Cape restaurants concoct cocktails for Clean Water
Two restaurants nestled within Cape Coral boating communities have joined forces to help Captains for Clean Water during a time when blue green algae and red tide have impacted Southwest Florida waters.
Operational manager for Gather and Fathoms Restaurant & Bar Kathy Stephen said the general manager of Gather, Jeremy Vincent, came up with the idea to work with Captains for Clean Water to do drink special promotions.
On Aug. 1, Fathoms Restaurant & Bar, at Cape Harbour Marina, and Gather, at Tarpon Point Marina, began serving special cocktails to benefit the nonprofit organization.
The fundraising effort will continue until the end of the month.
“It’s been going great. We have some signage up now. Captains for Clean Water gave us pamphlets and banners. Our staff is promoting it (cocktails). People want to reach out and help now because it is affecting everyone in Southwest Florida,” Stephen said. “We are excited to help out every way we can.”
At Fathoms Restaurant, individuals can enjoy a “clean water” cocktail. The drink special includes vodka, champagne and peach schnapps.
They also have a “shandy.”
“We wanted to do a draft beer because it is hot in the summer and it sells really well,” she said of the “summer shandy.”
At Gather, the specialty drink is “surfer girl,” is a concoction of rum and cream de coconut. They are also offering a pint of mojito sour, a draft beer for the Captains for Clean Water fundraiser.
One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to Captains for Clean Water from the sales of the special cocktails and draft beer throughout the month of August.
Stephen said they are hoping to continue to work with Captains for Clean Water through September and October. She said they want to do a fundraiser at one of their restaurants because they can host a lot of people and, hopefully, raise a lot of money.
Stephen said although a little of the algae is visible in the water at both restaurants, there is no smell, for which they are thankful because they have a lot of outdoor seating at Fathom’s and Gather.
“We are kind of lucky right now,” she said.
Gather is at 5971 Silver King Blvd, Suite 116. Fathoms Restaurant & Bar is at 5785 Cape Harbour Drive, Suite 106.
Captains for Clean Water’s mission “advancing education, awareness and scientifically supported solutions to restore and protect marine ecosystems and our way of life for future generations.”
For more information, visit captainsforcleanwater.org.