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Dempsey Asked To Give Up Control Of Heritage Isles Eatery

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LAURA KINSLER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 6, 2008

HERITAGE ISLES - The beleaguered golf course community has asked its management team from Saddlebrook Resort to give up control of Heritage Isles' money-losing restaurant.

A year after Dempsey Resort Management Inc. reworked the menu and improved the food, the restaurant is losing more money than ever. DRMI closed the restaurant this month and is serving food and drinks from an outdoor tiki bar next to the community's pool through the summer.

The community development district supervisors brought in a consultant from the National Golf Foundation to analyze why three different management teams haven't been able to bring the restaurant out of the red. Consultant Richard Singer said that with the current setup, the restaurant probably would never break even.

Singer recommended leasing out the restaurant space to a restaurant or sports bar that could build the business by appealing more to golfers.

CDD leaders paid $28,000 for the report and will use it to try to renegotiate its debt service arrangement with bondholders. The golf course and clubhouse were built using tax-free bonds, but the district will not be able to make its bond payment this fall and will go into default unless the bondholders agree to restructure the debt.

Board supervisors grew exasperated with Singer's report, which praised DRMI's efforts with the restaurant but also said the service was poor and inconsistent.

"How can they say DRMI is doing a good job when we're worse off than we were when we hired them?" Supervisor Dan Barravecchio asked. He said one of the reasons the district chose the Saddlebrook management company over the other bidders was its promise to build the banquet business and send golfers to Heritage Isles.

But the report pointed out that the referral business has not materialized, partly because the DRMI staff felt that Heritage Isles facilities didn't live up to Saddlebrook's reputation.

"One of the pros for this contract was that we would get overflow banquet biz from Saddlebrook," Barravecchio said. "That's not happening."

Even Supervisor Sherry Parrish — an early supporter of DRMI — appeared to have reached her limit. "We hired them to run a restaurant, not work out of a screened-in porch," she said.

Board supervisors dismissed several of Singer's recommendations, such as removing the community's front gates and changing the name to eliminate "Country Club" from the entry sign. They also balked at his proposal to fill in as many as half of the sand bunkers to make the golf course easier.

"This is not too difficult a course," CDD Chairman Bill Martello said. "For $28,000, he should have said, 'I have no recommendations whatsoever; you're going to fail at all costs.'"

DRMI just completed the first year of the three-year contract.

"DRMI insisted on a three-year contract because we knew that it would take more than a year to turn around the restaurant and establish its reputation for quality food and service," General Manager Greg Reihle wrote in an e-mail. He also pointed out that Heritage Isles allocates some golf and recreational costs to the restaurant, which makes it even more difficult to offset the losses.

However, Reihle said that if Heritage Isles can find someone to lease the restaurant, DRMI would "work with the District to allow for a smooth transition."

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 865-4844 or lkinsler@tampatrib.com.

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