Jersey Shore Magazine
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/141619
or five boats, various frolicking dogs, and three waving American flags on poles dug into the sand. As fishing boats come and go, it's a rich visual heritage that greets guests daily. With an employee base that swells from thirty in the winter to three hundred in the summer, "it's an intense business in the summer," admits Cooper. Additionally, large wharfside restaurants carry incredible operation costs, not to mention the insurance requirements. However, insurance is what saw Chefs International through the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy this past fall. "It was overwhelming," says Cooper. "The patio bar at the Wharfside (ironically, once named "The Hurricane") was completely underwater. At the Lobster Shanty it was really bad. The waves were pounding against the bulkhead. It eventually pushed the floor up and the river rushed in. There was three Mr. Manatee's in Vero Beach, Florida. s h o r e • s p r i n g 2 0 1 3 Plus, as members of the commuFlorida locations taking a major hit nity themselves, Cooper and his colback in 2004. Also, the financial leagues knew it wasn't just a business losses encountered at waterfront crisis. "So many people lost so much restaurants could be slightly offset more. We wondered how our employby inland resees were doing…and our customers." taurants that With summer just around the corner, remained operaChefs International is ready to face tional. Finally, it head on with all its restaurants the company up, fully operational, and ready for called on its own the lobster-starved crowds. In fact, employees who Cooper isn't worried about continufound theming to operate waterfront locations. selves out of As he looks out at the Manasquan work due to the Inlet and the gulls flying overhead, storm. "We said, he says, "People are going to still 'Anyone that want this." He adds, "We need these wants to work beaches, these boardwalks…everyone will get paid,'" is dependent on each other. We're says Cooper. a community and tourism is the About fifty economic driver. No one in Point employees from Pleasant doesn't at least know somevarious aspects one employed by the industry. The of the business showed up and got to work cleaning out the Lobster Shanty. fiber of the community is still here. The area is going to rebuild. It's what Cooper says you couldn't have asked the Jersey Shore is." ◆ for a better team building exercise. Co-workers got to see each other in another light and doing different tasks. "The storm definitely had a large financial impact…but things like this are what pulls a company together," comments Lobster Shanty in Vero Beach, Florida. Cooper. j e r s e y feet of water in the kitchen of the Lobster Shanty." Though the rest of the Lobster Shanty was essentially gutted and would take months of extensive rebuilding, Chefs was able to get the Sunset Ballroom gutted in just ten days and fully rebuilt and operational with just a six-week turnaround—to the relief of many brides. The Wharfside recovered even faster. A generator was brought in before power was restored, and it opened for business just a week after the storm. Fortunately, Chefs had experience with hurricane rebuilding due to its Lobster Shanty in Cocoa Beach, Florida. 41