St. Pete restaurants sharing staff as hurricane recovery continues

Restaurants join forces for hurricane recovery

FOX 13's Lloyd Sowers introduces us to a unique partnership that's putting people back to work.

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - Some St. Petersburg servers say they are lucky to be working as restaurant and hospitality workers in Pinellas County, which is struggling to recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Kelsey Clowe, a server at Madfish on St. Pete Beach, considers herself one of the lucky servers working in St. Pete Beach, as many of her server friends have not gotten their jobs back after the hurricanes.

Madfish restaurant in St. Pete Beach.

"They lost their house, their job, their car, all at the same time. I mean, it’s heartbreaking," Clowe said.

READ: Tourists should expect Pinellas County beaches to feel different this Thanksgiving after hurricanes

However, Madfish on St. Pete Beach has made two restaurants under one roof.

Madfish Owner Joshua Garcia helped come up with the idea.

"We’ve created another restaurant under the Madfish umbrella. We serve breakfast now," Garcia said.

Madfish is able to serve breakfast because it has begun sharing staff with a nearby breakfast restaurant, Frog Pond.

Frog Pond restaurant in St. Pete Beach.

Frog Pond was also damaged by the storms.

Before the hurricanes, Madfish didn't offer breakfast, but Owner Mark Tomlinson said he had the idea of combining the restaurants as they recovered from the storms.

"I said why don't we just do it here? We have the space," Tomlinson said.

WATCH: https://www.fox13news.com/video/1556691

Now, two staffs share one restaurant, employing twice as many people.

"It’s a great thought that we could help out people in the local community as well offer the locals somewhere to go," said Tomlinson.

The idea recently spread to take in the staff of Bongos, located just down the road from Madfish, as they also work to recover from the hurricanes.

Bongos restaurant in St. Pete Beach.

"It's actually working. You see, we have people trickling in right now," Garcia said.

With staff members from three restaurants, Madfish serves breakfast through dinner seven days a week and seeks to provide work to as many people as possible.

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