Setting the Table for 2026

Left to right: Paul Carr, Francois Castro, Brandon and Saji George, Chason Spencer, David Cohen, Antonette Palacios and Nickey Boyd. Photos by Cole LoCurto.

In December, Edible Northeast Florida gathered seven voices from the region’s hospitality community around a table at Chancho King, an Ecuadorian-inspired diner in Murray Hill. Guests included Antonette Palacios, CEO of KMP Hospitality; Francois Castro, co-owner of Chancho King; David Cohen, owner of Manifest Distilling; Paul Carr, co-owner of Flamingo Coffee; Chef Nickey Boyd, pastry chef at Orsay; Saji George, owner and chef of Mesa; and Chason Spencer, co-owner of Chancho King. As the afternoon unfolded, we looked back at where the culinary community has been, examined where we are now and discussed the goals, hopes and aspirations for 2026.

The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

What challenges have you faced in the past five years, and how are you using them to look ahead?

Antonette Palacios: “Two major events shaped how I see resilience – 9/11 and COVID. I was in culinary school in New York during 9/11, watching the restaurant community come together. We cooked for weeks on end. When COVID hit, I was at TPC, and four hours later, I was knee-deep in mud with millions of dollars' worth of food we had to figure out what to do with. The way this community came together – as much as COVID was awful – great things came out of both experiences. We can pivot on a dime. We can figure this out.”

David Cohen: “Our industry shifted to an off-premise market overnight. The FDA licensed us to start producing hand sanitizer. That allowed us to keep our employees employed. Bacardi actually supplied us with bulk liquid because they couldn't make the sanitizer for legal reasons. It proved our ability to survive and be nimble. We have to pivot quickly and develop new revenue streams. All of those skills have paved the way for us.”

Chef Chason Spencer: “I was working at TPC when COVID started, and we got furloughed. Then Chancho King just pretty much started, and we worked seven days a week. We had nothing else to do, so that's what everybody did.”

Paul Carr: “I've always found myself in a service job and I love serving people. If we're connecting as a group and building a community, we can create powerful resilience as a team. It's hard to forecast what's coming. Who would've known that COVID was gonna happen? If we have these powerful foundations – this love, this family, this sense of community – we're not alone. People are more comfortable collaborating now because they had to work with others to survive. Competitiveness went away. I've never been in a community prouder of its own people. We're all we have, right? We gotta lean on each other.”

Chef Francois Castro: “One of the harder things in our industry is trying to create a good culture. Restaurants have so many negative aspects in terms of work. We're trying to be a good environment for our coworkers and employees. We had a Friendsgiving meal after service; we went to the oyster farm and to Lola Farms. Little things like that create a bonding experience and foster

a sense of family. With hospitality, we like to tap into our humanity.”

Chef Nickey Boyd: “During COVID, I literally lost everything. When I decided to move to Florida, I started looking up the best restaurants in Jacksonville. If I'm gonna come here, I'm gonna shine. Coming back to Jacksonville now, I'm not seeing any competition. Everyone's collaborating. The community that's being built would survive hard times because of how collaborative everyone is.”

Saji George: “Before I opened Mesa, I had no experience, so COVID gave me that slow chance to learn. I only signed a two-year lease because I was introducing South Indian food – something nobody had. The main thing was our principle to use clean oils and not compromise on that quality. People really resonated with that. It was a time when people were looking for better, more wellness-conscious eating. I'm not a chef, what I’m doing is home cooking. My son just likes to present it in a nicer way. People eat with their eyes, you know?”

What influences and trends have affected your business, and how have you adapted?

Carr: “We made some gluten-free items, and they weren't selling. I wondered if just labeling them that way was turning people away. I said, Why don't we just present the food? I'm in the business of selling sugar, milk and butter. But I think those things can be good if they're made with the right intention.”

Cohen: “There are four major trends affecting the alcohol industry: younger generations aren't drinking as much, diets and weight loss drugs, cannabis and hemp-derived beverages are taking a large share of the market, and economic factors. These are the 'four horsemen' affecting the industry right now. People are not drinking as much, and we are seeing that sweeping across our company.”

Palacios: “There's hard times coming. And you have to get over the hump before you fall back. In order to get over the hump, it really does take a community of people. We saw it through COVID and 9-11, you can't do it alone. If we can't make money selling food, it's going to change the restaurant business. Food prices have to go up. You have to make a margin. The lack of talent coming into town is a huge risk. I know working in Savannah, the influx of talent never stayed long

enough. We can't run these businesses without talent. You have to have great people.”

Boyd: “I would love to see us continue using whole foods like fresh fruit, or raw sugar rather than processed white sugar. I think it goes back to retraining people how to eat. When you give them something made in-house from five real ingredients instead of 15,000 processed ones, they're like, This doesn't taste right. But that's because we didn't put shortening and chemicals in it.”

George: “We're learning what growth looks like. This is my first business, this is my first time leading and managing people and defining what our roles are as we continue to grow.”

Castro: To-go orders have changed some of how we do our business. It's little things, like putting the sauces on the side and the increased amount of paper goods, boxes, napkins and cutlery we purchase. But we would rather have the business than not.

What's your vision for where the community is headed?

Cohen: “When we were starting, a lot of notoriety went to shrimp and grits. We cannot get away from this fast enough, and we have. Has anybody been to Zen Dumplings? The servers are incredible. The place is spotless, the food's consistent. That's the beginning of a food scene. All these little pockets are the beginning of the food scene.”

Carr: “It's actually on our vision board to be a Michelin Star cafe. It's just like making things better, the experience better. How can we love people more? Hopefully, the future is service. I want to be a professional server who has really chosen that career. It's a powerful career. I just went down to Key West and officiated a wedding for two people who met at our cafe. I just want more of that.”

Palacios: “Jacksonville's really getting a taste of great food, and I think that's gonna elevate our food scene. People want better quality. I think 2025 was an amazing year. Some great restaurants opened, and there's so much on the horizon. The best businesses thrive when things get hard because they get scrappy. You do more with less. That's where I think we need to be thinking, but

being ahead of that curve. Suppose we could just focus on things made from scratch. That's really healthy food.”

Spencer: “I want to know every single producer that makes my food that we then turn into meals. We know our oyster farmer, we know our chicken farmer. I want to keep building that so more restaurants can do that. We're finding more restaurants opening that focus on healthier, raw products. I'd love it if all my products came on a bike, you know? But I'm afraid more places are gonna open that are dumping frozen bags in a fryer. We need more talent with the craziness to open a business and say, No, I wanna respect what we have around us and keep building on that. We gotta keep believing in what North Florida has to offer.”

George: “I see cleaner oils. Customers want that. We're using avocado oil at $23 a bottle. We will shut the restaurant down before we change to a cheaper oil. Quality is very important. Whole foods, good quality. Knowing where these foods are coming from.”

Carr: “I'm so thankful for Edible because a big thing that y'all promote is collaboration. All of us here, I've been blessed to collaborate with everybody here. Through collaboration, we begin to share. And then once we begin to share, we realize that we're not alone. I'm learning something from you that's making me better. Now, when I'm out of cups, I can call one of you and be like, yo, I'm out of cups. Coming together and sharing, we're just continuously raising this bar because if you're not succeeding, I'm not succeeding. So at some point, we have to be the change we want to be.”