Doc Ford's and Beached Whale owner stays busy

Marty Harrity runs three bustling Lee County restaurants, sits on Sanibel Island's city council and is a high school football coach. But long before he became a respected civil and business leader — "100 years ago," Mr. Harrity said — he was a sixth grader at St. Mary of the Assumption Elementary School in Philadelphia, where he grew up.

COURTESY PHOTO Marty Harrity Mr. Harrity remembers what one of the Catholic nuns told him: "Mr. Harrity, an idle mind is the devil's workshop. We're gonna keep you very busy, young man."

Thinking about it, he laughed, with a wide smile that is equal parts charming and mischievous. It must have kept the sisters guessing. "When they said 'sit up now,' you sat up!" he said.

His old teacher would probably be happy to hear about how busy Mr. Harrity has stayed. He eventually moved to St. Louis, where he ran a balloon-making company, for more than a decade, manufacturing shiny balloons that said "Happy Birthday" or "Get Well." After becoming familiar with Sanibel Island on tarpon fishing trips, he became a full-time resident 1991, even though people warned him about the hot, rainy summers.

"I said, 'You ever been to St. Louis in the summer?,'" Mr. Harrity said. "It's like living on the equator.'"

In 1996, he opened the first of his three restaurants, The Beached Whale on Fort Myers Beach, a casual restaurant and bar.

"I just needed to find something to do," he said. "I was running out of money… Tourism was the big industry."

A year after that he bought an old restaurant on Sanibel. The building went through a few incarnations before Mr. Harrity partnered with Randy Wayne White, a novelist who lives in the area. They reopened the restaurant as Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar & Grill, named for the protagonist in Mr. White's popular adventure novels, who is a marine biologist.

Just a few months ago, Mr. Harrity leased an old restaurant on Fort Myers Beach, overlooking the Back Bay. After refinishing the interior, he turned it into the second location of Doc Ford's Rum Bar & Grill.

Even though Mr. Harrity was an experienced businessman, when he opened his first restaurant, he found that running it well was some of the most challenging work he had ever done.

"In the early days... we made every mistake we could possibly make," he said. "I think a lot of people may think they know what the restaurant business is all about, but I can assure you, first hand, it's one of the most difficult industries to be involved with. (There are) so many variables." He learned "how complicated the business can be; how much coordination is involved with putting a plate of food on the table with good quality, value and service… That took years."

One of his keys to success is hiring and recruiting the right people, including business partner and long-time friend Mark Inello, as well as waiters, managers, bus boys, chefs, cooks and general managers. Teamwork is another essential element for a smoothly operating restaurant. Mr. Harrity has practiced that value since he was a running back and defensive back on his high school football team in Philadelphia, at William Penn Charter School. Now he's the defensive coordinator for the freshman football team at Bishop Verot High School.

"Bishop Verot is a wonderful school," he said. "It's a family atmosphere where everybody's working together, and I think it's the same thing in (the restaurant) business. It's all about your people and doing the best you can. It's the same satisfaction you get (from coaching)."

He graduated from Philadelphia University in 1970 and worked in sales and marketing for General Mills before becoming a salesman in the house wares business. Later, he moved to St. Louis and pursued the balloon-making company.

Now a city councilman on Sanibel, he also served the community as mayor, once during Hurricane Charley and also during the bridge and causeway improvement plans, of which he favored. He has two sons, two daughters and six grandchildren. Mr. Harrity said his wife, Brenda, is the heart of his restaurants.

"Brenda has been a real catalyst in the success of the Doc Ford's restaurants," he said. "I think she sets the bar as far as hospitality is concerned. When you come into our restearuant it's like coming into our home, at least she sees it that way. I think she was made for this business."

It seems Mr. Harrity was, too.

"This is something I love doing," he said.