Today we’d like to introduce you to Florence Schmitt.
Hi Florence, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My husband, Steven Schmitt and his old school friend Carl Kolber, started the food truck in 2019. They were serving a Middle Eastern fusion menu from hummus and chicken shawarma and falafel pitas, to a turmeric fried chicken sandwiches and Szechuan corn ribs. The dishes had one thing in common, big flavours! I came onboard to help in the window, taking orders and getting to know our guests. I kept a long list of everyone’s names so I could get to know and remember them, I loved it. We continued in the food truck, working hard to grow recognition and building our customer base. When we felt confident, we started looking for a brick and mortar location. We finally found a good spot in The Landings strip mall and we opened there in November 2022. It was an amazing journey with a very steep learning curve. We originally opened as a kiosk ordering only restaurant, however we soon realized the neighborhood did not appreciate this concept and we flipped to full service after a only a few weeks. This was a huge change and suddenly we had to have all our steps of service and front of house procedures in place. We had many hiccups and a painful learning phase, however we did eventually get there and started to get a good following and solid reviews. We really focus on guest experience, I love hospitality and had a strong vision for how I wanted our service to be. After about 18 months, we got brave enough to consider another location and we set our sights on UTC. We also took on a new partner for this location, Chef Collin Blakeman, who is executive chef at Owens Fish Camp, Lakewood Ranch. He is an incredibly experienced professional who understands high volume and how to grow and maintain a busy restaurant. It was far enough away not to interfere with The Landings traffic, but close enough that the brand awareness benefitted the new location. We opened our second location in May 2025. This project was significantly bigger, with a long big bar, open all day everyday, seven days a week, with late night DJs on the weekends. We expanded our menu to include beautiful mixed grill platters and other dinner items. Our Landings location has now followed suit and has its own lunch and dinner menu. We serve liquor at both, but the Landings has a very petite bar.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was definitely a struggle to suddenly have to create steps of service and learn how to manage a front of house team. I had a strong understanding of the culture I wanted to build, but very little experience managing a team and implementing these steps. I really loved the process however, and enjoyed learning and growing. Another struggle would be managing both locations, making sure both did the other proud and maintaining the standard as we grew. I also did all of our marketing and branding, which was another learning curve for me, one that i really enjoyed but took a lot of watching youtube videos and reading!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are very focused on high level guest experience. Hospitality is really the heart of our restaurants and I like every guest to feel like a personal guest of ours. The food my husband, Chef Collin and Carl have created is delicious and unique, however we understand that how the guest feels is what is most important. Warmth, attention to detail, taking care of each other as a team and getting to know our guests are core principles of our culture. I’ve learnt that a happy team translates to happy guests and so we really try to take care of our people, front and back of house. We have a very eclectic aesthetic, with a mixture of vintage details, artwork and plants to create a warm atmosphere, and the design of our spaces is commented on a lot.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Anything is learnable if you put the time in.
Pricing:
- Mixed Grill For Two, $65
- Lamb Shank Tagine, $35
- Jerusalem Beef Pita, $16
- Masabacha Hummus, $13
- Signature Lavender Margarita , $17
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.florenceandthespiceboys.com
- Instagram: @florenceandthespiceboys
- Facebook: @florenceandthespiceboys
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@florenceandthespiceboys
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/florence-and-the-spice-boys-sarasota?osq=Florence+and+the+Spice+Boys
Image Credits
Jake Dunaway
