For chef Chris Ponte, Olivia's expansion is a natural evolution
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 16, 2023

Soon after the Covid-19 pandemic began, chef Chris Ponte realized his South Tampa Italian restaurant was a concept with growth potential.

Ponte has signed a lease to bring Olivia, which Ponte and his family opened in the former Carmel Kitchen in late 2019, to downtown St. Petersburg. Olivia will occupy a 5,600-square-foot storefront on the ground floor of Ascent St. Petersburg, which includes hotel rooms and apartments.

The construction budget, Ponte said, is in flux; Olivia's St. Petersburg location is a multimillion-dollar investment, one that could range anywhere from $1.8 million to $2.5 million. It will create 75 jobs, roughly the same headcount employed at Olivia in South Tampa.

Olivia serves modern Italian fare with an emphasis on pasta and pizza. The St. Pete and South Tampa Olivias will be similar in terms of interior design, Ponte said, and his team will make tweaks to the St. Pete location based on what they've learned in South Tampa. Acoustics and sound absorption will be a big focus at the new location.

"We felt like it's an expandable restaurant," Ponte told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. "I wouldn’t say we'll have a lot of them, but we feel like we can do well in certain markets, and we’ve worked very hard to standardize everything."

The St. Pete location comes just three months after The Ponte Group, which includes the chef, his wife, Michelle, and sons Andy and JT, opened Ponte Modern American in Midtown Tampa. Consistency and having the appropriate systems in place is critical to expanding, Ponte said. (Chris and Michelle Ponte are partners in On Swann in Hyde Park Village; Chris Ponte is also a partner in Bare Naked Kitchen, a Tampa-based fast casual concept.)

"People appreciate how we operate," he said, "we’re not corporate or anything, but we have a lot of great structure like corporate restaurants use. We're able to do that with a little more finesse."

Ponte Modern American is an updated version of Cafe Ponte in Largo, where the chef built his following and was named a semifinalist for a James Beard Foundation Award. Cafe Ponte closed in May 2020.

The restaurant will open for brunch in the coming months, and the chef is also working on vegetarian and gluten-free menus that will be rolled out soon. The vegetarian offerings will mimic their meatier counterparts, Ponte said, so that those who eschew meat have plenty of options at a restaurant where steaks and seafood are the stars of the show.

"It’s doing great — it’s hitting the numbers that we expected," Ponte said. "We’re trying to control reservations a bit. We're in this for the long term and want to make sure our guests are happy."

Seven employees at Ponte worked for the chef at his Largo restaurant, and several others have been promoted from roles at Olivia. The new St. Pete location, he said, is another chance to promote employees from within.

"It’s great to see them grow through the business and being able to give them opportunities," he said.

Ponte has been looking for those opportunities for his employees for years. Plans to open a location of Olivia in Lakewood Ranch fell through, but he said he's open to the Sarasota market. He's selective about real estate; it has to be the right space and the right opportunity. St. Pete's Olivia, he said, is in a great location near Jannus Live, but it's also easy for people to get to, with access to a parking garage and hotel valet.

"We're very cautious," he said. "This isn't something where we're going to blow out and suddenly have 50 of them."