The words “resilient spirit” mean much to Sandy Stilwell Youngquist, as two of her restaurants just reopened, one of them after being wiped out twice by hurricanes over the past three years.

Almost 1,000 days passed between key lime pie servings at Key Lime Bistro,11509 Andy Rosse Lane on Captiva Island — 971 days to be exact. She estimated the two renovations to cost about $2 million.

“Everything’s brand new,” said Stilwell Youngquist, who began operating the restaurant in 2002. “The kitchen’s been redesigned to where it’s a little more efficient to where it was before. The furniture was much more hurricane resilient, so we didn’t have to replace all the furniture.”

Key Lime Bistro on Boca Grande also reopened following a complete renovation inside the historic train depot at 433 Fourth St. W.

Although the two restaurants are just 20 miles apart via a straight line, they are both on islands. A road trip from one to the other takes more than two hours and covers 90 to 100 miles, depending on the route.

“Every single piece of equipment, every piece of furniture came out of the restaurant,” she said of the Boca Grande location. “It was out for five months.”

A third Key Lime Bistro is under construction at Southwest Florida International Airport. She said that’s expected to be open by November of this year.

“It’s going to be the largest restaurant location at the airport,” Stilwell Youngquist said. It also will help build name recognition and cross-promote the other two locations for incoming visitors. And outgoing visitors will be able to bring something home.

“This way you can take our Key Lime Pie on the plane,” she said.

As for what separates that pie from the others, she said: “I’m not going to give away my secret. But there are several layers. And there’s a certain amount of sweetness, and there’s a certain amount of tartness.”

On Captiva, Stilwell Youngquist hired MHK Architecture to design and Stevens Construction to rebuild 10 cottages that were ruined by Hurricane Ian. After much debate because of their historic designation, she decided to have the remains of the original cottages demolished to make way for concrete block structures that will be elevated and have parking underneath.

“We hope to break ground this summer,” she said.

The cottages will be rebuilt with hurricane resiliency in mind.

Stilwell Youngquist recently self-published Resilient Spirit, a book she co-wrote with Craig Handel. It’s subtitled: Entrepreneurial Guiding Principles & Leaps of Faith That Create Success. She said she remains driven to see all these projects through to fruition.

“I just have the passion to get these up and running again and to make them profitable again,” she said.