Our Impact

Community Initiative Partners

We invest in our community and care about our environment. Our corporate values include sustainability and eco-consciousness and we strive for that every day by having a parking lot water management system, sea turtle-friendly lighting, beach friendly native landscaping, composting, growing our own vegetables, recycling oyster shells, and supporting skip the straw campaign. We are proud to work with the following initiatives:

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  World Central Kitchen

  Chef Jose Andres, Chief Feeding Officer and his wife Patricia founded World Central Kitchen in 2010 after a devastating earthquake hit Haiti. “Everyone knows that food is central to life and family all over the world. What we learned very quickly was that food is even more essential in a crisis.” WCK is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. We are proud to donate to their cause, helping to build resilient food systems with locally led solutions.

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  Gulf Coast Oyster Recycling and Renewal Program (GCORR)

  The Gulf Coast Oyster Recy­cling and Renewal Program was started in 2017 with help from Robert Baugh, our COO at the Chiles Hospitality, whose experience with Charleston area oyster restoration efforts helped guide the blueprint of the initiative. Oysters play such an essential role in our lo­cal ecosystem, with the organization deeming them “environmental engineers” for provid­ing habitats to other sea life, reef structures that aid in shoreline erosion, and ultimately reducing unwanted nutrients from entering waterways. What started as a small program with just the Sandbar, Mar Vista, and the Beach House soon grew into a network of 11 restaurants in the Bradenton area coming together to recycle shells from their establishments to be used to form new oyster reefs.

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  All Clams on Deck

  As part of the Gulf Shellfish Institute, we are avid supporters of their All Clams on Deck initiative. Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, and Charlotte Harbor are currently at risk of rapid declines in seagrass and wild clam populations. Restoring clam populations and seagrass meadows will result in improved water quality and healthier habitats for commercial and recreational fisheries – and people, too! The health of these habitats is critical not only for the ecosystem services they provide, but for the economic impact that results from Florida’s tourism.

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  Pine Ave Restoration

  Pine Avenue Restoration is an idea born out of a desire to preserve the original vision for a Pine Avenue promenade and to protect the critical and extremely limited “historic boutique business district,” which runs the length of the street and, practically speaking, is the only remaining area on the entire island (and perhaps the entire gulf coast) where such a project is possible.

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  MOTE Marine Laboratory

  Chiles Hospitality worked with fishermen based in Cortez, Florida, to procure and donate 600 pounds of frozen mullet to Mote scientists. Ed Chiles stated, “We are excited to be able to provide support for the second phase of the mullet feed trials, following the launch made possible through the funds provided by Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s X-prize-style competition.” Chiles continued, “Grey Striped Mullet built the village of Cortez, one of the oldest continual fishing villages in the state of Florida. While the roe from southwest Florida’s Sandy Bottom Grey Striped Mullet is prized internationally , the remaining byproduct, knowns as shuck, is often underutilized.”

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Community Initiative News

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  Save Our Shores Long Table Dinner Raises Money for Mote's Red Tide Research

  Mote Marine Laboratory is grateful to acknowledge the recent receipt of funds for red tide research from area restaurants and supporters. On September 25, Mote President & CEO, Dr. Michael P. Crosby, accepted a check from the Save Our Shores Long Table event alongside local restaurant owners. The $25,000 in proceeds from the event were split between Mote and START (Solution to Avoid Red Tide).
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  Mote Study Aims To Add Value To Southwest Florida Mullet Fishery

  In southwest Florida, cured mullet roe called bottarga fetches higher prices than the fish producing it, and sometimes unused fish are left after bottarga is sold. Now, Mote Marine Laboratory scientists are investigating how to turn excess mullet into food for fish farms, to benefit mullet fishermen along with the fish farming, or aquaculture, industry.
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  Bivalve re-CLAM-ation Fights Florida Red Tide in Tampa Bay

  Cleansing the waters of the Gulf of Mexico’s Tampa Bay using northern quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria) clams to combat Florida Red Tide might seem a little “out there”, but “out there” has been the trademark of the founder of a sustainable restaurant group on a seven-mile Florida island situated off the coast of Manatee County.