- March 29, 2025
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Ronnie Shugar says five years ago, he doesn't think Sarasota could have sustained an establishment like Sugar Champagne Bar.
Yet he says the increasing numbers of residents, and residential buildings on the rise downtown, has changed the restaurant landscape.
It's not just the pink design that makes Sugar Champagne Bar different from other Sarasota dining establishments.
The interior space, open by reservation only, has a minimum spend requirement of $150. (No minimum tab is required for the patio, which offers walk-in hours.)
Shugar says an elevated experience will accompany the hefty price tag.
"It's nothing like in Sarasota," Shugar said. "This is something similar to when you're going to go to Chicago, to New York, so we're having old school captains that really take care of you."
The public will have a chance to experience the service for themselves when Sugar Champagne Bar opens March 28.
Shugar says he hopes the restaurant will show the potential of the city and inspire others to invest in the city.
Shugar is chair of the Downtown Improvement District, and his contributions to Sarasota include the recent donation of $4 million to The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee for the creation of the Shugar Pool Club aquatic center.
He is co-founder of the Raw Sugar Living brand that includes hand soap, shampoo, body butter and other skin care products.
However, he calls the restaurant his "legacy to Sarasota."
At the establishment, an upscale atmosphere requires guests to wear attire including collared shirts, pants, and elegant dresses.
Servers, known as "captains," bring years of experience, often at the management level, and an understanding of the bar's wines. To start at the restaurant, they must attend a two-week course called Sugar College.
Shugar says these sessions are being videotaped as training materials for future expansions in other cities.
"The guest, first and foremost, needs to be at ease, and then we just kind of do our thing," said Chris Cobb, a service consultant from New York. "It doesn't have to be high-spoken. It doesn't have to be all of these things that I think most people get stuck on. What it does have to be is polite, efficient, and firm when it needs to be as well, so we want guests to have a good time and feel at ease."
The food menu, which Shugar said features about seven items, is based around caviar and consists of finger foods.
Options include the Scottish smoked salmon cornets, which include crème fraîche dip, everyting bagel seasoning and trout roe.
The A5 Wagyu tartar is based around Wagyu, beef imported from Japan, which is one of the most expensive meats in the world and known for its tenderness and buttery taste.
The attention to composition is also evident in the cocktails.
These include the Raw Sugar cocktail, which is based off the popular Mango and Raw Coconut fragrance of the Raw Sugar Living products.
The mixture of about 10 ingredients includes coconut cream, mango liqueur, mango puree and aged coconut rum, although the resulting beverage, which is mixed with rosé wine, is clear in appearance.
It's served with gold leaf, and a diamond-shaped ice cube in the glass.
"I really wanted to play off of those flavors and aromas and make a cocktail that has some really fun depth and complexity, but looks super simple when we serve it," said beverage manager Jacob Lesitsky.
The Cigar Box Old Fashioned cocktail is said to be inspired by the flavors and aromas in pipe tobacco and high-quality cigars.
Rather than utilizing a conventional smoking method, however, the drink is smoked inside a cigar box with Spanish cedar wood.
Lesitsky said when restaurants smoke the glass itself, it creates an overpowering smoky taste.
"We're going with a much more subtle approach," he said.
Other ingredients include cognac, bourbon, sherry, vanilla and house-made bitters.
The Signature Martini Service, Lesitsky says, ties in with the caviar focus. It involves a house-made crème fraiche-washed gin or vodka combined with two vermouths, a house brine blend, and an aquavit, diluted with Seedlip Garden.
"It's really an elevated service that we're doing here," Shugar said. "The whole idea of the concept is the experiential feel that our guests will take home with them, so we want them to capsulize here and be taken away to somewhere else... They're forgetting everything else, in this beautiful, beautiful room, that just pours elegance and customer service, and that's what we're here for. We're here to take care of all their needs."
