Bradenton Beach City Commissioner John Shaughnessy said what others in the room likely were thinking.
During a discussion about the next concessionaire on the Historic Bridge Street Pier, the former mayor said Anna Maria Oyster Bar may be the city’s last hope for a successful restaurant on the pier.
“This is our third strike, guys,” Shaughnessy said. “We already had two people in here since way back when, and it hasn’t worked out. I think it hasn’t worked out because of a lot of things.”
Shaughnessy cited lack of experience and finances as possible reasons for the failure of the previous two ventures, Cast-n-Cage Restaurant and Rotten Ralph’s. Another vendor before Rotten Ralph’s, also did not prosper as Bradenton Beach Pier Cafe.
Then he said of John Horne’s AMOB operation, “I think they are glue. I think they will stick it out. I think they have the experience.”
But if AMOB fails, Shaughnessy said, no other restaurant will want to take a chance on Bradenton Beach.
“I think that’s the way it is because we haven’t been successful in the last four or five years,” he said.
Horne will negotiate his lease with Mayor Jack Clarke and city attorney Ricinda Perry. No matter how many concessions are made by either side, the financial terms likely won’t look anything like what previous concessionaires Roland Pena and Dave Russell paid.
When he left in late May, Pena was paying a monthly rent of more than $7,000 for the Cast-n-Cage, bait shop and harbormaster office. Russell said he paid almost $9,000 a month for Rotten Ralph’s.
This time around, commissioners wanted $2,500 per month plus a percentage of gross sales — determined by the bidders – for the restaurant alone.
But Horne went lower. He proposed $1,666.66 per month — or $20,000 — for the first year, then increasing to $2,500, $2,575, $2,652.25 and $2,731.82 in years two through five, respectively.
Commissioners unanimously supported Horne’s proposal, if reluctantly. They seemed willing to take a low bid from a familiar face and established restaurateur. The AMOB Express on the pier would be Horne’s fourth restaurant after he left the Anna Maria City Pier in the 1994.
Shaughnessy was not happy with Horne’s low bid, but he understood it. “He’s not going in with both feet, and I think that’s a smart thing,” Shaughnessy said.
Clarke called AMOB an institution, saying it “will serve us well.” However, he said the “compensation aspect” must be addressed.
Commissioner Jan Vosburgh said AMOB would be an asset to Bradenton Beach. “The problem I have is that they were the low bidder,” she said. “And I think we have to look out for Bradenton Beach, as far as our finances.”
Commissioner Janie Robertson said she agreed with Vosburgh.
AMOB, Commissioner Ed Straight said, would be “the best fit.”
For his part, Horne said he is familiar with Russell as a restaurateur, but not with Pena.
“I know Rotten Ralph’s and I know they are great operators,” Horne said, adding about Pena: “What I heard on the street was the rent was too high and they were behind the eight ball.”
Horne wants to start his new partnership with the city and open his new restaurant before the end of the year.
They better figure out where all the anticipated patrons of this popular restaurant are going to park or this one will fail as well!