Joel and Giorgina Baker plan to parlay 20 years of restaurant experience into their own venture and open 4 Bones Barbecue by late November or December at Beach Boulevard and San Pablo Road.
The restaurant is planned at 14286 Beach Blvd., the center where The Church of Eleven22 opened in a former Walmart store.
Joel Baker said 4 Bones is named for the concept of selling ribs by the bone. “‘4 Bones’ because four rib bones are my idea of a perfect snack,” Baker said.
Baker said an estimated $150,000 will be invested in 4 Bones, which he described as a quick-service, fast-casual barbecue restaurant.
“4 Bones is an authentic Southern pit barbecue restaurant. We slow-cook our meats over hickory wood and serve them with homemade side items,” Baker said.
The Bakers have relocated from Georgia. Baker grew up in Macon and spent most of his career in Atlanta and recently in the Savannah area. The couple has moved to Jacksonville, “and are loving the city.”
Baker said he was with Carrabba’s Italian Grill for a decade, 1999-2009, starting as a server and working his way up to general manager, picking up experience along the way as a service manager and kitchen manager.
Baker said Giorgina Baker was an assistant kitchen manager and they met at work.
The past few years, Baker said he has been working at Olive Garden as a culinary assistant while taking business classes at night.
“Cooking on a pit has been a passion of mine since I was a teenager,” he said.
Baker said as he researched the business, he learned that a lot of restaurants are serving ribs by the bone rather than a rack or a half-rack.
“I was reading one menu and they had a four-bone snack and I said that just rolls off your tongue and it exemplifies what we are going to do. It sounds authentic for me,” he said.
The menu will feature ribs, pork, beef brisket, chicken and more, including side items such as macaroni and cheese, potato salad, baked beans and others. Baker also plans to offer banana pudding.
“We may not have the biggest menu to start with, but everything we have will be as good as we can possibly do it,” he said.
The restaurant will start with a small staff, probably three or four, including the Bakers, a mother-in-law and possibly other family members.
Baker said he began with a barbecue smoker as a teenager and became the cook at family dinners.
He worked in the Atlanta area and had visited Northeast Florida. He said he knew it was a growing area and Giorgina’s requirement was that the locale be near the beach.
“I really believe the whole Jacksonville area is just really coming out of the slump,” he said. The Beaches display “a lot of hustle and bustle,” he said.
“I feel we are hitting it at the right time,” he said.
Baker said the restaurant is a family investment, “an all-in deal.”
“We are committed to making a go of it,” he said.
The restaurant will be open six days a week, starting with lunch only and expanding from there.
He envisions a schedule of 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and then adding dinner from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., while operating a full day Friday-Saturday. Sunday hours would be 11 a.m.-4 p.m. to offer “a good lunch service to accommodate our new neighbors down the block.”
Expansion is possible later. “Our commitment right now is to run this one restaurant as well as we can,” Baker said.
The restaurant is not to be confused with the 4 Rivers Smokehouse planned in the Baymeadows area. Jacksonville native John Rivers, who operates three 4 Rivers Smokehouse restaurants in the Orlando area, plans to open his first Jacksonville restaurant in the spring.
Manufacturers to explore strategies
The First Coast Manufacturers Association plans a half-day forum Monday at the University of North Florida University Center to discuss financial, economic and strategic issues facing the manufacturing industry. Topics include capitalizing on change; energy; the European debt crisis; the U.S. economy; and “quick-hit references and resources” to address the U.S. “fiscal cliff,” insurance and capital sources. Speakers include representatives from large and small manufacturers, the energy sector, financing specialists and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Jacksonville Branch. The summit is scheduled from 7:30 a.m.-noon at $99 for association members and $199 for the public. For information, visit fcmaweb.com.
New leadership takes over Greene-Hazel
C.F. “Chip” Greene III bought Jacksonville-based Greene-Hazel & Associates, a regional independent insurance broker, from co-founders Theresa Greene Hazel and the late Thomas Hazel. The founders grew the agency from a startup in 1984 to an organization with more than 40 employees and $80 million in written premiums.
Chip Greene previously served as vice president. Before joining the company in 2004, he was an underwriter at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. in Alpharetta, Ga.
As president and CEO, Chip Greene will lead the organization. He announced its new name, Greene Hazel Insurance Group, and the formation of a new management team.
Theresa Greene Hazel has agreed to serve as the company’s chief financial officer and a member of the senior management team. Other members of the Greene-Hazel management team are Bob Livingston, Brad Bush, Rich Brew and Ilyse Vaughan.
Heritage Capital assists transactions
Jacksonville-based Heritage Capital Group announced two transactions. It represented Oscar G. Carlstedt Co., a wholesale floral supplier, in the sale of its operating assets to Carlstedt’s LLC of Jacksonville in a management buyout. It also represented Burlington Manufacturing Services, a North Carolina textile manufacturer, in its recapitalization and acquisition financing to buy Bentex Mills, a weaver of high-end custom textiles for the medical and hospitality markets.
A brewing deal
From the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church bulletin under “some funnies” in the Sept. 23 pastor’s column:
A salesman from Budweiser went to the Vatican for an audience with the pope. “Holy Father, I’m prepared to give you $10 million to change the words of the Lord’s Prayer to ‘give us this day our daily beer.’” The pope refused. “OK, $50 million.” The pope refused again. The salesman said, “OK, here’s my card, call me if you change your mind.” When the salesman left, the pope placed a call and said, “Monsignor - it’s me. Tell me, when does our contract with General Mills expire?”
@MathisKb
356-2466