Former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula and longtime Broward hotelier George Gill will open a sports-themed eatery along Fort Lauderdale’s oceanfront.
Don Shula’s All Star Cafe is scheduled to open in September at the Sheraton Yankee Trader, 321 N. Atlantic Blvd., one of the beach’s landmark hotels since the late 1960s.
The hotel, along with the nearby Sheraton Yankee Clipper, is operated by Gill Hotel Co., headed by founder George “Bob” Gill and his daughter, Linda. The family company has operated hotels in South Florida for almost 50 years.
Gill, 80, is providing the space, now occupied by a restaurant/coffee shop along the front side of the 463-room hotel, which faces the Atlantic Ocean.
Shula, 66, is providing the name recognition to attract customers to the restaurant and bar that will feature sports memorabilia and a video wall showing a series of sporting events.
“I just think this is a great spot to be,” said Shula, who resigned as the Dolphins’ coach in January after 43 years in the National Football League, during which he became the winningest coach in history with 347 victories.
This is his second namesake sports cafe. The first operates in Miami Lakes, where Shula’s name is attached to several ventures through his partnership with The Graham Cos., a family-owned business that planned and developed the Miami Lakes community and resort.
There’s Don Shula’s Hotel & Golf Club, and Shula’s Steak House, which has been ranked among the top 10 steakhouses in the country.
“I’ve been pretty successful with my attempts at the restaurant business. It’s a little different from football, but I let the restaurant people do their jobs and I’m the coach,” Shula said.
And that’s an important factor in ensuring a restaurant’s success, said Coral Gables analyst David Talty.
“What a famous name means is a lot of free publicity to get people in the door. But it doesn’t ensure success in the long run if you aren’t serving food that people want to eat,” said Talty, a former Burger King executive who now heads Restaurant Performance, an industry consulting company.
Don Shula’s All Sports Cafe will seat about 250 diners.
Gill and Shula were brought together by David Younts of the Graham Cos., who was looking for expansion sites for the cafe. The venture joins the ongoing renaissance since the city spent $26 million to improve the beach.
The sports cafe will join several new restaurants along the beach, including the East City Grill at the nearby Riviera Ocean Resort and a slew of new eateries at Beach Place, a 100,000-square-foot entertainment complex under construction south of the Yankee Trader.
