Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor

FMBGN-BIZ-Mr. Waves Island Bar-Karaoke, Community, and Cocktails

• "Cabo" Jim Schaller • Season 5 • Episode 25

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Daniel Clarkston never imagined owning a bar when he first moved to Southwest Florida from Germany in 2017. Yet today, his Mr. Waves Island Bar stands as a testament to entrepreneurial spirit and community resilience on Fort Myers Beach.

When Daniel and his wife purchased a prime Times Square property in mid-2022, they had no restaurant experience and an uncertain vision. Then Hurricane Ian hit. While devastating for the island, the storm's aftermath revealed an opportunity: the beach's beloved party bars were gone, leaving a void in the community. Mr. Waves stepped in, creating a vibrant space offering karaoke seven days a week, all-day breakfast, and their now-famous giant bucket drinks.

"Fort Myers Beach is very special because it's not owned by bigger corporations, it's literally family business oriented," Daniel explains, pinpointing exactly what gives the area its unique charm compared to other Florida beach destinations. This family-focused approach resonates throughout Mr. Waves, where locals and tourists alike gather from 8am (making it one of the earliest-opening establishments on the beach) until late evening for food, drinks, and singing.

The challenges weren't insignificant - navigating flood elevation changes, permitting issues, and the struggle to let people know Fort Myers Beach is open for business post-Ian. Yet two years later, Mr. Waves has become a beloved fixture on the beach, even expanding with PedalTiki.com, a 14-person party bike offering island tours and pub crawls.

Daniel's journey from German teacher to beach bar owner shows what's possible when passion meets opportunity. Whether you're planning your first visit or returning to see how the beach has rebuilt, make sure Mr. Waves is on your list - your karaoke song can't wait any longer! Find them on social media or at MrWavesIslandBar.com to plan your visit.

Mr. Waves Island Bar
Daniel Clarkston
1028 Fifth Street Ste A Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931
(239) 299-9311
management@mrwavesislandbar.com
mrwavesislandbar.com

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor Podcast, where the sun's always shining and the stories are even brighter. Each episode we bring you closer to the neighbors, local legends and beachside businesses that make Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love. Pull up a beach chair, grab a drink and let's meet the people who make this island feel like home. We want to send out some island love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance, usa and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers. Love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance, usa and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers. They are the businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener, from local stories to the positive vibe of island life. Here's to celebrating all that makes Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love. Here's your host, cabo, jim Schaller.

Speaker 2:

Welcome Fort Myers Beach, Good Neighbors where we offer no shade and just sunshine. So today we have good neighbor Daniel Clarkston from Mr Waves Island Bar. Welcome, hey, everybody, Thanks for being on the show. Yeah, thank you for being here and sharing your story with our listeners. So let's back up your story a little bit.

Speaker 3:

And well, first of all, I want you to share a little bit about, uh, mr waves, to start off with yeah, mr waves island bar is right on time square, right when you come over the bridge, the first building you see. Um, we share, um the we're on time square, fort myers beach, and um, we do karaoke seven days a week, um, every night. Um, currently we have karaoke on saturdays and sundays starting at 1 pm, so, um, all day karaoke. We do breakfast all day. Um, we have a full kitchen for lunch and dinner and um, yeah, we're just a nice beach hangout, uh, where people can uh, uh, cool off from the, from the sand, grab a drink, grab a bite to eat and sing whatever song they like.

Speaker 2:

Sing their favorite song right At the top of their lungs. We love it. It's all about a good time. I love that. So let's back up your story a little bit. How did you get involved in the bar business to start with?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so basically we living on Fort Myers Beach prior to getting in already, we were running two small motels and vacation rentals and the building on Times Square where we're in right now was for sale. And obviously coming around a property on Fort Myers Beach, on Times Square, is pretty rare, right, I mean within ownership for 10, 20 years, sometimes they go through the generations and we thought how would that possible? We tried to find a way out of how it's possible to make that happen, to acquire the property and what kind of business would fit there. In regards to, yeah, obviously, pay off any debt.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, you want to make money you don't have to take on to acquire the property.

Speaker 3:

The property back then had a t-shirt shop in there and on the other side Cold Stone, cold Stone wanted to stay. That's fine. I was not really on the smaller commercial unit anyways, but the bigger one where the t-shirt shop was in. And then I mean, it's not a far-fetched thought that a, a bar and restaurant would make more sense than a t-shirt shop. And um, that's kind of how we, how we got into all of that. So no prior prior restaurant or bar experience, right?

Speaker 2:

right, just jump right in and said we'll figure it out as we go right exactly in the end.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the end, yeah, we, we made a, we made a bartending me and my wife we attended a bartend, pretty intensive bartending school prior to opening everything. And I mean, in the end it's business, right, it's numbers. You got X amount coming in and X amount going out and you got to be sure that a little bit more comes in than it then goes out. So and we, we kind of did the same with the, with the hotels and the vacation rentals, which is also was also a business. We didn't kind of go to school for or learn, but in the end it's it's in the end it's a business. And once and we're pretty good with understanding numbers so we thought why not give it a try? Worst case it doesn't work, but I think it works.

Speaker 2:

So we're pretty happy.

Speaker 3:

In November we celebrate our two-year opening anniversary and, yeah, we're having a good time with the place and people love it. We're widely accepted by the beach community, people from the mainland, fort Myers, cape Coral, et cetera. They recognize us, they know our name by now and that's pretty cool because they're also coming and especially in the kind of coming and especially, um, in the kind of realm of karaoke bars in in the area.

Speaker 2:

We we made a name for ourselves which is great and, um, yeah, it works that is great, see you follow your heart, follow your passion, and it leads you to new directions and new, new business opportunities. I love that you just kind of followed it and went with it and you know, you know you found what the area really needed as far as the business is concerned.

Speaker 3:

Well, especially after Hurricane Ian, we had to rethink everything, right. I mean, our building was pretty much the only one well, the only restaurant, whatever, however you want to call it one of the apartments that was still standing. The rest was kind of piled up right behind us and on our roof. And then, you know, with other popular places on the beach gone and nothing, um, nothing in sight for rebuilding, etc. Etc. We kind of had to, had to pivot. What kind of comp.

Speaker 3:

Because during when hurricane ian happened, we weren't open yet right. So we bought the building like I think, in june or july before hurricane ian happened. So that was, uh, quite a bummer with our plans. But in the end, you know, once you're able to adjust your plans and you stay flexible, yeah, we were able to come up with something, like you said, what we thought the community will definitely appreciate to have, which is kind of a party bar, I mean a restaurant. There's multiple restaurants on the island and we always knew there will be again, and there was a handful of party bars on Fort Myers Beach prior to Ian and they were pretty much all gone. So we kind of tried to step in that void.

Speaker 2:

So what's been your biggest challenge in growing from EAN to where you are now?

Speaker 3:

Well, in the beginning, the biggest challenge was understanding all the code stuff and, you know, I mean not necessarily permitting.

Speaker 3:

We, of course, knew it would need a permitting, but then, I believe, beginning of mid-November, the flood elevation changed 2022, so a few months after E and so whatever was not put into permitting before that date would not be able to do anything and it's kind of under the restrictions. That are the challenges right now, for, I mean, our neighbors, la Ola, you know, that have to build up high, et cetera, et cetera. So, understanding all that which, honestly, when we bought it, we were not aware of that. We, you know there's so much stuff coming at the same time with the hurricane and the flood elevation change, et cetera. So we were, I mean, we found out really quickly after we purchased it and, um, yeah, we were able to put in our permitting, um, a day before that. So we were good, nice, yeah, so that was one challenge. And then, basically, I mean, there's just, you know, business, business costs and business problems every day, starting from from crazy guests that want to make a mess and want to fight uh to to um, you know just.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the bar and restaurant industry, right yeah.

Speaker 3:

I think I think that's not nothing really to mention. Um, I mean the challenge, challenges, it's. I think it's more on a broader screen, just it's. I think it's more on a broader screen, broader, uh, a broader term. When it comes to recognition of the island, I think we we still struggle with being recognized as a fully open and operational beach destination.

Speaker 3:

Um, past ian, I mean I still. I mean it's 20, it's august 25 and I still talk to people in my bar oh my God, that's the first time I came to Turkey. I'm like where do you live? Well, southwest Cape. I'm like it's 20 minutes, you know. I mean it's fair, people do whatever they want. But I feel like there's so much to do and so much to experience on Fort Myers Beach and I feel like there's not really yeah, there's not really marketing about it. So people, I mean, obviously I reckon Ian was pretty bad publicity, so to say, right, and that was in the news nationwide. But I feel like we need to push to get the word out that we are open and ready for business and you're going to have a phenomenal time on Fort Myers Beach.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and there's a lot of good things happening down here. Absolutely, and part of it is and that's part of the reason I'm doing the podcast too is to get some of that good, positive stuff out there and say, hey, fort Myers Beach is open, there's a lot of good things happening down here and some news popping up every day, so people need to come back and check it, not just the tourists, but the locals as well too. So, talking about Fort Myers Beach beach in general, are there certain things you're doing to my, maybe embrace or be involved with the community?

Speaker 3:

um, well, for my speech, obviously we just had the beach renourishment. I mean, it says it in the name people come for our great beach and our nice sand, um, I think we're always in the top five, if not top, you know, definitely in the top 10 of best beaches in in the us and, um, that's great, I feel like, for my speech is very special because of the well, first of all, the mix of people that that still live there. It's not owned by bigger corporation, it's, it's literally fam, pretty, family business orientated, um, oriented, and that brings a certain vibe which you don't find on the other coast of Florida, which you don't find necessarily in Tampa either, or Peelwater in St Petersburg, and that gives it its charm and it gives Fort Myers Beach the place and, obviously, culinary-wise, it has everything you can look for. It has the beach bars, it has the bike bars, it has the upper-scale restaurants. I mean, it has everything you need for a full beach, uh, beach town destination.

Speaker 2:

So something, something for everybody, right? So are you from Southwest Florida originally.

Speaker 3:

No, no, I came in 2017. Um, I was born and raised in Germany. Um went to school there my dad's American and my mom's German but lived there. I went to school there and always had an American passport since birth. And then I met my now wife and baby mother and my dad up to a little three and a half month old.

Speaker 2:

Congrats.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, thank you, that's life changing. Oh yeah, oh yeah, no, it's fun, it's fun, we couldn't wait. Oh yeah, no, it's fun, it's fun, we couldn't wait. And yeah, I came over. I met her in Frankfurt, where I'm from, and she's a dual citizen as well and yeah, she was living here in Fort Myers. So I came over here and I was like you know, why not?

Speaker 2:

I was going to ask how did you get to Fort Myers? But that's a good reason. You've got to love that right Exactly. At least she wasn't up while you were from Germany, but at least I'm from Wisconsin originally, so it snows and it's cold up there.

Speaker 3:

I'm not sure if she would have been that attractive if that would have been the case. No, I'm just joking. But yeah, obviously you know, living in Florida it's great. It's something you basically only dream about or hear in documentaries. And I something you basically only dream about or hear in documentaries, and I mean it's you know, it's all about taking the chance. The worst thing is it doesn't work and then you're back at square one, but you're there already, so it's not like and you're doing the right things and taking the right chances and we love what you do.

Speaker 2:

So outside of work. I know owning a business and you do some other things on the side as well too can be very demanding of your time. What is it you enjoy doing outside of work? Obviously, you have a three and a half month old, so that's a lot of it right now.

Speaker 3:

Right. So I mean I do like fishing, although I haven't been fishing when fishing twice last year, which is terrible Now that I think about it. But I mean mean I do love my work, you know it's it's really uh. So I went to university for being a teacher and, um, I finished my, finished my college in germany, um, doing that being that and and I mean it wasn't a bad job or anything, but it was a job, right, yeah, still. So it's not like it was not my life passion, it was a rational decision. You know, after my high school was what path can I go with my um, with my grades and stuff, um, and so I kind of had real estate experience a little bit from from germany, but uh, that really, that really came to fruition in the States and that is what I love.

Speaker 3:

So I mean I wouldn't have called it a hobby either, but it's kind of washing into each other, right, it's not like I have a whatever volleyball training twice a week or something. It's not going to be classified as a hobby maybe, but that's not really the case. I mean I like fishing. I've been doing music um all my life, which I um haven't been doing maybe the last eight, ten years, um, but I was also there. I was rather on the business side. When I was in high school we got a record deal in Germany and stuff like that. Then we were touring Europe. Although it was a hobby, it's kind of professional.

Speaker 3:

It's part of your career. That being said, if you like something a lot, I feel like there's a way to make money with it, most of the time at least, and professionalize it, and that's where really the fun comes, because you know and you have a little bit of a story.

Speaker 3:

And I mean I love what I do, my wife loves what she does, and you know there's always problems, but that's everywhere. So in the in the end, in the end it's a it's, it's a great, great way to live, right? And I don't need a hobby to balance out my job, necessarily, because I don't hate my job. So it's, you know, I, I like doing a lot of stuff, but, um, I mean, sleeping and work is what you do most in your life, right?

Speaker 2:

That's it you follow your passion and it doesn't seem like work right.

Speaker 3:

Right.

Speaker 2:

So is there one thing you wish our listeners knew, or maybe they need to try when they come to Fort Myers Beach and visit Mr Wave's Island Bar.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, like I said, we're doing karaoke every day. That's pretty much what we're known for. That's great. We have breakfast all day. Our breakfast is pretty well known in the Fort Myers Beach community. We're open from 8 am I think we're the earliest that open too. So if you're an early bird and you want to grab breakfast somewhere, come to Mr Wave's. Our bucket drinks are pretty famous. We have pretty huge buckets where you can put in either our signature drinks or whatever drink you like. And we also started another business, another small business, just a few weeks ago, which is Pedaltikicom, which is a 14-people-powered party bike oh boy Nice which starts at Mr Waves and ends at Mr Waves. We offer two different tours which is a sightseeing tour which goes around the island, and then a pub crawl tour which stops at multiple bar locations. You can grab a drink there, bring it on the bike and just continue partying. You have karaoke on that bike too.

Speaker 2:

I love it.

Speaker 3:

Party never stops, pedaltikicom.

Speaker 2:

You can't, you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning. And what better place to start in the morning.

Speaker 3:

Tell that to the people on the beach. I mean, I, I, yeah, I prove you wrong if you come to Mr Wade's.

Speaker 2:

And if you're at the beach, you got to spend all day at the beach you got to start morning and stay until the sun goes down and the moon comes up. So how would our listeners go about contacting you or finding you if they wanted to come to fort myers beach and pay you a visit or sing some songs?

Speaker 3:

yeah, I mean, the easiest is, uh, through facebook, I think facebook, instagram, uh, mr waves, and um, if you just, or you just go to our web page, yeah, I mean, the easiest is through Facebook, I think, facebook, instagram, mr Waves, and if you just, or you just go to our Web page, that's Mr Waves Island Bar. com, and for the pedal tiki, you would go pedal tiki. com. Very simple.

Speaker 2:

Very nice. Well, daniel, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you for being such a good neighbor, and we'll see you down at the beach here soon.

Speaker 3:

All right, sounds good. Thank you Take care.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor Podcast, where community meets paradise. If you love what you heard, share it with a friend and keep the good vibes going Until next time. Stay sunny, stay salty and keep being a good neighbor. Also, to nominate your favorite neighbors, local legends, heroes or island businesses to be on the show, go to CaboWaboJim. com. That's CaboWaboJim. com, or call 239-427-4100. We want to send out some island love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance USA and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers. They are the businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener, from local stories to the positive vibe of island life. Here's to celebrating all that makes Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love.