Happy birthday, Anna Maria Oyster Bars… Volume 9

Wow, we were incredibly lucky in Manatee County and at all of the AMOBs…during last week’s storm…we still have several of our staff members without power at their homes and we’re doing all we can to help…sending food home, sending ice bags home…anything we could do to support.

All three of our stores on the mainland lost power…we had temporarily closed the Pier for AC and roof remodeling, so luckily, no product on the Pier to lose…power was out for several days so we threw away a lot of product at the O-Bars…we got generators in buildings after the storm passed so we saved some frozen items…but pretty much had to throw away and restock the shelves on all our perishable items…power was restored on a rotating basis, so we opened Ellenton on Tuesday, Cortez Wednesday and finally Landside on Thursday.

Many of our staff had relocated/evacuated (who can blame them) out of the area so we used staff from all four stores at other stores to get opened…what an awesome team we have…kudos to all of them for getting stores back open…getting them secured before and helping out in any way possible. So proud of all of our team…we have everyone back to work as of yesterday.

We’re hoping to have the Pier back open in about one week, with some surprises for you, also…the storm has pushed remodeling and roof work behind a little more than planned…but as I say…WE WERE VERY LUCKY AND FORTUNATE.

Is it coincidental that Turning Points of Manatee is our Charity of The Month for our year long celebration? With Irma visiting our area, it brings awareness of the needs of our community and of the homeless…where do they go to escape the storm…we’re very fortunate to have Turning Points in Bradenton…