News of the Nature Coast of Florida

The thriving Citrus County Resource Center between Lecanto and Beverly Hills will soon be getting a new feature that has a lot of people excited.

Ann Marie Pollard is the owner of the popular New England Pastry and Café in Beverly Hills, and she has been awarded the bid for operating a dining facility at the Resource Center.

It will be called the Sunshine Café. Pollard is hoping to open for breakfast and lunch, as well as providing catering, by mid-February.

She said the formula for the café will be simple - good food, good prices and good environment. She said the food will be home-cooked style. It will be partly cafeteria style and partly ordered. The big, bright, airy dining area adjacent the kitchen can accommodate about 100. It is of modern design, has a very high ceiling and is lined with glass windows.

Pollard said the café will serve the traditional American breakfast fare, as well as “grab foods” for those on the go, such as fruit bowls, fresh fruit, muffins, turnovers and yogurt. Lunch will feature salads, home-made soups, burgers, club sandwiches, wraps, daily specials such as meatloaf or lasagna and specialty desserts and pies. Pollard said all the baking will be done in the kitchen, and so things like pastries, pie and cheesecake will be homemade.

The café’s kitchen facilities have not been operational since the county purchased the building from the former owners about a decade ago, and upgrading had to be done before it could be put into service again.

With a $93,000 grant from The Florida Department of Elder Affairs, the county upgraded what was needed to make it operational again and put out a request for bids from vendors. The opening coincides with the completion of the new, covered Senior Patio, which is expected to host many events, both county and public.

The Resource Center is the hub from many senior programs and services, but it also houses other community programs and services, as well as the county’s Housing and Parks and Recreations Departments, the Veterans Clinic, a part-time Social Security office, The George A. Dame Community Health Center dental and medical clinics, and the soon-to-come Community Pharmacy.

In light of all that the center houses, the Community Services Division recognized an opportunity for a café to serve not only all the workers and the people who use the services and clinics, but the public, too, as both a place to eat and a facility to use in conjunction to leasing the Senior Patio for events.

County officials decided to do it through a partnership with private business and take a percentage of the profits rather than operate the café itself, and they believe there is a great potential in public leasing of the patio with the food services right there.

Pollard said she can’t wait to get started. In addition to providing two meals a day, dinner could someday become a reality if things work out, she said. She noted that she will be able to cater events from the Café not only for the Senior Patio but also for the county’s big Citrus Springs Community Center also.

Weddings, anniversaries, receptions, dinners and other celebratory and civic events will be invited to rent the Senior Patio and utilize the café’s services.

Pollard said the café will have its own liability insurance and the terms are that it gets six months to become established and then 20 percent of the net profit between $10,000 and $20,000 each month will go to the county. After that, the county would get 2 percent more for each $10,000 in profit up to $50,000.

The schedule will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, with breakfast from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The café will also be available for night use, for example, for spaghetti dinners or special events. Watch the local news outlets and the county website at: www.bocc.citrus.fl.us for the opening date.

For information on booking the Café for after hours events, or the Senior Patio, call the Citrus County Parks and Recreation office at 527-7540.