Seafood restaurant headed to old Tommy Bahama spot on St. Armands

A seafood restaurant with 10 locations around the Gulf Coast is coming soon to St. Armands Circle. Pinchers signed a lease for more than 8,000 square feet at 300 John Ringling Blvd. in Sarasota, where it plans to begin serving customers this fall.

“We are shooting to be open in October,” Kevin Rooney, vice president of marketing and advertising for Phelan Family Brands, tells the Business Observer.

Specializing in seafood like crab and shrimp, Pinchers is among more than a dozen concepts within the Phelan Family Brands portfolio. The company was established in 1997 with the debut of Pinchers Crab Shack in Bonita Springs and has expanded over the years to include other concepts like Deep Lagoon and Texas Tony’s Rib & Brewhouse. With the new Pinchers, Rooney says, Phelan Family Brands will have 27 restaurants on the Gulf Coast.

The St. Armands restaurant will have in the “neighborhood” of 75 to 100 employees, according to Rooney, with around 200 seats.

For its flagship concept Pinchers, the company “looks for great locations that are by the water,” Rooney says. While St. Armands is not directly on the water, it is near Lido Beach. The atmosphere will be “relaxed” and “always family-friendly,” Rooney says, noting many customers will likely wear flip-flops.

Until late 2024, the location at 300 John Ringling Blvd. was the home of Tommy Bahama, which relocated to 465 John Ringling Blvd. in the former Shore restaurant spot after the hurricanes.

"I can't speak on behalf of the owners," Rooney says, but in the event of hurricanes at Phelan Family Brands restaurants on the Gulf Coast, "we have plans in place" and teams to support them. "What you try to do is set your restaurant up for success with how you lay it out from the get-go. Prior planning permits peak performance — that is a mantra that we certainly live by each day."

Plans for the restaurant at 300 John Ringling Blvd. call for it to occupy both floors, Rooney says, with a “very small portion” set aside for retail like Pinchers shirts.

“It’s going to look and feel like any other Pinchers that we have,” Rooney adds, with decor like posters showing the Gulf waters and fishing as well as crabbing paraphernalia. 

“Our founder, Tony Phelan, is incredibly active with what the restaurant looks and feels like,” Rooney says. “He’s been actively procuring, assembling and gathering all of the art that’s going on the walls.”

Plans include potentially expanding one of the two bars so they are the same size on both levels.

Pinchers has 10 restaurants along the Gulf Coast, from Naples to Wesley Chapel. The closest to St. Armands are in Lakewood Ranch and Venice, about 14 and 20 miles away, respectively.

“We’re excited to open another Pinchers,” Rooney says. “Our entire team is super excited.”

Alison Horbach of Ripco Real Estate represented the property owners in what she tells the Business Observer is a "long-term lease." Several LLCs based in Michigan are the owners of 300 John Ringling Blvd, after purchasing it for $8 million in 2022, according to Sarasota County property records. 

"It is more than just another lease signed," Horbach wrote on LinkedIn this spring. "It's a sign of new beginnings ... It's a sign of success to both the ownership entity and the expanding restaurant that will soon open its doors. It's a sign that rebuilding is possible even when the odds are stacked against you. It's a sign that where faith and purpose live, results will follow."