The Salt7 Charters and Owner John Kostoglou Story
With all the crazy stories that happened with the Salt7 restaurants, the yacht fell through the cracks. Despite all the Fort Lauderdale landlord stories, there was a boat. And it would seem pretty obvious if you had a restaurant on the water with dock space and a charter yacht, that would be a great place to pick up passengers. The Salt7 Charters and owner John Kostoglou story is another interesting one.
As was mentioned in another blog post, John, his cousin George and Captain Geoff were partners in JHG. This was the company that put together the money to buy the boat.
With the promise of a waterfront dock, an award winning Hell’s Kitchen winner chef and some great marketing, the stage was set. Oh, and the cool video with the models.
As was mentioned in several blog posts from the Salt7 website, the landlord defaulted on his commitment for the dock space. But there was more.
Running the boat as a charter from another location in Fort Lauderdale became the plan. New customers were coming in. The yacht even took some fishing trips to Key West.
Unfortunately, the executive chef part became a logistical problem without access to the dock by the restaurant. This made the yacht not that much different than other charters in the area.
Although John wanted to try to keep it going the other partners saw an opportunity to sell the boat at a profit. They ultimately forced the sale.
Another unknown part was the marketing company who saw the huge potential in this and even the possibility of adding another boat. So, they agreed to work for a reduced rate for the longer-term plan for a larger deal. Here John’s two short-sided partners caused another casualty, the marketing company.
The moral of the story here is don’t judge a book by its cover, and the truth always seems to come out in time. As is the case here.