The first two weeks after Sept. 11 were brutal for purveyors

of fine dining. in Southwest Florida, even the blistering pace of regional

expansion couldn’t buffer the restaurant business. Some restaurateurs say even

their wealthiest diners abruptly cut back, eating out 25 percent less. Wine

sales dipped because no one felt like celebrating. Even thestyle="mso-spacerun: yes"> mid-range comfort-food business fell by as

much as 20 to 30 percent. Only fast food sales held up, as families carried in

meals, stayed close to home and watched the news.

In addition, travelers and tour groups finalize plans for

flights to Florida during September. Interruption of this annual influx meant a

late start to a light season. The area’s most expensive restaurants, with

per-person tabs from $35 to $100, quickly learned that their best defense was

making sure that they were doing everything right.

“We did what we could to minimize expenses while continuing

to invest in keeping our service whole and entertainment at the five-star

level,” says Steven Schaefer, director of food and beverage for the restaurants

for The Ritz-Carlton Resorts of Naples. The slowdown cut the need for staff, so

employees at The Dining Room at the beach hotel were asked to use their

vacation time. The hotel chain went ahead with opening Lemonia at Tiburón in

January, relying on efficiencies in shared staff and services ranging from

pastries to public relations. Managers also

decided against a full markup on wine.

Fortunately, individual hotel guests and snowbirds arrived

in time to make up for the loss of group reservations. Total sales for the

Ritz’s seven restaurants are up 8 percent over a year ago, Schaefer says,

adding that 2001 and 2000 were “stellar years.”

In Fort Myers, following his best August in five years at

his Bell Tower Shop eatery, executive chef Shannon Yates opened Bacchus &

Company Wine Cellar & Brasserie downtown on Aug. 31. “Eleven days later,

the world stopped,” he says.

While sales languished during the first two weeks at the new

restaurant, Yates’ strong reputation with local customers kept volume close to

par at the original restaurant. But per-person ticket totals dropped. Those

weeks comprised “one of the roughest periods in my lifetime,” Yates says.

Yates exchanged labor-intensive stocks and sauces for tasty

salsas, sweet-and-sour flourishes and blended condiments. He tightened the

constantly changing menu without sacrificing quality. Customer counts at the

new location are now running close to tallies at the first location. Yates and

partners Jeffrey and Suzy Lewis look for a return to robust business in 12 to

18 months. Meanwhile, they persist in honing the tools—the chefs, servers and

greeters—needed to stay healthy. “We’re smarter this year, more focused on

costs, so our margins are a bit ahead,” says Yates. “We just have to get up every day and work harder.”

Michael Hernandez, co-owner of Aqua Grill in Naples, Bistro

41 in Fort Myers and Mia’s in Tampa (which opened in December), decided to

build business by making sure managers paid more personal attention to diners.

Managers must “get to every table with more than a greeting,” he says. “Once a

customer is in the door, we have a shot at making sure that everything is

right.”

Hernandez also

depends on residents who stop in for lunch or dinner once or twice a week. As a

result, fourth quarter revenues for 2001 at Bistro 41 fell only 5 percent. Still,

it was the restaurant’s first downturn in five years. Nevertheless, despite a

temporary reduction in servers, regulars crowded Aqua Grill (which Hernandez

owns with partners Jeff Gatley and Todd Johnson) two weeks after 9-11 to join

in singing patriotic songs.

“I’m not sure things are back to normal yet,” says

Hernandez. “It is getting better.”

Although business has returned to reasonable levels, some in

the industry question what summer will bring. And the National Restaurant

Association notes that cutbacks in U.S. business spending have hurt banquet and

catering business.

But David Stevens, a commercial real estate broker with

Grubb & Ellis/IPC in Naples, says that there’s been no letup in interest by

national chains scouting sites here. Despite the proliferation of high-end

steakhouses in Lee and Collier counties, for example, Fleming’s (part of the

Outback Steakhouse family) and Morton’s of Chicago are poised to enter the

market.

The north end of Collier County and Bonita Springs have

joined Naples and Sanibel as preferred places for fine dining, according to

Stevens and his Lee County counterpart, Paul Sands of Grubb &

Ellis/VIP-D’Alessandro. Key to a successful new site is affordable land, rising

rooftops that include younger demographics and access to peak season traffic.

“So much depends on the location,” says Paul Gaeta of the

Sanibel Island Restaurant Group. By 2003, he hopes to be operating seven

restaurants. The Bonita Springs Sanibel Steakhouse opened in 2001, joining

locations on Sanibel and in Fort Myers. Another Sanibel Steakhouse is expected

to open in the Vanderbilt Galleria at Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach

roads in Naples in late 2002, paired with the Green Dolphin, the group’s new

high-end seafood restaurant next door.

“Bonita is less dependent on tourist trade than Sanibel,”

Gaeta says. “And Southwest Florida has generally proved less vulnerable to

economic swings than the rest of the country.”