The Untold Truth Of Bonefish Grill

This could have been the story of a restaurant called the Big Eyed Tuna. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the co-founders of Bonefish Grill, Chris Parker and Tim Curci, considered that name for their new approach to seafood restaurants. It was the late 1990s, and restaurants that specialized in seafood were usually decked out in nautical décor like fishing nets. Parker and Curci's idea, however, was for a place that was "polished casual" a phrase that they would copyright. Of course, it's always a calculated risk when someone goes against the trends, especially in the food industry, but in January 2000, Parker and Curci rolled the dice and opened their first Bonefish Grill in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Now, in case you're wondering, there is an animal known as the bonefish, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Granted, the name Bonefish Grill is more likely connected to the restaurant's fish skeleton logo, than the marine fish, but the bonefish is "admired by anglers" or people who fish with a hook and line. And funny enough, anglers are exactly who you'll meet at Bonefish Grill ... but not the kind you might expect.

Rather than catching fish, these white coat-clad servers who are called anglers provide guests with information like how a dish is prepared and where the fish is sourced, according to Bonefish Grill. It's a proactive, attention to detail approach to dining, which has helped Bonefish expand into a chain, win accolades, and endure some financial blows.

Although he was born in South Carolina and lived in Utah (according to Legacy) Bonefish's cofounder Chris Parker eventually moved to and found great success in Florida. There, he and his business partner Tim Curci opened their first Bonefish Grill, as reported in the Tampa Bay Times. Roughly four years after the opening, Parker died in a boating accident at age 37 in 2004.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Parker's speedboat was going more than 100 miles per hour when it was passing another boat and hit a wave. The combination of factors caused Parker's boat to flip. Rescue divers were unable to find Parker at the time of the accident, and it wasn't until eight days later that a couple of men found his body not far from the St. Petersburg Pier. Parker, who was identified via his fingerprints, sustained pelvic injuries, a broken arm, fractures to his skull, and a laceration on the forehead. The autopsy also found that Parker's blood-alcohol level was 0.07 at the time of the accident. In the state of Florida, the point at which a person is legally considered impaired is 0.08.

As Legacy notes, Parker was part of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, as well as involved in charity work. His obituary requested anyone wishing to send flowers instead make donations to the American Cancer Society and specifically for Lung Cancer Research.

Of course, success like the kind Bonefish Grill has enjoyed doesn't happen by accident. As its website explains, there are certain things that happen on a daily basis to help the restaurant achieve certain culinary results. But one key component that's easy to overlook is it only uses oakwood in its grills. In fact, the different restaurants' grills get a fresh supply of oakwood each morning. This is because the smoke from oakwood can add flavor to foods like fish that's complementary rather than overly intense, according to recipetips.com.

Besides loading up the grills with fresh oakwood every day, another rule on Bonefish's website is fish must be hand-cut in-house every day. Seasoning is also a bit of an exact science at Bonefish. The company's website explains it as "simple as possible, but no simpler." In other words, Bonefish strives to hit that sweet spot between seasoning foods to the point that their natural flavors aren't overpowered and not seasoning them enough, so they taste bland. Additionally, the brand doesn't want how restaurants prepare foods to negatively change their texture. For this reason, Bonefish tests its recipes.

In addition to hand-cutting fish on-site, the Bonefish website explains that items like sauces, signature dressings, and soups are all crafted in-house. The same goes for desserts, which are created the same day they are served.

Despite efforts to scale back its menu and draw in more millennials (according to the Tampa Bay Times), Bonefish Grill faced more difficulties. As reported in the Tampa Bay Times, sales continued to fall for the fourth quarter of 2015 by 5.4%. So, in the following year, Bloomin' Brands decided to close 14 Bonefish Grill locations.

Beyond members of generation X, as well as millennials, preferring, for example, locally-owned restaurants to chains, Darren Tristano, president of the food research firm Technomic, told the Tampa Bay Times that, "It doesn't help that Bonefish is a seafood restaurant, which has its ups and downs and isn't as broadly appealing as steaks or Italian." And while Malcolm Knapp, a restaurant economist in New York City, explained that "Bonefish is in a good spot where they can appeal to a higher demographic because the food quality is good" he also said, "With the shrinking size of the middle class, restaurants are seeing less frequency from consumers, who have a lot more choices." So, while fast food places continue to flourish, higher price point dining struggles.

Despite Bonefish's sales being down and 14 locations slated to close, Knapp told the Tampa Bay Times that "... it's not unusual for large chains to do some pruning like this periodically." In addition, Bonefish not only reduced its menu options, but also revamped the restaurants' interiors.

Bonefish's cofounder, Chris Parker, was involved in charity work to help make a difference in his community, according to Legacy. So, perhaps it's fitting that in 2018, Bonefish partnered with the nonprofit The Nature Conservancy to help the coral reefs, according to Bloomin' Brands.

Although most of us focus on animals like sharks or whales when we think of marine life, our oceans are also the home of coral reefs, which as Bloomin' Brands explains, not only provide shelter for a quarter of all oceanic species, but also benefit humans directly in a number of ways. For example, during storms, coral reefs help to reduce the energy in breaking waves, making them less dangerous. They're also used in medications and can provide a livelihood for 500 million people. However, factors like overfishing and higher temperatures have caused as much as an 80% decrease in the coral reefs in areas of the Caribbean and Florida. So, Bonefish is supporting The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Million Corals Initiative with the goal of restoring the millionth coral by 2025.

In addition to helping fund coral nurseries in Florida and The Caribbean, The Conservancy says Bonefish will also assist in spreading the word about the importance of the coral reefs, as well as encouraging others to get involved. And according to Bloomin' Brands, Bonefish created a special Coral Reef Punch as a way to let its customers know about The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Million Corals Initiative.

For Bonefish Grill, 2019 was a year of accolades. Yes, it made TripAdvisor's Top Restaurant Chains in America for 2019 list. But the chain also won the 2019 MenuMasters Award for Best Menu/Line Extension, according to Bloomin' Brands. These awards, which according to the MenuMasters website, were established in 1997 by Ventura Foods and Nation's Restaurant News, are given out annually to "menu R&D leaders" in the foodservice industry.

Now to be fair, this isn't the first time Bonefish has won a MenuMasters award. The MenuMasters website has lists of previous winners, including Bonefish winning in 2015 for Best Menu Revamp. This would have coincided with their plans to reduce their menu, as reported by Tampa Bay Times. But in 2019, the chain was honored not for removing items but incorporating new ones with classic favorites on its brunch menu, according to Bloomin Brands. Additions to the brunch menu included Seafood Johnny Cakes + Eggs, Saucy Shrimp + Grits, Crab Cake Rancheros, and the Triple-Decker "BLT" Club, which broke the rules by being a combination of bacon, lettuce, tomato, and either Ahi Tuna or lobster.

Besides new items, the Bonefish's brunch menu also featured classic favorites like the Oscar Omelet, Bang Bang Shrimp Eggs Benedict, the Half-Pound Wagyu Beef & Egg Burger, and Crème Brûlée French Toast, according to Bloomin' Brands. In addition, the menu included beverages like Blackberry Sangria, mimosas, the Cucumber Spa Spritz, and Bloody Marys.