Home »
News & Trends »
Featured Articles

The Sandy Butler

This Fort Myers, Fla.-based specialty store started life as a produce stand and now has a successful restaurant, an extensive exclusive brand program and a wholesale operation.

By Dennis Marrero

Co-owners Tom and Maggie Scholl and son-in-law and daughter Jason and Jamie Nelson opened The Sandy Butler at the beginning of one of the worst economic downturns in recent history. Today the business has 45 full-time and 25 part-time employees, is planning to open two more stores and is expanding its wholesale operations.

History...

In 2000, Jason began working with his father-in-law on a citrus grove Scholl owned in Alva, Fla., which supplied oranges to companies like Tropicana. Working together quickly gave the duo inspiration to open a simple retail operation, no more extravagant than a produce stand. To support this transition, they began planting fresh market fruits such as honeybells, grapefruits and sunbursts. Six years later, they had a 15,000-square-foot specialty food store/restaurant and wholesale operation.

Jamie Nelson, marketing director, was the first to inspire her father and husband to look beyond the produce stand and into gourmet foods. After years of research, the family team began building a market and café.

Points of Distinction...

Though initially envisioned as a café, as the retail concept evolved, the potential for a full-service restaurant that had access to the market’s selection of ingredients seemed too good to the owners to pass up. “Whether it’s truffle flour or some other product that most restaurants would have to order, our chefs simply have to walk down one of the store’s aisles,” explains Jason Nelson. Today, the 150-seat restaurant has two working chefs, a spacious Sand Bar for cocktails and catering services.

The retailer also carries an extensive selection in its exclusive lines, The Butler’s Signature (handmade by a local producer) and Maggiordomo European label (which translates to “butler” in Italian and is produced in Europe). The lines include jams, jellies, pickles and oils that are sold in the store and marketed throughout the U.S. to about 50 restaurants/hotels, including The Setai, Fontainebleau and The Ritz Carlton, and 20 markets including Epicure, Central Market and Garden of Eden. “Our biggest exclusive product right now is the Fernando Pensato line of olive oils (eight styles and gallons), balsamics (six styles), and pastas (15 different cuts and foodservice pack),” says Nelson. In January, the oils appeared on Oprah magazine’s O List.

Scholl also owns a seaport in Jacksonville that is nearing completion after struggles with the government over eminent domain. Once operational, it will provide direct access for South American shipments—opening an opportunity to take over production of some of The Butler’s Signature products that are currently processed by outside packers.

Best-selling Items...

Besides the exclusive lines, other popular offerings are the prepared foods selection (including its best-selling chicken pot pie), almost 300 cheeses (comprising 20 percent of total sales) and juices made from fresh fruit from the Alva citrus grove.

“It took us about a year to identify our customer base, and we had to trim back on some or our more upscale items, but we always try out new products,” says Nelson. He explains that Fort Myers is a beach town and, although the population is interested in specialty foods, they are not at the cusp of food trends. To balance this, Nelson says they “groom customers” and expose them to new foods through tastings and education.

How They Keep Innovating...

In addition to their seaport  plans, the owners are in the first stages of growing their own produce on-site (the store is located on 4 acres) as well as at the farms  in Alva. —D.M.