Marina/bistro owner enjoys “fruits” of success
An ancient Spanish proverb has stated, “With wine and hope, anything is possible.”
Those words must have come to mind when business partners Joe Yerkes, Billy Gleeson and Peter Gleeson decided to tear down an existing marina and rebuild a state-of-the-art facility and construct a restaurant on a mid-island property just a few years ago on Fort Myers Beach.
Today, the result is Snook Bight Yacht Club & Marina and Bayfront Bistro, which features complete marina and yacht club facilities and an award-winning restaurant. The latter picked up its second consecutive Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, a well respected reward in the worldwide magazine’s Aug. 31st review of the restaurant’s wine list for depth, creativity, accuracy and menu-pairing excellence.
“We’ve been so lucky because when we started the construction, the economy was on fire and the expectation was everything was going to be so easy. Then, about the time we were finished, we were in the worst of the economy. So, we were terrified,”
said Yerkes, the resident owner of the two businesses. “Now, looking back on it four years later, it’s been a huge success.”
The economy problems grew into a recession that caused housing prices to decline and a massive unemployment push. Then, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and its poor perception affected the hospitality industry and caused the much relied upon tourism numbers to drop.
“(The oil spill) probably hurt us, but we were growing so fast through that period,” said Yerkes. “We filed claims but never pursued them. (Our growth) probably masked the real effect of the oil spill.”
Snook Bight Marina
Snook Bight opened in November 2008. Since then, it has received a Clean Marina designation for a proactive approach to environmental stewardship and a very recent appointment as a full warranty and repower service center for Mercury and Mercruiser to accompany its current stable that includes Yamaha and Evinrude.
“We knew it would only work if it was a full-service marina, which would require a lot of good revenue streams that were profitable. The boat rental business is huge for us and, allied to that, was getting our service department right,” said Yerkes. “To succeed, we had to have the Mercurys, Evinrude and Yamaha. So getting Mercury into the stable was the last big step in that. We were lucky to get Service Manager Glen Gardner and his most senior tech who have a great relationship with Mercury.”
Snook Bight is in the process of obtaining construction bids for building concrete docks to replace its wood docks. This will give the marina 54 brand new permanent docks and the restaurant more than 20 temporary docks.
“When that is all completed, we’ll have the last stage of this whole property redevelopment finished,” said Yerkes.
Yacht club privileges
By the name alone, one can tell that Snook Bight Yacht Club & Marina is not just a place to rent, store or service your boat. Part of the exclusive membership rights of owning a boat in the marina’s fully enclosed, climate-controlled boat storage building is belonging to the private yacht club.
“The yacht club is an extension of ownership. People that are members of the yacht club are strictly those who have bought a rackominium in the building and can enjoy the facilities of privacy to have a drink and relax in the club room or by the pool,” said Yerkes.
Bayfront Bistro
Plato once was quoted as saying, “Wine fills the heart with courage.”
If that holds truth, Bayfront Bistro is no cowardly lion. Besides its most recent Wine Spectator Award of Excellence to stack on top of last year’s honor (an unprecedented feat in the Fort Myers/Fort Myers Beach area), the mid-island restaurant has a laundry list of accomplishments (see box on page) and is the right destination for a quality and affordable wine selection.
“The Wine Spectator award is really important to a fine dining restaurant, and it’s not easy to get it,” Yerkes said. “I’ve been impressed with the number of customers who come in and say they are here because they found us on the website or in the magazine.”
For the record, Wine Spectator Magazine cited only six Lee County establishments. The Sandy Butler (FMB), Sweet Melissa’s Caf (Sanibel), Chop’s City Grill (Estero), Angelina’s Ristorante (Estero) and Ruth’s Chris Steak House (Estero) are the others.
Not only is he the owner, Yerkes is the bistro’s wine director. He changes his wine list (replaces a few to many bottles) every four months and currently has roughly 600 different brands of wine. Of those, 60 wines can be ordered by the glass.
“I do all the ordering and I write the list. It’s my baby,” he said. “We are always looking for a better combination of wines within a particular category to give the customer the best choice both in quality and price range.”
This year, Yerkes was selected as vice president of the newly merged Southwest Florida Chapter of the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association.
When asked what he has learned from the successes of his island businesses, Yerkes stated, “The restaurant business is just as difficult as everybody says it is.” His experiences in different industries have led him to certain beliefs.
“It comes down to the integrity of your work practices; the relationship with your employees and how well you treat them and what benefits and packages you provide for them; and how well you organize things so you can look after the bottom line,” he said.
The resident owner
Yerkes married about 1 years ago and lives with his wife and two children within the Fort Myers Beach boundary. He moved back to the area in 2002, after living in Europe primarily for the past 25 years.
When he lived on the Beach in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he got his start as a liquor representative through a Tampa distributor for E & J Gallo winery. His only marina experience was as a customer.
“All my life, I’ve been a boater and I always wanted to live on a boat. When I retired, I bought a catamaran and lived on it. That’s what brought me to this marina (Mid-Island Beach Marina at the time),” he said.
Yerkes met the former marina owners and decided to buy the property with his business partners, Irish property developers Billy and Peter Gleeson.
Yerkes became acquainted with the Gleeson brothers while living in Ireland. Joe and Billy were owners of a network radio broadcasting station, became good friends and were involved in a number of other different enterprises through Gleason Properties and Castle Knitwear. Peter, who Joe knew socially, became involved on the Beach marina/ bistro project.
“I always wanted to be back here,” said Yerkes. “My closest friends lived in Naples. (One friend) was quite ill with Parkinson’s (disease). Part of being in this area let me spend time with him before he passed away. “
Now that the property redevelopment is nearing full completion, Yerkes took time to look back on its humble beginnings.
“This was just an exciting project and one of those that you couldn’t pass up. It became known to us that it was probably going to be for sale in late May 2004. On July 22, we closed the deal and paid cash for the property. It only took us six weeks to make a decision,” he said.
Of course, being a wine aficionado, Yerkes’ heart may be closer to the bistro side of the two businesses. He does have 3,000 bottles of wine at his home.
“It’s been a personal hobby of mine to be interested in wine. I’ve spent a lot of time tasting and drinking wines,” he said. “I had a vision of this restaurant, and it’s become exactly what my vision was. It’s really a personal experience for me to see it so successful.”