florida Publix stores feature these locally grown items prominently during their seasons. The signs on the produce displays say “Florida Grown.” The prices are usually lower than the same items shipped in from California or Mexico.

The quality is fresher because the supply chain is shorter.

Out-of-state Publix stores carry some Florida produce when it’s in season, but it’s not featured the same way.

The strawberries in a Knoxville Publix in February might be the same Plant City berries, but they’re sitting in the regular produce display alongside California raspberries and Mexican blueberries with no special signage.

The Plant City Strawberry Festival is a major Publix-supported event every February. The Indian River citrus harvest gets full ad coverage in Florida every winter.

These are part of the Florida store calendar in a way that they aren’t anywhere else.

For Floridians, eating seasonally with the Publix produce calendar is the way to save real money. For shoppers in Atlanta or Charleston, it’s a quieter feature.

Florida-Specific Deli Items

The Publix deli case in Florida looks different than the Publix deli case in Tennessee.

Florida stores carry mojo marinated pork, café con leche, croquetas, the Cuban grab-and-go sandwich, plantains in the prepared foods section, sazón seasoning packets in the international aisle, and a wider variety of Hispanic specialty items.

This dates back to the Publix Sabor concept, a Hispanic-themed store format that operated in seven Miami-Dade locations and a few Central Florida stores in the early 2000s.

The Sabor stores eventually closed or merged with regular Publix locations, but the Latin-influenced product mix carried over into mainstream Florida Publix stores.

The deli at a Tampa Publix has a different lineup than the deli at a Marietta, Georgia Publix.

The Tampa store’s deli reflects the customer base. The Marietta store leans more toward fried chicken, sandwich subs, and traditional Southern sides.

Both delis are good. They’re just calibrated for different shopper preferences.

For Floridians who grew up on Cuban food, the Publix deli has been a reliable source for mojo pork on a weeknight for years.

For shoppers in Knoxville or Richmond, the same items would have to come from a specialty restaurant or bakery.

Sheer Store Density

In much of Florida, you’re never more than a few miles from a Publix.

The state has over 800 stores spread across every county. Many neighborhoods have three or four Publix locations within a 10-minute drive.

Some Florida cities have a Publix every couple of miles along the main commercial roads.

Tampa alone has dozens. Orlando has dozens more. The Miami metro area has well over 100. Naples has stores almost on top of each other.

Even smaller communities like Lakeland and Port Charlotte have multiple Publix locations within a short drive.

In other Southern states, the density drops sharply.

Virginia has 24 Publix stores total in the entire state. Kentucky has 6.

Tennessee has 61 spread across the state.

North Carolina has 61. Even Georgia, Publix’s second-biggest state, has 221 stores covering an area larger than Florida.

For Floridians, the answer to “Where’s the nearest Publix?” is almost always “Down the street.”

For shoppers in Lynchburg, Virginia, it might be “The next county over.”

The density is also why Florida Publix stores can specialize.

With so many locations, individual stores can stock different products based on the local customer base.

The Hialeah Publix carries different items than the Naples Publix. The Tampa Publix Pours store has different beer on tap than the St. Augustine one.

This kind of localization is harder to do in states where the nearest Publix is 30 miles away.

The Pub Sub Volume

The Publix chicken tender sub is famous everywhere Publix operates.

But the cultural energy around Pub Subs is overwhelmingly a Florida thing.

The Facebook page “Are Publix Chicken Tender Subs On Sale?” has thousands of followers, and most of them are Floridians.

Florida Publix delis sell more chicken tender subs than any other market the chain operates in.

Tailgaters at Florida State, the University of Florida, the Miami Hurricanes, and UCF football games stock up on Pub Subs by the dozen.

Boat trips run on them. Beach days are planned around them. Office groups order trays of them for lunch meetings.

When the chicken tender sub goes on sale at $6.99, Florida Twitter, Florida TikTok, and Florida group chats all light up at the same time.