ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Ed Chiles, the owner of Chiles Hospitality, is selling the Sandbar Seafood & Spirits restaurant in Anna Maria, the Beach House Waterfront Restaurant in Bradenton Beach and the Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub in Longboat Key to the Pinellas County-based Beachside Hospitality group.
Beachside Hospitality is also buying the Anna Maria Bake House and Chiles Hospitality’s events department. No sales price was disclosed.
Beachside Hospitality owns and operates Crabby’s Bar & Grill, Crabby’s Hideaway, Crabby’s On The Pass, Crabby’s Dockside, The Salty Crab Bar & Grill and Salty’s Island Bar & Grille in Pinellas County. The group also owns and operates similarly-themed restaurants in Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, St. Cloud, St. Augustine, Fort Pierce and Fort Myers Beach.
Chiles Hospitality announced the pending sale in a July 17 press release. The sale is scheduled to close on July 29, with Colliers International representing Chiles Hospitality in the sale.
“This has been a difficult decision, but I know it’s time for me to move on. I am passing the torch to new owners who understand the value of our employees and who will carry on the legacy that our team has built together,” Chiles said in the press release. “I leave knowing that the work our team has done together is one of the greatest experiences of my life and we have made a measurable and positive impact in our community.”
Chiles founded Chiles Hospitality in 1979 when he, his father – former Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles – and two partners bought the Sandbar restaurant in Anna Maria. Chiles Hospitality acquired and later renovated the Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant in Longboat Key in 1989 and the Beach House Waterfront Restaurant in Bradenton Beach in 1993. Chiles Hospitality established the Anna Maria Bake House scratch-artisan bakery within the Beach House in 2018.
The press release notes the majority of Chiles Hospitality’s 350 restaurant employees have been asked to continue in their current roles.
Chiles Hospitality itself is not being sold and the press release notes Chiles Hospitality will continue to operate the 26-acre Gamble Creek Farms organic farming operations in Parrish.
Beachside Hospitality’s plans
The press release notes that Beachside Hospitality has over 20 years of experience in the restaurant business and currently oversees 13 restaurants in eight Florida cities. This is the group’s first business venture in Manatee County.
Julia Cassino serves as the Beachside Hospitality’s director of marketing and events. When contacted by The Sun today, she said Beachside Hospitality has not yet issued a press release or an official statement regarding the pending purchase and plans to do so after the sale is finalized on July 29.
“We are excited about this amazing new venture and coming into Manatee County, Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key,” she said.
“We do not have any current plans to change anything regarding the names or the styles of the restaurants. They are each established entities and each have their own feel. We have no plans to change that. Ed has done a fantastic job building these businesses into what they are today and we have no plans to change any of that. We want to continue the legacy he’s created,” Cassino said.
“We’re keeping the staffs and we have two long-tenured members of our team who are currently overseeing locations in Pinellas and Volusia counties who are moving to the area to oversee the transition,” she added.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what we can continue on with Ed’s brand and how we can possibly elevate it into something even better. We do not plan to make any drastic changes. The guests will not notice the changes and it should be a smooth transition,” Cassino said.
Chiles speaks
Chiles was 25 when he, his dad and two partners bought the Sandbar. Forty-five years later, he’s moving on.
During a phone interview with The Sun today, Chiles addressed his decision to sell and his future plans.
“Forty-five years of being in this business feels about right. I started thinking about this seriously about a year and a half ago and I came to the realization that I shouldn’t try for 50. I have my health. I’m really proud of what we’ve done. I’ve got a new grandson who’s 2 1/2 years old that I want to spend more time with. It’s just time,” Chiles said.
“I know it’s the right thing to do. I will miss it terribly. I will miss the people, the staff, our teams and I will miss the guests and the generations of families we’ve served and formed friendships with. I’ll miss being there on the beach ‘conducting the orchestra,’ getting in the chef’s way, working with the food and developing recipes. There’s so many different aspects of this,” Chiles said.
“The Post-COVID era has made a tough business even tougher, but during the last six months our company has never run better, our leadership teams have never been stronger, our numbers have never been better and it feels great to go out on top.
“I’d love to be around to open the retail operation at the Sandbar, where we’re tripling the size, and the take-out section and the renovation we’re doing on the southside is going to be so exciting with the empanadas, the menu, and the drinks we’ll serve there, but it’s time. I love the idea of going out on top. It feels right, even though there’s a whole lot of emotions,” he said.
“I’m really going to miss the people, but a door shuts and another one opens. I want my last lap to be about building soil. I want to be working at the farm. I want to be working on the environment, coastal resiliency, the bivalves (oysters and clams), seagrass and promoting sustainable seafood and I’ve got some new things I’m taking on in those regards.
“I don’t want to fret about the next hurricane, red tide or pandemic or election. It’ll be nice to have that weight off my shoulders. I don’t know what that will feel like because I’ve been so used to it. My step will be a little lighter. We’re on the edge of the world where we are and that comes with things that can bite you. I won’t have to worry about that anymore,” Chiles said.
Varied plans
Chiles remains involved with multiple cannabis businesses in Tennessee and with a group opening a restaurant in Nashville this week. He remains a partner in the Poppo’s Taqueria businesses originally founded in Anna Maria, he’s a partner in a mushroom business and he’s exploring other sustainability-related business endeavors.
Chiles Hospitality will still own and operate the paid parking lot along Gulf Drive in Anna Maria. Chiles will continue to own and lease out the old post office plaza on Gulf Drive and he also has two commercial properties on Pine Avenue.
“There’s 17 properties that I’ll still own, not including the farm. There’s plenty of stuff to still look after,” he said. They’re not buying Chiles Hospitality. They’re buying the assets, the restaurants and the land. Chiles Hospitality will keep going with the farm and the other things we work on.”
Longtime Chiles Hospitality group CEO Chuck Wolfe will continue serving in that role.
“Chuck’s my CEO and he will stay with me. Chuck’s the guy that navigated all this (the sale). The new owners are taking virtually everybody else and I’m delighted. I think our folks can learn some things from the new owners and I hope they can learn some things from our team about our culture, our work with sustainable seafood and our work in the community. I’m optimistic about that.”
Chiles and his wife, Tina, will remain Anna Maria residents.
“I don’t have any plans to leave Anna Maria Island. I love it here. I don’t remember ever not being in Anna Maria. I was here in utero. We came here every summer from Lakeland. I’ll spend parts of the summer in Montana, in August and September when it’s not fit to be in Florida. I’ll be hip-deep in a trout stream. I’ll be traveling, spending more time with my grandson and ‘Ms. Tina’ and pursuing the sustainable initiatives with bivalves, seagrass and with the farm, building soil,” Chiles said.
In closing, Chiles said, “I’m a lucky guy who got out of school with a political science degree and had to find a way to make a living. My dad approached me about putting a group together to buy a restaurant in Anna Maria, where we had always spent our summers.
“Before buying the Sandbar, I spent a season working in the kitchen at the legendary Joe’s Stone Crab restaurant in Miami Beach in 1978. A month later, we bought the Sandbar. I worked under a manager for six months and then I took over. Since then, I’ve been in paradise doing what I love: serving people.”
