The Ed Chiles Effect
Leadership doesn’t always announce itself with a shout; sometimes, it quietly takes root. In this stretch of Southwest Florida, Ed Chiles has long served as the robust trunk of a vast family tree of enterprises interconnected by a commitment to sustainability. From the beds of Gamble Creek Farms in Parrish, Florida; to pinot noir vineyards in California’s Russian River Valley; to the historic fishing district of Portland, Maine; Chiles’s influence is measured not in titles, but in the vitality of the ecosystem he’s nurtured.
In the following pages, we introduce eight businesses and initiatives, most of them local to the Florida Gulf Coast, that have sprouted from seeds Ed Chiles helped to plant—each a distinct branch of a shared philosophy. Whether their story centers on sustainable mariculture, farm-to-table organics, neurological health, restaurant culture, ecological preservation, and restoration—the list goes on—these stories represent a living cycle of continuity that honors the land while feeding its people. Nourishing us in body, mind, and soul.
Looking at the collective impact of these makers and doers, Chiles remains characteristically grounded in the strength of the community. He says, “These are the people that made me.”
Petrichor
“Early on, it just felt like synergy,” says Petrichor co-founder Michael Shea. “Ed was obviously masterminding, before I realized it, this cool network of local food and impact.” Shea credits Chiles for Petrichor’s ability to grow from a hobby-farm producer of culinary mushrooms into a leading-edge enterprise in the functional beverage sphere.
“The Chiles Group was our first big account for fresh mushrooms,” Shea says. “At the time, our produce was probably triple the cost of commodity mushrooms. To have a big restaurant owner like Ed prepared to step up like that was really surprising.”
Chiles and Shea’s restaurant-vendor relationship evolved into business mentorship, eventually leading Chiles to partner with Petrichor as the company entered its boldest venture: inventing a line of nano-emulsified extracts. Petrichor’s breakthrough renders the beneficial compounds in medicinal mushrooms (such as lion’s mane, cordyceps, and reishi) highly bioavailable and shelf-stable in liquid form.
“We’ve manufactured somewhere in the realm of 20 million servings of mushroom extract over the past 18 months, most of which has been sold to other beverage and wellness product manufacturers,” Shea reports. “It’s pretty fun to confidently say that tens of millions of people have now ingested our mushrooms.”
“It’s getting harder and harder for people to access this kind of quality, so being able to provide that feels pretty amazing.”
Gamble Creek Farms
Just north of the Manatee River, Gamble Creek Farms acts as the beating heart of a truly circular local economy. The Chiles Group’s revival of 26 dormant acres began in 2013, and what was once a conventional orange grove has been lovingly transformed into a diversified, Real Organic Project–certified farm and market. Under the watch of Farm Manager Zachary Rasmussen and Organics Farm Manager Natasha Ahuja, Gamble Creek operates on a principle of deep observation, replicating natural patterns to build soil health that radiates outward to our coastal watersheds and our plates.
Enormous value lies in the farm’s biodiversity, above and below the ground. From nutrient-dense microgreens to a pie-perfect species of native pumpkin, Gamble Creek’s harvests send up a testament to regeneration and resilience. We encounter Ed Chiles’s vision for sustainable systems in its most literal form here at Gamble Creek: a closed loop where the farm’s compostable waste streams (plus those from area restaurants and food producers) return to the earth to feed the next season’s yield. By prioritizing the microcosm of life within the soil, Gamble Creek Farms proves that farming and conservation are not just compatible—they are synergistic.
Shogun Farms
Toffer Jacob has served as the Chiles Group’s head butcher since 2019, after training at Johnson & Wales University’s prestigious culinary arts program and sharpening his skills in high-end kitchens and charcuterie shops in Charleston and Nashville. The kitchen job that started it all, though, was in the early ’90s at Sandbar and the Beach House, two of three sisters born from the Chiles Group restaurant family. Today, Jacob is the artisan behind a radical, nose-to-tail wild boar charcuterie program that turns an invasive species into a local delicacy.
The Chiles Group partners with Shogun Farms in Tampa to source pork. Feral swine are humanely trapped and relocated to Shogun, where they are raised under veterinary care and finished on a fine diet of locally grown produce.
“With wild boar, you can basically use the whole animal,” Jacob says, “and the nutritional value of things like the organs is really coming to the forefront now.” Even the bones of Shogun Farms boars are being made into soup stocks and bone broths, and Jacob is branching out creatively from his famous blueberry sausages to dog treats.
“The wonderful thing about this area is that we get such a diversity of people coming here. We’re able to provide a special pork product that they’re really happy to get—and they know what to do with it, how to work with it,” Jacob says. “It’s getting harder and harder for people to access this kind of quality, so being able to provide that feels pretty amazing.”
Gulf Coast Crab & Seafood
Like Jacob, Chef Rich Demarse gained formative experience in Chiles Group kitchens—at the third sister, Mar Vista, as well as the Sandbar. As executive chef, Demarse cultivated relationships with local fishermen to source top-quality seafood, encouraging diners to become more curious about the delicacies from the sea that ended up on their plates.
“Ed was always buying from fishermen who were innovating in fresh seafood,” Demarse says. “And I always thought, ‘Well, if I could fish for a living, I’d do it.’”
When Chiles gets wind of dreams, they have this way of coming true. With encouragement from Chiles, Demarse began apprenticing with one of the expert fishermen he used to meet back-of-house, eventually trading his chef’s coat for crab traps to launch Gulf Coast Crab & Seafood with his wife, Kim. What began as a passion project selling blue crabs from a gas station parking lot has burgeoned into a Beneva Road storefront and catering outfit. Demarse utilizes his gourmet background to concoct signature crab cakes and takeaway seafood boils while showcasing catches from near and far. It’s another shining example of Chiles’s catalytic influence, helping forward-thinking culinary professionals carve out their own purposeful path.
LOLA Wines
The terroir of LOLA Wines comes from California’s Goldridge, volcanic, and clay loam soils, but founder Seth Cripe was raised on Anna Maria Island sands. Founded in 2008, the winery received its organic certification from California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) last year.
Cripe and Chiles’s alliance solidified through a shared obsession with Gulf Coast heritage, most notably in their joint effort to revive the traditional production of Cortez bottarga. This early collaboration in the local seafood industry laid the groundwork for Chiles to become a foundational investor in Cripe’s viticulture vision. Chiles championed LOLA on his restaurant’s wine lists; with a new beer and wine vendor license, this season the Gamble Creek market started stocking LOLA’s Russian River Valley pinot noir and rosé.
LOLA delivers a world-class product that still feels deeply grounded. In LOLA wine specialist Jordan Brewer’s words, “When people like Ed and Seth truly care about what they’re doing, it not only shows—you can taste it.”
Poppo’s Taqueria
In 2007, Chiles and Mike Coleman embarked on a crusade to save Anna Maria Island’s historic business district from overdevelopment. Together, they created the Pine Avenue Restoration project to buy and redevelop 15 properties into a district that residents are proud to call the “Greenest Little Main Street in America.” Mike’s three sons opened Poppo’s Taqueria on the revitalized Pine Avenue in 2013, and the family operation now boasts five locations from Bradenton to St. Pete, with a sixth soon to open in Parrish.
“We make everything fresh, by hand, every day, including our tortillas,” says Patrick Coleman, “and we’ve spent a lot of time working on our ingredients.” Poppo’s proteins are free of hormones and antibiotics. All their taco shops prioritize organics in their toppings and have switched from seed oil to ethically sourced palm and avocado oils. Poppo’s Taqueria demonstrates how a fast-casual restaurant model can thrive on a sustainable philosophy, and convenience need not compromise integrity.
Brain Health Initiative
Agriculture and neurology have found a unique intersection through the Brain Health Initiative (BHI), led by retired Harvard faculty Stephanie Peabody. In her 30 years of work and scholarship, Peabody can point to a wealth of evidence that a neuroprotective diet is our most potent defense against cognitive decline. However, industrial food systems are failing to properly nourish a growing population.
BHI’s “Circular Bioeconomy” model seeks to change this by infusing neuroscience into agriculture, with Gamble Creek Farms as the proving ground for pioneering “soil-to-synapse” wellness. BHI creates a quarterly “field guide” that goes to the molecular level to show what’s in season at Gamble Creek and the nutrients within the harvest.
“We focus on the nutrients that cross the blood-brain barrier for active bioavailability,” Peabody says, “to support brain health, development, maturation, and aging, and look for opportunities to optimize brain performance and prevent brain illness.” What is good for the earth is, quite literally, vital for the mind. BHI brings the science to prove how a healthy community begins with the microscopic life teeming in organic soil.
Browne Trading Co.
Gulf Coast Crab & Seafood and the Gamble Creek Farms market both carry products from Browne Trading Co., headquartered in Portland, Maine. As a member of its board of directors, Chiles has long championed this elite purveyor, whose commitment to transparency, education, and uncompromising quality matches Chiles’s values. Browne’s boutique selection of products—including caviar, sea scallops, smoked seafood, wild-caught fin fish, and more—is renowned as the gold standard among Michelin-starred chefs of New York. Chiles’s commitment to excellence that knows no borders. With these world-class products in local storefronts, the Sarasota community has direct access to the same fine fruits de mer found in the world’s most renowned kitchens.
Thank you to AJ Latteri-Caster of The Private Chefs of AMI for the beautiful grazing boards. @theprivatechefsofami
