Tableseide takes over Ringling Museum's dining

The Ringling, which includes the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Historic Asolo Theater, Circus Museum, Ca' d' Zan, Education Center and the Bayfront Gardens, is about to get a brand new helping of local culinary flavor.

Tableseide Restaurant Group, owned and operated by the Seidensticker family (father Steve and sons Pat and Joe and daughter Lisa) and Jeff Greco, has won the bid to operate and craft the dining services for the Florida State University's cultural institution that receives an average of 380,000 local, national and international visitors each year. The Ringling's food services were previously provided by General Services, Inc., a Fairfax, VA company that provides catering and food services around the country, who operated out of the Treviso restaurant, Banyan Cafe, and Visitor Pavilion Cafe for the last 10 years.

"We are very thankful for the excellent years of food service that GSI has provided at The Ringling,” says Steven High, executive director of The Ringling. “We are excited to welcome Tableseide as The Ringling’s food service provider to provide some local Sarasota flavor to our visitors’ experience at the museum.”

Steve Seidensticker, co-owner, says that he and everyone at Tableseide, which includes Louies Modern, Libby's Cafe and Bar, The Francis and Modern Events Catering, is excited to expand into the Ringling and the international exposure it provides. "We were thrilled, flattered and delighted when we were chosen by FSU and the Ringling," says Seidensticker. "I've grown up here going to the Ringling and I've brought my kids to it when they were growing up. We're going to focus on bringing local and fresh ingredients to the Ringling and put a twist on local favorites."

Seidensticker says that this open bidding process to be the dining and food services provider at the Ringling began last year in June when Seidensticker and eight other restaurants presented their vision and business model for the Ringling's culinary future. He says that Tableseide presented the closest ideas that the museum wanted for their existing food locations. 

The Treviso restaurant will cease operations on June 26 and Tableseide will be renovating the restaurant throughout the month of July. Seidensticker hopes to have a soft opening of the new restaurant with a as-of-yet to be selected all new name at the end of July to early August. The Banyan Cafe will undergo renovations beginning in August and Seidensticker says he hopes to have both the new and improved restaurant and cafe opened and fully running by October for the beginning of the 2015-2016 artistic season. Seidensticker also added that interviews for chef and staff are currently ongoing and hopes to retain as many current employees as possible for their new restaurant. 

Seidensticker and The Ringling are deliberating the restaurant's new name and says only one thing is certain: it won't be named Steve's.