Bay Walk Cafe bakes to a high level
The smell of home-made cooking and bakery goods hits you when you first open up the front door.
Bay Walk Cafe, located at Harbour House Inn at 450 Old San Carlos Blvd. in unit 102, is a casual, little eatery which has its own store front in Harbour House Inn. It offers breakfast, lunch and dinner with an all-day menu seven days of the week. The existing summer hours are 7 a.m. until roughly 5 p.m. During the winter, the hours are expected to extend to 10 p.m.
Business owner Sandy Campofredano opened the cafe on Saturday, May 29, during Memorial Day Weekend, and business has grown ever since. She offers full exclusive room and pool service for inn guests and daily home-cooked specials as well as a variety of menu items to those guests and the general public.
“Things are going very well,” said Campofredano. “We now have regular customers that come in weekly.”
Bay Walk Cafe has increased its fan base on the internet as well. TripAdvisor, a unbiased web-based review service, gave it a rating of 71 out of 80 restaurants on the Beach shortly after it first opened. It has jumped up to a rating of six, according to Campofredano.
“Within two months, we went from 71 to six,” she said.
Freshness is the key ingredient.
“I’ve wanted to do this my whole life,” said Campofredano. “Now, it’s a reality. At first, it was all word of mouth. People have no complaints because it’s home cooking.”
The menu highlights begin with fresh bakery items like assorted muffins or the cafe’s signature Homemade Key Lime Cookies and breakfast menu items such as the Quiche of the Day, Homemade Sausage Biscuits & Gravy and an Egg and Cheese Croissant. If you’d like to have lunch, try the Homemade Chicken Salad Panini Sandwich or the popular Double Threat Sub (meatballs, sausages, mozzarella, peppers and onions). Sample a side of Homemade Bay Walk Potato Salad. Specials include Shephard’s Pie or whatever else the chef would like to feature that day.
According to Campofredano, the key lime cookies have become so addictive that the inn has hired the cafe to make them for their guests for check-in time.
“Our guests want to know how they can get them home in their suitcases,” she said. “Even a lady from Europe wanted to know how to keep them fresh for the flight overseas.”
The cafe owner gives a lot of credit to Brian Fraser -her boyfriend, general manager, cook and baker- as well as the Dagnese family on the Beach. M D Electric owner Mike Dagnese not only supplied the electric work, but was the project overseer. His wife, Lynne, contributes with her signature banana bread, and Samantha, his daughter, is another of the cafe’s servers.
“It’s a family-run business,” said Campofredano. “Mike oversaw the whole project when it came down to everything. There are a lot of people who helped out including Sao and Fernando of Terra Nostra. The people from the Harbour House Inn -Doug Spiern-Smith, Chris, Marty, Dave and Colin-have been wonderful.”
Campofredano has extensive restaurant experience including almost 10 years between the former Fernandos Restaurant on the Beach, Fernandos of Martha’s Vineyard, and Terra Nostra at 1821 Estero Blvd. She also has worked at Charley’s Boathouse Grill, Lin’s Garden, Matanzas Inn Restaurant and the Island Pancake House.
“I’ve been a waitress for over 25 years,” she said. “But, this is my dream. The economy cannot get better if you don’t make an effort and try to make it better yourself and give jobs to people.”
Campofredano believes the cafe will compliment the inn’s guests with the room service capabilities, cookies and close proximities for dining. She hopes its only time before more locals seek out Bay Walk Cafe.
With her motto being, “You walk in as a stranger, but you’ll leave feeling like family,” Campofredano says she and her staff are down to earth and friendly with their customers. They just want to make sure everyone has an enjoyable time, even if they just want coffee and dessert.
“I want people to enjoy themselves, feel relaxed and be honest,” she said. “I can’t fix anything when people lie to me and tell me everything was great when it wasn’t.”
The entrance to Bay Walk Cafe faces Old San Carlos Boulevard. The cafe has indoor seating and, since the Town of Fort Myers Beach recently approved a contract for the business to use the public sidewalk for restaurant outdoor seating, there are tables and chairs for open air patio-style seating.
“I think this area is up and growing and that all the other business owners are doing a great job in revamping, remodeling or bringing something more to our locals and tourists who return,” she said. “I’m glad I’m in this location. It reminds me of Key West or downtown Savannah (Ga.)”
Bay Walk Cafe has free Wi-Fi indoors and pets are allowed on the outside patio. The quiet, family atmosphere and cozy, tranquil setting are due to the peacefulness without blaring music.
Campofredano claims she didn’t know the Old San Carlos Boulevard business owners were named the Bay Walk Group when she selected her cafe’s name.
She just liked the simplicity of the name -which genuinely matches the uncomplicated interior decor.
The Massachusetts native, who believes she is the first female business owner on the street of well-established business men, also provides other food services.
“We offer catering for any event involving anything from charter fishing boats to private office meetings,” said Campofredano. “We’re catering for Town Hall, the Beach chamber, and we’ve cooked or baked for two wedding parties. I’ll probably offer sunset picnic baskets in the future.”
The Bay Walk Cafe owner would like to extend an invitation to all who would like to check out a different eatery. The quaint, relaxed style of the place coupled with the aroma of the displayed sweets in the dining room may leave the customer longing for an extra course.
“Remember, stressed spelled backwards is desserts,” she said. “Come and see what we are all about.”