Florence & the Spice Boys opens at UTC

Florence & the Spice Boys started with a food truck in 2019. 

After opening the first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Sarasota’s The Landings in 2022, less than three years later, Florence & the Spice Boys opened a second location at University Town Center on April 25. 

The food truck was simply called the Spice Boys, who are Steven Schmitt and Carl Kolber. That was until Schmitt’s wife, Florence Schmitt, started working the window. 

She started helping out because the boys found it too demanding to take orders, cook and handle the register all at the same time. 

When Schmitt took a day off, and nearly everyone that came to the window asked where she was, it was name changing. 

The restaurants are now known as Florence & the Spice Boys. With 145 seats, the UTC location is twice the size of the original. 

Schmitt and her service staff greet every guest as a friend who’s been invited into their home for dinner, which is also how most of the dishes make it onto the menu. 

The chefs spend a lot of time tweaking recipes on Sunday afternoons at the Schmitts’ home. 

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

Chef Collin Blakeman joined the trio before opening the UTC location. 

Schmitt said they’d always wanted to open a second location, but adding Blakeman to the team made it feel possible. 

“Having someone like Collin with us is a game-changer,” she said. “He’s so experienced, and he has such an amazing talent for high volume kitchens.”

Blakeman’s local resume includes chef at Owen’s Fish Camp in Lakewood Ranch. He also worked under Michelin-star chef Thomas Keller at The French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley. 

The new Florence & the Spice Boys at UTC features a full bar and a few more dishes than the first location offers. 

Kabobs were added to the dinner menu to pack a lot of flavor onto a small plate. Because the plates are smaller, Schmitt suggests ordering three to four dishes per person and sharing. 

For those guests who don’t want to share or are craving something familiar and filling all in one plate, there is another option — the Spice Boys burger aka Le Big Mac, an 8-ounce brisket patty served on a sesame seed bun with cheese, lettuce, pickles and “special sauce.” 

The Jerusalem beef pita is the Middle Eastern version of a juicy hamburger.

But if wanting to try something new, Schmitt recommends the chicken shawarma.

"It's one of our original dishes," she said. "The boys created it through this mishmash of experiences between Los Angeles and Israel. It's one of our favorites." 

Visually, the restaurant could be compared to one of the rainbow bowls on the menu. It pops with color and draws you in upon first glance.

The bold pink building only needs a small sign out front because it can be spotted from two roundabouts away on Cattlemen Road. 

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

But bite after bite, glance after glance, there’s more to taste and see. 

A towering shelving unit filled with tchotchkes divides the kitchen from the entryway. An oriental rug is draped over the hostess stand, and an aviary sits in the middle of the veranda. It holds a plant instead of a bird. 

The bar wraps around the far end of the restaurant from the inside out. Outside, there’s a neatly turfed and decorated green space, where colorful, little mushrooms compliment the tall palm trees. 

Both the veranda and bar are open but covered to provide plenty of shade.

Panther Ridge resident Nancy Adkins had lunch outside. As she was leaving, she recommended ordering dessert, too. 

“The buttermilk pie was absolutely amazing,” she said. “We’ll be back. I want to work my way through the menu.”