North Naples chef shares his special recipe: How to succeed in the restaurant business

Note to readers: The News-Press and Naples Daily News are providing special coverage of food and dining this week. We will have interesting and unique Southwest Florida food and dining stories published on our websites from Sunday, April 28 to Sunday, May 5. Today we learn about building a successful restaurant business from Shaaban "Shabo" Emara, owner of Shabo's Bistro in North Naples. Bon Appetit and Bottoms Up!

How does anyone define success?

For some, it’s about turning passion into profits.

This is one chef’s story on how to do just that.

In late 2023, Shaaban “Shabo” Emara opened Shabo’s Bistro at Pebblebrook Center in North Naples.

This isn’t his first rodeo with restaurant ownership, but it is his first in Naples.

Hailing from Cairo, his early post-culinary school career took him to hotel restaurants on Marco Island.

He swapped Florida coasts a few years back. His last restaurant was the popular Shabo’s BBQ, a Mediterranean-kosher grill that opened in 2014 in Hollywood, Florida, next to the Hard Rock Casino.

Josh Levy, that city’s mayor, told me via email we’re lucky to have him.

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It was also a critics' choice on “Check Please,” a program hosted by celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein on WPBT, South Florida’s PBS station.

While Shabo’s main objective of opening a successful restaurant in Naples remains the same, he’s shifted his strategy a bit to make it a hit.

Why Shabo for this story when there are more than 700 restaurants in Naples, according to hotels.com?

How many chefs do you know who hosted a cooking TV show straight out of culinary school?

I can only think of one.

His tips for success are edited excerpts from our chat.

Tip #1: Define your passion

My dad was a chef in Cairo who discouraged me from pursuing the culinary arts because of the hard work and long hours in a hot kitchen. But I followed in his footsteps because I love it. That passion grew into a dream of owning a restaurant.

Tip #2: Know your brand

Before deciding to open your business, you must create and define your brand. My brand is about healthy and gluten-free food. Food that appeals to kids and adults. Offerings for those with food allergies or following specific diets.

What product are you going to sell? 

Other things to consider are presentation, quality, and price. As a business owner, it’s challenging and necessary to research what’s missing in your location and build around that to create your brand.

I try to avoid touristy areas and focus on neighborhoods where residents live year-round. What will attract them?

In Hollywood, more than 85% of my customers were there for lunch daily, including the mayor, post-office workers, and employees at a nearby mortgage company.

Why? I provided what was missing from Hollywood’s restaurant scene. One regular was allergic to everything. Others couldn’t eat chicken, beef, or dairy, so I created a gluten-free/dairy-free vegan pasta. It’s become popular in Naples too.

Tip #3: Know your guests and potential guests

A business owner should understand the market around them because challenges always exist.

Marketing is priority number one. If you have the best business and no one knows about you, you will lose your brand. Marketing should account for 30% of your investment.

When taking over Gino’s Trattoria Per Tutti, that restaurant was 100% Italian.

During the early months, I kept several dishes from Gino’s menu, while transitioning to my Mediterranean menu one day at a time.

I know how to cook Italian food, but I wanted to introduce people to my cuisine. Basically, 80% of our menu right now is Mediterranean, but even though I don’t want to do Italian, about 20% of guests come in for Italian.

When I started my business here, my food, presentation, and pricing were comparable to those of Fifth Avenue and Mercato.

Spending more time with guests revealed that most people don’t want the prices found in touristy destinations. They also don’t want to drive, preferring to stay in the neighborhood.

I tinkered with recipes, dropping prices to match the neighborhood’s expectations and to stay competitive with the few other options nearby. We recently added a Sunday $30 prime rib special. Entrée prices range from $17 for ravioli to $55 for a mixed grill serving two people with lamb, chicken and shrimp, which includes couscous and asparagus side dishes.

Tip #4: Staff training is crucial

Staff training is necessary because these are the people who represent me to our customers when I am in the kitchen.

It’s critical that staff understand every type of food allergy.

They must know the concept thoroughly to explain it to first-time guests.

They must be knowledgeable about religious diets. We often have guests ask if we are a kosher or halal restaurant. The answer is yes, but we are not certified. Our bacon and pepperoni are beef, too. There is no pork in my restaurant.

They also have to know what’s possible in the kitchen.

Tip #5: Face-to-face engagement with guests

As a business owner, you must engage with your customers. Every night, I visit each table in the dining room to introduce myself as the owner and chef.

I always ask how everything is.

Listening to their feedback ‒ both good and bad – is essential.

For example, there’s a gentleman who lives nearby and initially visited twice a week during our first month.

During our first two weeks, staff mistakenly told him white sauce wasn’t an option, so he ordered other things and liked what he tried.

When stopping by his table, he told me pasta with red sauce gives him heartburn. He prefers white sauce.

I said white sauce is easy, and now he visits twice as often.

Good feedback ignites more passion and makes me work harder. Bad feedback is a learning experience, too, and forces me to correct my mistakes.

If we lose those customers, we won’t earn anything. We need to make our menus to match what the customers want time and time again.