A series of Naples restaurants spotlighted on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” proves that “Triple D” doubles business for venues featured on the national TV show hosted by Guy Fieri.
The chef-owners of The Rooster Food + Drink and Molto Trattoria in Naples and Cracklin’ Jacks in Golden Gate are the first to reap the benefits from being featured on the Food Network show, but episodes featuring Mykonos Kuzina, The 239 and The Local in North Naples are on deck in the publicity pipeline. Fieri tells the local scratch restaurateurs to prepare to see business boom after appearing on his popular show.
“What it feels like is that we’ve doubled in business,” said Chef Bryan “Bubba” Sutton of the Rooster. “Everything that Guy said has come true. He’s like, ‘You don’t understand what’s about to happen, but it’s all about to happen for you.’ We have pretty much doubled in our business because of him.”
The Rooster, a small restaurant on Goodlette-Frank Road, already had a strong local reputation for its breakfast and lunch fare, but now it’s off the hook, as Fieri might say. Parking spaces were difficult to find at times even before Fieri drove up in his red 1968 Camaro convertible with its FLVRTWN license plate.
“We’re on a wait every day. It’s an amazing thing. You know I’m blessed. It blows me away that people will wait that long to come in and eat,” Sutton said. “The key is what Guy said: ‘Don’t change the food. Just keep putting out that food and the people will come.’ And they’re coming. It’s crazy.”
The Rooster, which showcased Sutton’s signature Almond Crunchy Grouper and Texas Reuben brisket sandwiches on the show, ran out of food for some menu items the first couple of days after appearing on the Jan. 24 show, but Sutton made corrections.
“I was smoking about a case of brisket a week. We’re now doing three to four cases a week,” he said. “So, we’ve had to ramp everything way up. For grouper — we buy whole grouper — we went from buying 100 pounds a week to right now we’re buying about 300 pounds a week. So, those two dishes that were on the show seem to be affected the most. But everything’s just cranked up.”
Martie Morgan, the executive chef and co-owner of Cracklin’ Jacks restaurant in Golden Gate, saw a boost in business before her episode aired. She first will be featured on the show at 9 p.m. Feb. 21, spotlighting the longtime restaurant’s taste of the Everglades vittles, such as gator sausage and frog legs, as well as its legendary fried chicken, which is the most popular item on the menu. The back of the black T-shirts worn by the servers and bartenders at Cracklin’ Jacks promote the restaurant’s gator tail as “The Best Tail in Town,” so it’s not a surprise that its fried chicken and alligator specialties made the cut for the show.
Morgan, who recently purchased the nearby Saw Grass Grill and folded its operation, menu and customer base into Cracklin’ Jacks, already ran out of brisket and all-you-can-eat crab legs on recent nights, so she’s a little worried about being inundated with more customers during Season.
“I’m very nervous,” she said. “I need employees. It’s like a needle in a haystack to find employees these days.”
Molto Trattoria also has been packed on Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples since the dining destination was featured on the show on Valentine’ Day. Francesca and Andrea Neri’s restaurant was promoted by the Food Network as “a brother-and-sister spot bringin’ their mom’s real-deal Italian recipes to Naples, Florida, with lights-out lasagna Bolognese and mouthwatering meatballs.”
Mykonos Kuzina, a local restaurant off U.S. 41 in North Naples, will be featured on the show March 7. Fieri raved about the Mediterranean restaurant’s lamb shanks over orzo and couldn’t get enough of its dolmades, a classic appetizer of ground beef, rice and spices rolled into grape leaves and drizzled with lemonato sauce.
“After the camera was cut between scenes, he kept eating the dolmades, so that’s a good sign. He said they’re really good and he’s had a lot of dolmades in his life and ours were the top ones because they have a lot of beef and not like your traditional with just rice and filling,” said Emily Martino, who co-owns Mykonos Kuzina with her fiance, Alex Lekakis.
The young couple updated the recipes for the eight-year-old mom-and-pop restaurant after they took it over in September 2022. Although they applied to be on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” a year and a half ago, they only had about six days of notice for when the production team was coming to their restaurant for a two-day taping last November because of delays caused by the hurricane season.
“It was a whirlwind,” Lekakis said. “It didn’t feel real when we were doing it.”
Fieri warned the couple to prepare themselves to be overwhelmed by customers when the show airs.
“We need to staff up but it’s hard to find staff,” Martino said.
“Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” even has groupies who travel to the hundreds of restaurants featured on the show. Sutton said guests have told him The Rooster was their 148th, 150th and even 168th restaurant featured on Fieri’s “Triple D” that they have visited. “It’s crazy all the followers that he has,” he said. “They have an app now so that you can plan your vacation around the restaurants he’s been to.”
Sutton also has personally become as popular as his dishes. “We do a lot of selfies in the kitchen,” he said. “People stop me at Publix, they stop me at the gas station. They’re like ‘Dude, you were on TV.’”
Cracklin’s Jacks’ segment will debut 9 p.m. Feb. 21 and reair at midnight Feb. 22 and 4:30 a.m. March 15. Mykonos Kuzina’s episode will debut at 9 p.m. March 7. The “World Tour of Flavor” episode with Molto Trattoria is scheduled to air again at 6:30 p.m. March 8. The Rooster’s episode will air again at 4:30 a.m. Saturday, March 22.
