Big Mamma's First U.S. Restaurant Is Coming to a Juno Beach Condo Still Under Construction

"The answer is simple. It's just move where you want to open." That is how Tigrane Seydoux, co-founder of the Paris restaurant group Big Mamma, explained to Business Debut how his company enters a new country. Big Mamma picked Juno Beach for its first U.S. restaurant, and Seydoux moved his wife and three children to South Florida to oversee the opening. He did the same thing in Madrid when the group launched Bel Mondo and Circolo Popolare there.

Plenty of coverage has already described the restaurant itself. The detail that matters more to anyone driving up US-1 is where it sits: on the ground floor of Caretta, the 95-residence condominium going up at the northwest corner of Donald Ross Road and U.S. Highway 1. Published completion targets for Caretta have ranged from 2025 to Spring 2026, and the building is still under construction.

How a Paris Group Ended Up at Donald Ross and US-1

Big Mamma was founded in 2013 by Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux. According to the group's May 2026 announcement, it now runs 35 restaurants in nine countries with nearly 3,000 team members. Its best-known rooms include Pink Mamma in Paris, Carlotta in London and Gloria Osteria in Milan. Juno Beach got the group's U.S. debut through a chain of Chicago relationships.

Ballyhoo Hospitality is a Chicago restaurant group led by CEO Ryan O'Donnell and partner Jon Farrer. It secured the anchor restaurant space in Caretta through Jim Letchinger of JDL, Caretta's developer, Business Debut reported in June. JDL has spent more than 30 years building luxury high-rises and condominiums in Chicago, and Caretta is its Juno Beach project. Ballyhoo first planned a different restaurant for the space. The plan changed after O'Donnell and Seydoux became friends and then partners.

Seydoux describes the deal as a 50/50 collaboration, with both teams working together on design, menu, staffing and culture. "It's really a wedding," he told Business Debut. O'Donnell went to Europe to study the brand and visited 14 Big Mamma restaurants in three or four days.

There is a local partner as well. The group has teamed up with Carmine Giardini, founder of Carmine's Gourmet Market & La Trattoria in Palm Beach Gardens, which opened in 1988 and serves as the restaurant's local sourcing base. According to the announcement, the Juno Beach restaurant will also be Ballyhoo's first in Palm Beach County.

What the Partners Say Will Come Out of the Kitchen

O'Donnell told Business Debut the concept is coastal Italian, about one block from the ocean, with dishes built around local seafood, vegetables and fruit. In a Forbes interview in May, Seydoux described the menu in more detail:

• Pasta: all handmade, with a focus on lesser-known regional filled pastas
• Pizza: dough proofed for 48 hours
• Focaccia: baked in-house every morning
• Grill: a dedicated section running "from fish to Fiorentina," using local South Florida seafood
• Gelato: made in-house every day, with new coastal, fruit-forward flavors suited to the South Florida climate

Forbes also reported that the Juno Beach menu will draw on the Tuscan coastline and that the restaurant won't copy any existing Big Mamma location. O'Donnell put it this way to Business Debut: "The majority of the food and the identity of the food is going to be Big Mamma for sure."

The size matters on a block that already has a busy intersection. Business Debut reported about 7,500 square feet, with around 180 seats inside and roughly 100 to 120 outside. That patio plan comes after town action. In 2023, the Juno Beach Town Council approved a change to Caretta's site plan that reduced the outdoor dining area. The same change reconfigured the garage and added shared parking and valet parking on the site. Diners arriving for one of those roughly 300 seats will use a parking setup the town approved with this building in mind.

The Building Around the Restaurant

Big Mamma's announcement aimed for late 2026. The restaurant's space is in Caretta, and the building's record so far looks like this:

1. August 24, 2022. The Juno Beach Town Council approves Caretta's site plan and a special exception allowing restaurant use on the corner.
2. August 23, 2023. The council approves the major amendment covering parking, valet and the smaller outdoor dining area.
3. December 2023. The South Florida Business Journal reports that the developer has broken ground.
4. March 2024. On March 1, The Real Deal reports a 2026 completion target. On March 11, a JLL financing announcement projects completion in 2025.
5. Spring 2026. The completion target listed on Hedrick Brothers' project page.

Spring 2026 has come and gone. As of early November, Caretta's website still says "Now under construction," and JDL lists the project as "In Development." Big Mamma's Florida page shows one entry, "Juno Beach, Florida," labeled "Coming soon." In June, Business Debut described it as a "yet-to-be-named" restaurant, and Seydoux said details on the name, menu and design would come closer to opening.

For anyone driving past Donald Ross and US-1, the corner the restaurant will anchor is still a construction site, and the building's posted completion target is behind it.

One Block East, the Pier Runs on Its Own Repair Schedule

O'Donnell's pitch rests on the restaurant being about a block from the ocean, and that stretch of shoreline is also being rebuilt this year. Refurbishment of the Juno Beach Pier started on June 1, 2026, after routine inspections found it needed upgrades. Loggerhead Marinelife Center estimates the project will take about six months, and the work is phased so the whole pier doesn't have to close. Six months from June 1 puts the end of that estimate around early December.

The pier's work has also come in stages. The Center's September 29 update said crews were building more panels offsite and would return to the pier on October 5, working between the pier house and the first shade structure. As of the Center's pier page, updated November 2, the pier was open with a partial closure, and the T section was closed for assessment and repair after recent high surf. The Center posts weekly construction updates on that page, so check it before you bring a fishing rod or guests.

One date on this block is fixed. Loggerhead Marinelife Center's 22nd Annual TurtleFest takes place February 20 and 21, 2027, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Loggerhead Park, with free admission.

If you own near the Caretta corner and want to know how a new mixed-use building and a high-profile restaurant could affect value on your stretch of US-1, GulfStream Properties follows Juno Beach construction closely. Get your free home valuation, and we'll show you how the comparable sales around Donald Ross Road and US-1 apply to your home.