Partnerships that Go the Distance

Most business partnerships have the longevity of a Hollywood romance, but there are always those that buck the odds. In Southwest Florida, for instance, several business partnerships still remain strong after about 20 years.

Find out how three such partnerships have overcome roadblocks—from hurricane devastation to divorce—and why they’re glad they didn’t go on the ride alone.

Sukie Honeycutt and Tony Ridgway, Ridgway Bar & Grill
Few surprises arise in the business relationship between restaurant owners Tony Ridgway and Sukie Honeycutt. This is partly because they’ve been partners for more than 25 years and share the same business goal: customer satisfaction. But mostly it’s because they also share 192 square feet of office space above the Ridgway Bar & Grill, their restaurant in downtown Naples.

"One of the things that has been crucial [to maintaining our partnership] is that we share an office," says Honeycutt. "It improves communication and we can have impromptu meetings."

Ridgway, whose wife, Wynne, is office manager, knows the importance of open communication. "When Sukie sees me and my wife working on the budget, she knows exactly where we stand," Ridgway says. "I’m not sitting in some office someplace else working on it."

Although their career paths originally headed in different directions—he was in the Air Force, she was a singer signed with Motown Records—their paths collided when both were looking for a change.

A natural in the kitchen, Ridgway decided to pursue his passion for food by opening up a restaurant in Naples called The Wurst Place. He eventually sold that business to open another restaurant in 1976 called The Chef’s Garden, which was in the same spot as the current Ridgway Bar & Grill. Above The Chef’s Garden, where they now share their office, he started a second restaurant in 1978, called Truffles.