VERO BEACH — In a city filled with retirees and tourists, known for its leisure lifestyle, more people go out to eat more often than in most places, and restaurant owners from the Northeast and Miami compete with local entrepreneurs to launch the next dining hot spot.
“Vero Beach is a restaurateur’s dream because of the lifestyle here,” says Billy Moss, principal at Commercial Real Estate LLC. “There is tremendous interest in Vero.”
But first they have to find the spot.
Which is where Moss and newly founded Florida Restaurant Brokers come in.
“It is a new division of Commercial Real Estate that I am heading up,” says Moss. “We founded it to bring more high-end national chains to Vero and to help homegrown restaurateurs succeed.”
While Florida Restaurant Brokers just debuted, Moss, 65, has been overseeing the launch of new restaurants for decades as an owner, consultant and property broker.
The new division merely puts a frame around what he has been doing for years and brings more focus to Commercial Real Estate’s eatery expertise.
“I come from a five-generation restaurant family,” says Moss, who started his career in Chicago, where he owned a number of dining establishments.
In the 1990s, he was a consultant in Southern California and Las Vegas, living the good life in Santa Monica while helping faltering restaurants learn how to thrive and assisting expansion of successful eateries.
“It was a great time to be in the restaurant business out there,” he says. “I was single and Las Vegas was like the Woodstock of the hospitality industry with hotels and restaurants and clubs opening up everywhere.”
He came to Vero Beach in 2003 after meeting and marrying his wife Cinnamon to be near her family and raise their son, Sammy, in a safe, pleasant environment.
He uses his knowledge of restaurant dynamics to help those opening new businesses and those who have space to lease or sell suitable for a dining establishment.
When someone walks into his office on Beachland Boulevard and talks of starting a restaurant, Moss doesn’t just give them a list of available properties.
Instead, he does an in-depth interview to learn as much as he can about the client’s knowledge of the business and the viability of their plan to succeed in a notoriously tough industry.
“I talk a lot of people out of opening restaurants,” he says.
For those with a good idea and the finances to move ahead, Moss offers a suite of services. He can recommend not just likely properties to buy or lease, but a talented chef and quality contractors experienced in building out dining venues.
“Billy is the real deal,” says Jack Lupo, owner of Commercial Real Estate LLC. “He works very hard to qualify his clients and find out what they need to realize their dream. He stays with them throughout – before the deal and after the deal – and gives them the benefit of his technical expertise and contacts in the business. He is a wonderful person to work with.”
Moss can quickly match a client’s vision with a suitable property to contain it. He knows how big various types of restaurants need to be to succeed, how much parking they require and what kinds of floor plans and equipment are necessary.
“We require every leasing client to complete a business plan that we can present to the landlord and I get everyone together before a lease is signed to meet and talk things over.”
“Billy knows how to create agreement between buyer and seller or landlord and leasee,” says Croce Giambanco, proprietor of Nino’s Restaurants. “He knows exactly how to make a deal happen. I have worked with him many times and he is one of the most knowledgeable and professional real estate agents I have come in contact with in 35 years in the business. I am very glad he moved to this area.”
Moss showed his stuff last summer when he got a call from Nick Nico Jr., owner of Southern Comfort Grill, then located at 43rd and State Road 60.
“He told me there were some problems with parking and other things where he was and asked me if I knew of a better place. After hearing what he was looking for, I told him I knew a perfect place.”
Nico looked at the location in a plaza on the Miracle Mile and liked it.
The restaurant serves a moderately priced menu of American and southern dishes, and will offer breakfast all day.
“That was a quick one,” Moss says. “It wasn’t much more than 30 days from the time he called till we signed the lease.”
“Billy did a fantastic job helping us find the new location,” says Nico.
Moss provides similar services for landlords, including Ralph Sexton who has retained him to find a new operator for the former Patio Restaurant in downtown Vero.
Because of his background in the business and network of contacts, Moss is able to reach out to likely operators and prequalify those vying to run the venue.
“The Sextons are wonderful people to work with,” says Moss. “But they are very particular about who goes in there. They want someone who will be successful and maintain the legacy of their property.”
It is bad for a property when a restaurant goes into a location and then fails, so the Sextons and other owners look hard before agreeing to lease.
If a business fails, there may be lost rent and lawsuits, additional refitting expenses for the landlord and added hassles for everyone.
“If it is freestanding building, a restaurant failure creates a negative aura,” says Moss. That makes it less likely another restaurant will try the location or succeed if it does.
“Restaurants are good tenants because you can get higher lease rates than for retail,” Moss says. “They create excitement and attract customers to a strip mall or development. But you want someone who is going to do well.”
Moss is typically paid a lump sum percentage of the amount of the lease when it is signed, so he gets his money up front, but it’s still in his interest for a new restaurant to thrive.
A warm, enthusiastic person, he takes a personal interest in his clients and their success matters to him on that basis, but it is also important professionally.
Like a building, a broker gets a reputation of one type or another, depending on the success of the deals he puts together.
Moss has put many popular restaurants in Vero Beach in their present locations and that gives would-be restaurateurs and building owners confidence he is the go-to guy for successful restaurant leasing and sales. He also has another vested interest in new restaurants.
“I am trying to get more restaurants in Vero that I like to eat in,” he says, describing his dining style as healthy hedonism. “I would like to see a good wood-fired pizza restaurant, Asian fusion and seafood places.”
Sandwich shops like Quiznos that tried and failed in Vero in the past are looking to come back, along with grilled chicken and barbeque chains, according to Moss.
“Family restaurants like Red Robin are a good fit for Vero, too,” he says. Commercial Real Estate, LLC was founded by Jack Lupo, a commercial real estate broker and developer active in Florida since 1970.
The company, which opened in Vero Beach in 2010, has offices in Melbourne, Stuart and Boca Raton. Moss is training agents in those offices to provide his brand of consulting services to restaurant clients in their cities.