UPDATE: This blog has been updated with the latest information. Thanks to Alexandra Clough for helping provide more info.
Restaurant partners Bill Watson, Lisa Bet Summa, and Todd Herbst of Big Time Restaurant Group pose inside Reef Road. Big Time has now pulled out of its venture in that restaurant. Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post
Nightclub owner Cleve Mash has taken control at his restaurant venture Reef Road Restaurant & Rum Bar, the beachy West Palm Beach eatery formed last year as a collaboration of leading restaurant and nightclub owners on Clematis Street.
Mash said his partners — Rocco Mangel and Big Time Restaurant Group’s Todd Herbst and Bill Watson — left to focus on their own restaurants and following a difference of opinion about the restaurant’s direction.
Reef Road opened to busy sales, but soon “slowed down as the newness wore off,” Mash said.
Mash said he suggested adding live entertainment to change up the restaurant’s atmosphere, but that his partners “are more restaurant guys, and they’re not focused on live music.” So he said he offered to buy them out of their shares.
All three players say the split was amicable.
“There’s no bad blood,” Mangel said. “We still help each other.”
“We built a beautiful restaurant, and we obviously love Clematis Street,” Herbst said. “The existing chef and management is all still there. It’s still a unique concept.”
About two weeks ago, Mash introduced reggae music to Reef Road on Monday and Friday, live music on Thursday and Saturday and karaoke on Tuesday. Mash said sales are up more than 30 percent thanks to the introduction of the live music. He added that lunch, which went on hiatus during the split last month, will be coming back soon, too.
Melissa Wohlust, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority , said she’s happy the business decision was amicable, as all parties “have been tremendous visionaries in our downtown.”
Mash said the live music completes what he calls Clematis Street Live, the block at the northeast corner of Olive Avenue and Clematis Street.
In addition to Reef Road, Mash is an owner of Dr. Feelgood’s, Monarchy and Lost Weekend clubs.
Rocco Mangel co-owns Rocco’s Tacos in West Palm Beach and Boca Raton with Big Time Restaurant Group. Big Time also operates Grease Burger Bar in West Palm Beach and City Oyster in Delray Beach.
What do you think of Reef Road & Rum Bar? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.