FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — The first sign of restoration is coming to Fort Myers Beach early next week. A restaurant is reopening!
The owners at the Bayfront Bistro want to give people a place of peace. Upstairs, it looks like a storm never even came through the building. Downstairs is another story. The storm surge took out the bar area, meaning things will definitely look different when they reopen on Monday.
“I think we’ll be part of the healing process for the beach,” General Manager Rebecca Henderson said. “I’m the general manager, I’m here day in and day out, all day. But the owners of the restaurant have been here side by side with me, hands in the dirt, shoveling out debris, I mean, it’s something you don’t see.”
They’re working to repaint, restock and rebuild. All the while thinking about what reopening means for their community.
“I think it’s symbolic about the beach getting back going again, and I do think there’s a lot of customers on the island that had been customers of ours that would like to come to our cabana bar downstairs, sit outside, talk about what’s happened, talk about where they are in the repair process,” co-owner Shawn Lemarie said.
Things will look a little different. They’re having to change their menu for a more casual atmosphere for now.
“We don’t know if we’re going to have 15 customers or 1500 customers,” Bob Rommel said, the other co-owner.
Nonetheless, whether it’s one or one hundred seats filled, the idea is to give homeowners and workers on the island a place to decompress.
“Getting back to some sort of normalcy,” Henderson said. “These people have dealt with devastation for over a month.”
The goal is to open the doors at 11 a.m. Monday morning after the town hall meeting.
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