Dining with Melissa Schroeder
When you’re able to catch up with Melissa Schroeder, prepare to be inspired. This woman has a voracious appetite for life. She has earned several degrees, raised four children and built multiple businesses, with more projects in the works. Her new venture, Dining at the Plaza, encompasses her various culinary enterprises along King Street in the heart of downtown St. Augustine, including Ancient City Brunch Bar, Bourbon and Boards, the Supper Club, Ancient City Cooking Experience and 1565 Incorporated, and each “showcases the family,” says Schroeder.
While enrolled at Florida State University, Schroeder opened a restaurant at the behest of her father, who told her it was time to support herself. Drawing from her upbringing in Miami, Schroeder opened her first restaurant, a Cuban concept in Tallahassee. After several demanding years of running the business, she decided to sell and go abroad. She joined her sister in Germany before traveling to Siena, Italy to attend culinary school. There she was inspired by the Italian way of life, which values food as an experience. “I decided that’s how I would raise my family,” she says, to savor meals as authentic, social experiences. After Italy, Schroeder took a job in South Korea designing English language curricula. She met her first husband and together they returned to the States where she would go on to earn a master’s in education.
Along the way, Schroeder dealt with obstacles. She fought cancer at a young age and was a single mother for a time. “Opportunity is always found in a dilemma,” she says. “Are you a victim or a survivor? Which path will you take?” During the COVID-19 shutdown, Emily and Sophie, her twin daughters, enrolled in a high school senior internship business class. Brainstorming for the class led to the creation of the family’s first restaurant in St. Augustine, Ancient City Brunch Bar on St. George Street, which specializes in brunch boards. It has now been in operation for over two years. “I am so proud of those girls,” says Schroeder tearfully.
Bolstered by the Ancient City Brunch Bar’s success, Schroeder and husband Troy Wollenbecker sought to offer their crowd-pleasing boards in the evening hours. They opened Bourbon & Boards on King Street across from the Plaza de la Constitución in October 2023. The menu features elevated comfort foods and a long list of bourbon-forward cocktails. As a “back-of-house kind of girl,” Schroeder gravitates towards the kitchen while Wollenbecker focuses on the front-of-house operations. When the kitchen is busy and the staff starts getting lost in the weeds, “they see me unwavering,” she says; whether they need help dishwashing or on the line, she is there.
>More expansion is planned for 2024. Their restaurant group recently signed a lease on 33 King Street. An iconic location for the civil rights movement, the building once served as a Woolworth’s, where in 1963, young Black students sat at the counter and demanded service during the era of racial segregation. “It will be a space on the plaza to celebrate talent,” says Schroeder. The expansion also includes a larger location for the Ancient City Brunch Bar, recording studios for musicians and podcasters and a shop called 1565 Incorporated which will feature the work of local artisans.
Schroeder also recently launched a monthly gathering called the Supper Club that features themed nights with local guest chefs. The idea of sharing space and “the culinary experience is important,” says Schroeder. How can businesses support rather than cannibalize each other? For her part, Schroeder will continue to collaborate with others and grow.
