Secret to Success
Welcome to Sarasota, what’s your dream? The dream of owning a business and developing that business into a thriving mini empire is alive and well here in SRQ, and I’d be willing to bet that you frequent one or more of the businesses that we’re going to talk about at least once a week. Woven into the tapestry of technicolored dreams that makes up our cosmopolitan city by the sea are those core businesses that sustain, employ, serve, and entertain us. The places that got us through a pandemic, the places where we gather to celebrate or to decompress, the restaurants and bars and cafés that line the streets of our neighborhoods and our hearts.
I’d be remiss to leave out the vanguards of vision—the OG crew of local hospitality heavy hitters who blazed the trails for those who are following: Much respect to Evie’s for providing us with a sports bar where we can take our entire family and for all your charitable endeavors—thank you! Mad props to Gecko’s for collaborating with local farmers to give that American pub grub a fresh elevated upgrade and for your commitment to our community—we’re grateful! Shout out to Above the Bar Hospitality Group for curating every kind of experience from a cocktail at Joe’s to dinner at Summer House; we always feel at home with you—cheers!
I talked with the next generation of Edible Entrepreneurs who are currently expanding their influence to find out what kind of advice and wisdom they could spare. As it turns out they all subscribe to the K.I.S.S. philosophy—in this case we’ll call it: “Keep It Simple, Sarasota”—but don’t get it twisted: Simple does NOT mean easy.
FIVE-O DONUT CO.
Christine Nordstrom is doing serious business with donuts. Five-O Donut Co. has five Sarasota locations. The sixth location is in St. Pete and the seventh location will be opening soon in Ellenton. It’s thrilling to see a local Sarasota chain expanding to other cities. I can’t help but feel invested in Christine’s success story. I’ve been writing stories about Christine for years and I’ve watched her grow, raise children, open and close a few bakeries, and start a donut empire right before my eyes. Christine’s story is so compelling that I’m convinced that I’ll see it on the big screen one day—I know I can’t wait to read her book (hint, hint).
The focus of this article is about giving advice to future entrepreneurs and finding your niche in a challenging industry, and I watched Christine give a master class on this very topic in a completely organic way when we met at a local lunch spot to do this interview. I mentioned to the hostess that Christine is the owner of Five-O Donuts and within minutes the chef and owners made their way to our table to pick her brain about expansion and location choice. Christine gives advice like she’s giving a TED Talk, so I wrote down a few choice phrases from this dynamic female business tycoon for your entrepreneurial edification.
Five-O Donuts Co.: fiveodonutco.com
Christine’s Advice:
• Haters will say that you’re just lucky. To me Preparation + Opportunity = Luck. Put in the work and when opportunities come along, you’ll be in a position to receive them. That’s what I consider luck.
• It’s totally possible to do it on your own, it’s just harder. Which game level do you want to play on? I play expert—I do my own marketing, payroll, and negotiate my own leases.
• There is a lot of burnout. People don’t talk about the mental health aspect and the potential for poor physical health. You have to find balance.
• If you are a selfish person, entrepreneurship is not for you.
FOOD+BEER
As this article goes to print, Mike Whelan and Casey Daniels have just opened their fifth location of Food+Beer. This local chain is so popular, and expanding so rapidly, that there may be another one (or two) by the time you read these lines. Mike and Casey are the perfect ambassadors for their own brand: They’re laid back, they’re fun, and they prefer to keep things simple. The vibe at Food+Beer is the same in each location, even though each location reflects the personality of its neighborhood. The vibe is casual, the vibe is upbeat, the vibe is playful. As the kids say, Food+Beer is a whole vibe. Mike and Casey spent 20 years working in large chain restaurants like Outback Steakhouse and Square One Burgers, where they took note of what worked and what didn’t.
“We wanted to improve on the good things and limit the bad things,” says Mike. “We don’t claim to be the two guys who know everything in the world, but we stay on the same page. We know where we want to go, we know what we want to see, and we know how we want our people to be. We rely on our managers to do the hiring, but we have a culture, and we do what we can to make sure that the culture trickles down.”
This often entails the business partners rotating through all five locations. They get to know the staff and talk to them as much as they can. The same goes for their customers. The menu at Food+Beer is eclectic and eccentric (please order the PB&J Wings; you won’t regret it). The concept was to have a diverse menu of fun fresh ingredients and dishes made from scratch. Mike’s expression grows pained when asked to pick his favorite dish. “It’s like picking your favorite kid!” he jokes. “The chicken wings and burgers aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. I love the bowls, the Mexican corn. We want to keep a fresh perspective and keep evolving. It has to be a business decision, even if we’re emotionally invested: It’s not worth it if it’s not selling.”
Food + Beer: eatfooddrinkbeer.com
Casey’s Advice:
Business is synonymous with sacrifice. I have three children and my wife was in the hospitality business too. My kids are restaurant kids. Be prepared to work your business for as long as it takes to know that it’s going to work. Know that you won’t have time off right away; when we started, Mike was the day manager and I was the night manager-we didn't have any options to go anywhere.
Mike’s Advice:
Work at a restaurant. Know what business you’re getting into. What-ever you think it'll cost, double it. Listen to what the people want and try to provide it. Focus on keeping it simple.
ORIGIN CRAFT BEER & PIZZA CAFÉ
Rami Nehme is one of those exceptionally charming people who can make you feel like the most important and noteworthy person in the world, even if you’re just joking around about the weather. I’ve always liked this charismatic owner of Origin Pizza but I realized quickly during the course of our formal interview that I’d never before noticed the depth of his intelligence (both mental and emotional), or his laser-sharp focus on the details around him, or the deep well of compassion within him that is readily available and seems inexhaustible. I always just thought “cool guy” and most likely had never asked him a personal question before because I was so busy telling him about myself, a neat trick employed by the best hospitality professionals in that it’s not a trick, it’s genuine interest. Much like the infamous Trifecta Sauce (14 scintillating secret spices) that was developed by Rami at Origin, it’s the oft-imitated, never duplicated, secret sauce to his success. Rami takes pride in the fact that Origin is the neighborhood bar/pizza café in each neighborhood where he has a location. He’s on a mission to reach us all, so if you don’t have a neighborhood Origin yet, you soon will. Rami has a BS in business from Yarmouk, an Oxford University in Jordan, so his advice is both sound and brilliant.
Rami’s Advice:
• Follow the path of businesses that you admire. Look at Publix and Detwiler’s Expansion. There’s a theory that people don’t drive more than three to seven miles to get anything, so I placed my locations accordingly.
• Respect your concept and own it. Look at Chick-fil-A–you don’t have to appeal to the taste of 100 percent of the people; shoot for 80 percent.
• I’m the captain of the ship but a ship has mates so it’s not my success, it’s our success. Don’t disregard my 92 staff members. They have made us the number one pizza pickup spot in Sarasota. The right staff is the key to any calculated expansion.
