By Christopher Manson
It’s the last Tuesday in August, and Tailfins Waterfront Grill owner Johnny Fuller is “working his life away, as usual.” The Destin Harbor restaurant suffered extensive damage in a fire earlier this year, and months of rebuilding with Fuller and his loyal management staff followed.
All three levels have re-opened, thanks largely to the efforts of Cadenhead Construction. “We had to work 24-7 to get it back open,” says Fuller. “They did a great job. They [rebuilt] it exactly the way it was.” Fuller laughs when he thinks about the “many millions” in revenue he and the Tailfins family missed out on this past summer, but concedes that the ordeal has been “tough.”
After the fire, Fuller found jobs for many of his displaced employees and kept most of the management team on hand. Now, he estimates that 90 percent of the Tailfins staff has returned. “Everyone that came back, they came back with smiles on their faces,” he says. He also expresses love and gratitude for wife Mary Beth and 12-year-old son Jude for “doing without me for four months. They understood my working from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.”
While the new restaurant closely resembles the Tailfins of 10 years ago, the entire kitchen has been remodeled, and the TVs – 85 in all – are fully upgraded. New menu items include lobster rolls (“You can’t beat ‘em,” Fuller says) and the best-selling Tailfin Stack, a grouper and lobster entrée.
Patrons can enjoy live music on the dock seven nights a week, with Snowbird favorite Rusty Hammerstrom and a new trio called The Aces. “They’re awesome,” Fuller says of the latter. “They bring in a good crowd on Thursdays.”
Breakfast is served from 8 to 11 a.m. daily. “We do more business with that than we ever did on late nights,” says Fuller. At Tailfins 2.0, last call for food and drink is 10 p.m.
Fuller has inspired a lot of loyalty among his employees. Chef Will Jeffries has been around for 35 years – long before Fuller opened Tailfins – and prep chef Thy Dang and general manager Luke Mitchell have been a crucial part of the team for a decade.
“I find good people and let them do their thing,” Fuller says. “I’ve been in this business for 45 years, and you always want to surround yourself with people who are better than you are. That’s my secret.”
Well, not anymore.
Tailfins Waterfront Grill, located at 172 Harbor Boulevard in Destin, is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. for breakfast, lunch and dinner. To learn more, call 850.650.1200 or visit tailfinsdestin.com.
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