Couple chases American dream on St. Armands

It only took one visit for German visitors Roger Schuhmacher and his wife, Isabelle Chaumas, to realize they wanted to move to Sarasota and open a business on St. Armands Circle.

For a civil engineer and a biologist, starting a restaurant on busy St. Armands Circle might not have been the most obvious choice. But Schuhmacher and his wife delved into the dining scene. After one year of successful business, they are happy with their decision.

The couple and their two young children, Juliette, 11, and Matheo, 7, moved early last year to the Sarasota area from Germany to open their eatery, Madison Avenue Café & Deli, which serves breakfast and lunch to an already loyal following of regulars.

“People are here because they want to be here,” said Schuhmacher. “In Frankfurt, people were there because they had to be. Here, we’re in paradise.”

But a little more than two years ago, Sarasota wasn’t even on their radar. While enjoying dinner with friends in Germany, a couple mentioned they were moving to Florida to start a vacation rental business.

After the Schuhmacher family’s first visit, they were sold.

“When we went back to Germany, we were going back to rain and gray weather and all together we were like, ‘What are we doing here? Why can’t we stay in Florida?’” laughed Schuhmacher. “And a few months later, we were here.”

Although Schuhmacher wasn’t new to the world of owning a business, it was still a different endeavor for him.

“I was self-employed in Germany, too, but here, you have the whole day with your guests, talking and meeting new people,” he said. “I think I like this more than what I did before. There are a lot of intelligent, interesting people here.”

But opening a sandwich shop wasn’t his initial idea. Schuhmacher wanted to run a specialty German noodle shop called Spätzles World. He may not have a whole shop dedicated to it, but he does plan on working the noodle into Madison Avenue’s menu.

“I haven’t done it yet because it’s too difficult, and we want to get everything else in the best condition first,” said Schuhmacher. “We’re sticking with the classic deli sandwiches right now. We had no idea how popular they were here, but Reubens and pastrami are a big deal.”

With the celebration of America’s history coming up, the Schuhmacher family plans to celebrate it the best way they can think of — enjoying fireworks on Siesta Key.

“Last year, we queued up for two hours in traffic on Siesta Key waiting for the fireworks,” said Schuhmacher. “It was crazy. But we had a great time and just hearing people sing the national anthem ... We liked the feeling we got being a part of it.”

Contact Kelsey Grau at [email protected]