Meet retired New York City firefighter Michael Toussaint, who opened Fresh-Mex & Co. Urban Grill & Cantina on Aug. 1 at the former Corner Bakery Café in Southpoint with his wife, Amanda. He served as a firefighter for 22 years, retiring in 2013. Toussaint was there but doesn’t like to discuss 9/11. After moving to St. Augustine two years ago, the couple decided to open the fast-casual restaurant.
Amanda and I recognized the need for a Mexican concept in the area where we were as well as a need for an upscale fast-casual restaurant with a bar that is not your basic Mexican restaurant that serves refried beans and yellow rice. I say it’s kind of like M Shack, but for Mexican food. I’ve always worked in food service. Like everyone, they think they can do it better. So far, I feel like I am. It’s getting easier every day. A good location popped up. I thought it was a good opportunity.
It’s been a process. We’re getting busier every day and working through all the kinks, but most of the customers are satisfied. We can’t make everyone happy but we’re doing our best to make sure that if there’s a problem we try to fix it before it becomes a bigger problem. It’s growing. I’m trying to grow my happy hour business. We’re going to add some televisions and get ready for football season because the restaurant opens up to the patio.
We opened quietly. We want to make sure we get it right and make people happy because bad word-of-mouth spreads twice as quickly as good word-of-mouth, unfortunately, in the restaurant business. We do have some regulars. We’re trying to develop more on the weekends. We have a lot of people I see two or three times a week. They come back with people and we try to get them the best food and service as possible.
We have young children. I have a 2-year-old, a 5-year-old and a 13-year-old. Coming from New York, we were looking for a better quality of life for the money. My wife is my partner. She does everything with me. She does a lot from home, but when she’s here, she does everything I do. For fun, I sleep. I play golf but not for the last three months.
I was off that day (9/11). I was assigned to uptown Manhattan. My company lost everyone that was working that day. They recalled everybody that was off. They started their searches. I really don’t like to speak too much about my experiences about 9/11. It was a terrible time and I lost many friends and the department was devastated.