Café welcomes back its son

Chauncey Brown left his home on Sanibel Island in 1998 to see the world.

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO EVAN WILLIAMS Sunshine Seafood Café & Lounge's new general manager, Chauncey Brown. On June 25 he arrived back in town with a wife and children of his own, after a decade long journey that took him to California and Maui. Only weeks later, he's stepped back into the hospitality industry alongside his mother, Sandy Stilwell. She owns the Sunshine Seafood Café & Lounge in Fort Myers, and he's the new general manager.

"She's a great lady and I'm extremely blessed to help her," Brown said.

He worked in the family business before, starting in grade school, at the front desk of a hotel called Mariner's Lodge. Then, after graduating from Cypress Lake High School in Fort Myers, Brown said, "I had some growing up to do."

So he joined the Navy in 1998, placing in the top 10 percent of government tests, showing he had the aptitude for submarine service. After preparing with rigorous health checkups and a year of training in Charleston, S.C., he was stationed in Pearl Harbor, on a "fast attack" nuclear powered sub called the USS Topeka.

He lived on it for 5 ½ years, spending about 285 days per year at sea, and patrolling mostly the Western Pacific Ocean.

"It's like being stuck in a three-story building with 120 people from every walk of life - every race, every ethnicity - closing up all the windows and giving everyone one TV to share," he said. Brown got out of the Navy in 2004.

"I had a great career in the Navy and loved every minute of it," he said.

But he also had two baby boys, and didn't want to be at sea while they grew up. He moved to Maui, where his wife's family is from. Hawaii's world-class diving, surfing and fishing complemented the family's lifestyle. Those are still Brown's favorite hobbies.

"(Sanibel) doesn't have the same surf as Maui," he admitted. "But other than that, it's not far off."

In Hawaii, Brown worked as an engineer, using a global network of telescopes to track debris in space - rocks and pebbles as small as 10 centimeters in circumference. The debris is hazardous to satellites that the U.S. government paid $50 million and up to put in space, he explained.

That job was for an engineering firm called Oceanit, which performs research for clients such as the U.S. Air Force and the city of Honolulu. Brown also became the project manager for a system of telescopes owned by Spain's government.

He still spends about 20 hours per week on the project, from his home on Sanibel Island. Brown's full-time job though, is managing both locations of the Sunshine Seafood Café & Lounge, which he said has struggled with an economic downturn and poor management.

He hasn't wasted any time making improvements.

They've reduced the staff slightly, but retained a loyal customer base. Brown also joined groups like the Chamber of Commerce, Advancing Business Leaders and Young Professionals to give "a face" to the restaurant. There is live acoustic Jazz on Friday and Saturday evenings and the menu and wine list have been revamped. In the next few years, Brown plans to market the Café door to door.

"The food is outstanding," he said. "Chef Tao has been here seven years now. If there's anything that doesn't need to be changed it's the great flavors he puts out."

Besides helping his mother get the café back on track, Brown plans to use the management position to earn his master's degree in business. He already has a bachelor's degree in business and is a few credits away from a bachelor's in underwater engineering. His children will also have access to Sanibel's "top-notch" grade school. In Maui, he said "the school system was just atrocious."

And meanwhile, he's adjusting to a landscape that's a little different than he remembers. Some dirt roads are now paved; a new overpass was built near the Sunshine Café's location on Gladiolus Drive; friends grew up. Although re-learning the hospitality industry was as easy as getting back on a bicycle, Brown is still wondering at some differences 10 years made.

"I'm absolutely taken aback by the changes in the town," he said. "I recognize all of my mom's friends and everything else. It's amazing how much everyone changes."