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Florida Restaurants
Feeding Frenzy
A crop of fast-casual restaurants is finding fertile ground in Florida.
The Loop Pizza Grill
 IN THE LOOP: Terry Schneider and former husband Mike Schneider aim to open six more restaurants this year. |
Started: 1981
Annual Revenue: $35 million
In the early 1970s, after graduating from Florida State University, Jacksonville native Mike Schneider helped run a college pub in Tallahassee. When his father got sick in 1973, Schneider returned to Jacksonville to help run the family business, a "stereotypical blue-collar tavern" called Sam's Place. Schneider envisioned more of a college watering hole, so he and then-wife Terry changed the pub's name to Applejacks, replaced the country music with live rock 'n' roll and added pizza to the menu.
Within a few years, the Schneiders, along with a third partner, opened another Applejacks across town, but it lasted just four months and left the couple on the edge of bankruptcy. He and Terry decided to try another concept. In 1981, drawing on Terry's youth in Chicago, they opened a new restaurant named after Chicago's financial district. Still casual, but more upscale, The Loop concept was a hit. Today, the 25-year-old chain has 28 stores in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Alabama and Louisiana. Six more are scheduled to open this year, including in Tampa and Orlando.
Business Beat - Week of May 3rd
