Seth

Name:
Seth

In what part of town do you live?
We live in Boca Raton.

How long have you lived in the area?
I grew up in Boca Raton and I moved back in 2010.

Where were you living in between?
I was in Tallahassee, Florida, for college and business.

What type of business did you have in Tallahassee?
I was the owner of a live music venue called the Beta Bar, a real rock and roll roadhouse joint. We had local, regional, and national acts. Anyone from Modest Mouse to George Clinton P-Funk to the Whalers, and G-love.

How did you get into the entertainment business?
I was a drummer in a bunch of bands in Tallahassee and I knew the guy that ran the club and he said the owners were looking to get out and he was looking for a buyer. I scraped some money together and we made it happen.

How did you learn how to run a venue?
On the fly trial and error. Before Beta Bar, I used to book bands at Florida State for the student campus entertainment organization.

Is there a memory that stands out from your days at Beta Bar?
At a Dropkick Murphys show, one of our regulars, who was big in the local scene, got married to his high school sweetheart right before the band started playing. Right after they said I do, they both stage dove into the crowd.

What was the bar called before you bought it?
It was the Cow Haus.

What are you doing now?
Now, I’m the managing director and co-founder of a medical marketing agency. We do hyper-targeted data-driven marketing campaigns for medical practices and healthcare organizations.

What is similar between running a club and doing what you do now?
Passion. You’ve gotta be passionate about music and the experience. In marketing, you have to be passionate about the return on investment and providing service for our clients.

How has Boca changed from growing up to living there as an adult?
I never really liked Boca growing up. It was where my parents had me, so I didn’t really have much of a choice. I never thought that I would be living back here, let alone have a beautiful house and a beautiful wife and a really happy life here. Boca still skews to an older demographic, but there’s pockets of authentic fun to be had.

Where have you found authentic fun?
There’s a lot of quaint parks. Obviously the restaurants, in pre-covid terms, are fantastic. And, one of our favorite places is our backyard.

Why is that?
We have a gorgeous pool and a beautiful layout that our dogs can hang out with us and maybe get in if they feel so inclined. Also, we have a large collection of old close friends in very close walking distance. So it’s our own little community. We run this hood.

How did you meet Kate?
Great story. Great question. I was at a bachelor party for a very close friend of mine in Fort Myers, Florida. Kate lived in Indianapolis and was in Fort Myers on an annual girls trip weekend. I was standing outside of the bar and I looked in and I saw this girl and did a double take. Her hair and makeup were done. She was beautiful and had all her teeth. She didn’t look like a local from Fort Myers Beach. I went up to her and believe I said some charming and witty things. We saw each other again that weekend. And on my drive home, I called her and her girlfriend made her answer the phone. A couple of weeks later she came down to visit and she moved down here a little over a year later. It was Beshert (meant to be).

Last weekend you drove down from Boca to our Drive Through store. What was that like?
It took us 52 minutes. Of course these are Covid times, so the traffic is much lighter. We didn’t know what to expect, but were very pleasantly surprised, not only just to see you both, but to see how you’ve successfully managed to pivot from your operation at the market. I love that you and Adena had a professional operation, but it still had an accessible and local positive vibe.

What did you get while you were there?
I love your Turmeric Concentrate. And, absolutely love the celery kombucha, which I didn’t think I would like when Kate picked it out. I was pleasantly surprised. And, we are coming back this Saturday morning for another bag of the Turmeric Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are out of this world!

What could we do to make the Drive Through experience better?
You could walk down the line of cars and take more orders. I’d say you need more people, but more people is more germs and more people touching stuff. So maybe not more people.

Have you found a good farmer’s market locally in Boca?
It’s so much different. Pinecrest Market is a destination for us because of the amount and variety of vendors. At Pinecrest, everything seems very authentic and local, which is what you would expect from a farmer’s market.

What businesses are you supporting during this time?
Local businesses. We’re ordering delivery and buying our groceries from restaurants that now are selling pantry items. We’re getting ready to do some renovations on our house, so instead of going to a big box store, we’re sourcing the materials from local guys that will appreciate it more. And then, we order delivery and takeout.

Any good places that we should know about?
Papa’s Rawbar, Farmer’s Table, Charm City Burgers, and Whales Rib.

Have you found any good things during this challenging time?
Absolutely. As a couple, we are learning how to co-exist and thrive in a higher stress environment. We go on so many more walks. We tuned up the bikes and we’ve ridden more in the past month than ever before and we’re spending a lot more time outside. We are engaging in a lot of projects around the house that we had put off. I think it’s minimized the noise that happens when you have access to everything. It feels like we’re kind of getting back to more honest living.

Why is supporting local businesses important to your during these times?
Life doesn’t seem like life without our local mom and pop establishments. It’s not just for our own selfish reasons, but the economy of our community, the employees at these companies, are people that live here and people that take care of us. It would be a very sad place if these places cease to exist.

What’s your areas best kept secret?
Snorkeling at Red Reef Park.

What’s a worthy splurge for you?
Le Sorelle. It’s a wacky Italian family restaurant, and the food is spectacular.

What’s a good rainy day activity?
Boca Museum of Art

What community or philanthropic groups are important to you that you might like to promote or share?
The Mark center for Jewish excellence. Also, JAFCO is a great organization. They are an organization that takes kids from like state run locations and places them in individual foster homes. Their training and credentialing is just top notch and they’re committed to providing a loving environment for kids. We’re looking to expand our family and wanted some options, so that’s how we got to know them.

Would you like to share a pitch about your company?
Pitching right now seems kind of tone deaf in terms of going after business or asking practices to spend marketing dollars. We’ve pivoted from charging marketing dollars, to partnering with doctors to push telemedicine. We’re helping increase the number of telemedicine patients that they can see. Once the climate changes, we’ll go back to providing hyper targeted marketing services.

What is hyper-targeted?
Hyper-targeted means that we create a patient persona based on a service line or procedure. The goal is to eliminate the top of the marketing funnel which is awareness and education. All of our engagement goes directly to people who have already in some way raised their hand figuratively and said, ‘I am a good candidate for this.’

Is there a question that you would like to ask us?
(ST) What do you think your biggest challenge has been from going from Pinecrest Market to your drive through store at your commercial kitchen?

(A+W) The hardest part is getting the word out. Many of our customers don’t get our newsletter or follow us on Instagram. We are getting calls from people reading the label on their Turmeric Concentrate wondering if they can still get another bottle. The challenge has also become a blessing. Since we are working out of our own space, we’ve been able to experiment with new products like Turmeric Chocolate Chip Cookies.

(ST) Why do you feel that you guys decided to open the store versus just ride it out?

(A+W) To miss the market feels so wrong. In the past, when a market was canceled due to a hurricane or weather, we hosted a popup market at our house in Palmetto Bay. This time, when we had the drive through market at our house, it got the attention of the Palmetto Bay police. So, opening the store was a necessity. It wasn’t even a decision, we had to find a way to continue.

What advice or a challenge might you like to pose to the community?
It’s easy to get frustrated, but it takes work to understand that we’re not doing it alone, that we are all going through it. Be there to help your friend, your neighbor, whatever you can do safely. Be aware that there are people suffering that need help. Try to be as kind as you can be and you’re gonna feel better.

Any final thoughts?
Take a step back and look at the community that you and Adena created, and now people are coming to your new store. Everybody came and lined up. You’re nurturing it and stoking the flame. It’s really impressive and amazing.