Serving fresh food in the genre of farm to fork, Florida State College at Jacksonville expects to open its Downtown café the first week of January.
“We are going to very much focus on local vendors, local ingredients, local flavors,” said FSCJ President Cynthia Bioteau.
There should be no fried or junk food, “and I’m standing by that,” Bioteau said. “This will be a health-focused menu on good food.”
Final details are undecided, but Downtown diners can expect breakfast and lunch service from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday on the ground floor at 20 W. Adams St., west of Main Street in the urban core. Weekend brunch is under evaluation.
The 4,500-square-foot restaurant should seat around 100 customers. A separate private dining area for up to 12 people will be available for small groups who need space for business, breakfast or lunch meetings.
FSCJ anticipates table service, while a pick-up-and-go station also will be available. Students will operate the restaurant, although other staff might be hired.
The venue can be rented in the evening for people who want to cater food by FSCJ’s Culinary Arts & Hospitality students or from outside vendors. Bioteau also anticipates monthly special ticketed upscale dining events by students.
She’s not sure yet about beer and wine service for evening events, but is aware of the interest in it. She said that would be a policy decision.
There’s no name yet, which Bioteau is opening up for donors.
The “Master Chef Endowment” is $1 million, followed by naming rights for the dining room at $500,000, the kitchen at $250,000, the testing room at $100,000 and other levels down to $1,500 as a tasting sponsor.
“We are in active fundraising mode,” Bioteau said.
Two FSCJ supporters, Jim Winston and Harry Frisch, already are helping, she said. Both are invited to name areas of the café.
She hopes to build-out the restaurant with donated funds. An architect’s rendering should be available within the month.
“I want a very organic experience,” Bioteau said. In addition to the food, she envisions a lot of light and no pretense.
The café is designed to break even and be self-sustaining.
The next decisions will coalesce from three sources: the FSCJ administration, the Culinary Arts chefs and students, and the consultant’s report from veteran restaurant owner Norman Abraham.
His report looked at restaurants and delis that serve fresh food and local produce, including Native Sun Natural Foods Market, Hovan Mediterranean Gourmet and his former venture, Two Doors Down, which closed in November as the property owner prepared to sell the site.
Abraham suggested various elements from those three — build-your-own salads, wraps and smoothies as well as the Two Doors Down hometown or Southern fare menu with daily specials — could be included. He also said takeout and a “grab-and-go” option would be popular.
He said Downtown workers and former customers asked for “farm to table” and healthy foods and did not want to duplicate the restaurants and sandwich shops that already operate there.
Abraham provided a detailed look at operating hours, staffing, projected sales volume, equipment, marketing, design and menus.
He especially recommends a Southern breakfast menu with eggs, grits, hash browns, pancakes, waffles and omelets, which Two Doors Down offered.
Abraham also sees a path to attract Two Doors Down customers. While the lack of assigned parking Downtown will discourage some former patrons, the location will be easy for others who can walk from their urban core offices. Those include City Hall employees and judges.
Bioteau said Tuesday she doesn’t know what Abraham’s further involvement might be. She said the college will advertise regionally for a full-time professional manager for the restaurant, “and we haven’t had that discussion with him.”
She wants someone onboard by December. The hiring process takes two to three months.
Abraham said he would “more than happy to sit down and talk with them.”
“I started it. I would like to see it to its completion and we can go from there,” he said.
The café coincides with another major move by FSCJ. The Culinary Arts students and classes are relocating from the North Campus to the Downtown Campus at 101 W. State St. and should be ready for the start of the fall term Aug. 24.
By renovating a welding lab, the college created new learning space, kitchens and a version of the former Mallard Room. That venue, which will be renamed, is an upscale teaching restaurant in which students and faculty prepare and serve meals to paying customers.
“That will be an ongoing piece of what they do here on our Downtown campus,” Bioteau said.
The six-story 20 W. Adams St. building is being renovated for student housing for FSCJ, with the ground-floor restaurant. The 60 rooms will comprise 58 for students and two for resident advisers. The restaurant might offer job opportunities to the resident students.
Still boarded up on the ground floor, the former Lerner Building has been vacant since the late 1980s. It opened in 1911 as the headquarters for the Southern Drug Co.
Bioteau wants FSCJ to be a part of Downtown revitalization in both housing and providing the restaurant.
Investor Eugene Profit owns the building. FSCJ intends to enter into a 10-year master lease after the building has been renovated.
According to the Downtown Investment Authority, the private capital investment to restore the building is anticipated to be $6.2 million. Through the DIA, the developer was approved for $600,000 from the Downtown Historic Preservation and Revitalization Trust Fund to restore the exterior of the building and some interior elements.
Another $600,000 is available for FSCJ in zero-interest loans up to $60,000 a year for 10 years to cover any shortfall between the school's revenues from student rentals and its financial obligations to the developer. If FSCJ reaches 90 percent occupancy before the start, it would create a revenue stream that could eliminate a shortfall.
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