Tag Archives: business

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EXCLUSIVE: First Watch to buy The Egg & I restaurants

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By Justine Griffin

MANATEE COUNTY – Like nearly all other industries, the restaurant business has metamorphosed through the years.

Some national and regional chains are feeling the push to compete with small businesses, as millennials and Generation X consumers flock to support hole-in-the-wall eateries within their communities that reach a younger customer through robust social media presence and online apps.

First Watch Restaurants, the Manatee County-based chain of breakfast, brunch and lunch cafes, also has evolved through the years to meet the demands of these new customers.

This year, First Watch introduced a new urban layout in restaurants across the country, including two sites in Florida: Largo and Estero.

The “urban farm” design is bright, colorful and modern. The build-out looks like something you’d see on a busy street in a bigger metro area than Sarasota.

“The new concept is more in line with the customer First Watch is targeting,” said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, a food research firm based in Chicago. “It’s not fancier, but it plays on freshness and the importance of being local.”

Read more here. 

Sidebar:

First Watch evolves to attract younger customers: Like nearly all other industries, the restaurant business has metamorphosed through the years. Some national and regional chains are feeling the push to compete with small businesses, as millennials and Generation X consumers flock to support hole-in-the-wall eateries within their communities that reach a younger customer through robust social media presence and online apps. Read more here.

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Business inspired by daughter’s short life

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Photo by Dan Wagner

 

By Justine Griffin for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

SARASOTA — Shopping was a favorite pastime for Amber Lanelle Russ, Jim Russ’s daughter, and an activity the pair loved to do together.

They would cruise through the aisles of Walmart and Dollar General stores in Sarasota, Amber happy to just be with her father, who pushed her wheelchair for hours, even though they would rarely come home with lots of merchandise.

Amber Russ was in need of that chair all of her life. Though she could not talk or see very much because of conditions that included epilepsy, cortical blindness and scoliosis, she always smiled when she was out shopping in the community with her father.

“If you’ve ever shopped with a child in a wheelchair, you know you need bags that can hang easily from the back of the chair,” Russ said. “We always used the reusable grocery bags and, eventually, we started personalizing them.”

That began when Amber came home from Oak Park School in Sarasota with a new drawing or painting she had done in class. Russ would staple his daughter’s artwork to the tote bags as a way to brighten them up. One day, he stapled a picture of Amber’s beagle, Snoopy, to a bag.

“It seemed to brighten her day,” Russ said.

Amber passed away in 2011, just a month shy of her 21st birthday. Despite his grief, something told Russ to continue to make the bags he had used with his daughter.

“About four months after she died, I could feel her talking to me, saying, ‘Daddy, work on those bags,’ ” Russ said. “So for some odd reason, I did.”

Read more here.

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After months of ‘opening soon,’ is it time for Bob’s Boathouse?

My A1 story on Oct. 30 about the reopening of a controversial restaurant in Sarasota. It was the most read story on HeraldTribune.com the day it published.

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Photo by Elaine Litherland, Herald-Tribune staff.

SARASOTA – The sign posted outside Bob’s Boathouse on South Tamiami Trail changes week to week as it has for many months: Opening soon.

The reincarnation of what was a staple Siesta Key watering hole has been a long time in the making, and if the 1,700 fans on Bob’s Boathouse Facebook page are any indication, there is plenty of interest.

“Sign on 41 says opening week of Halloween!” says a recent post.

Bob’s Boathouse, a unique spot many remember on the Intracoastal Waterway at the Siesta Key Bridge, was a popular causal spot for tourists and locals alike before it closed in 2001 to make way for a 38-unit condominium development.

More than a decade later, Tom LeFevre, the man behind Bob’s Boathouse, pledges to bring back the restaurant many residents still remember, this time at the cleared site of the former Royal Oldsmobile GMC dealership.

Tucked back on Phillippi Creek, at 5515 S. Tamiami Trail, passersby see the restaurant — but more noticeable are the shells of boats littering the parking lot as if abandoned by a rogue wave.

Those who remember the old Bob’s Boathouse have shared their memories on Facebook. People post pictures of the current site or share photos from the old spot from Stickney Point Road near Siesta Key.

The social media banter from these many patrons pose the same question over and over.

Just when is Bob’s Boathouse going to open?

Read more here.

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Column: Millennial shoppers hard to please, impossible to ignore

My “What’s in Store” column from Aug. 5, 2013.

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Historically, at least, Generation Y has been an age group retailers have struggled to reach.

But since they are armed with the digital prowess and market savvy of most plugged-in millennials, retail chains have been forced to find a way to reach the 21st century’s first true digital generation. Old-school print catalogs and mail-in coupons just won’t do it anymore. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t trying.

Macy’s announced this month that it will expand its line of Gen Y brands in spring, the second consecutive year the department store chain has added to offerings aimed at the teen-to-twenties age group to reach its next generation of shoppers. Among those new brands are Maison Jules and QMack, which will be available in 150 stores across the country this month.

The retailer also has honed its “Mstylelab” and “Impulse” departments as of late, which focuses on shoppers aged 13 to 22 and 19 to 30 age groups.

Like many retailers, Macy’s doesn’t want to ignore millennials, because their math is pretty compelling: There are roughly 80 million in the U.S. (including me), and collectively, we spend about $600 billion a year, according to St. Petersburg consulting firm Accenture. If projections hold, that spending will grow to $1.4 trillion annually by 2020.

But the problem for Macy’s and others is we don’t fit a mold.

Not all of us shop online. Accenture’s survey notes we still like to shop in malls and actually like to see and feel the products we buy. But nearly half engage in “showrooming,” where they go to a store to check out an item, then search online for a better price. (Most millennials expect prices in stores and online to be similar, or identical).

From the retailers’ perspective, too, there are concerns that Gen. Y shoppers lack brand loyalty. In a survey, nearly 40 percent of retail industry leaders said it’s their biggest concern about the demographic.

Read more here.