ANNA MARIA – Ed Spring wants folks to know that it’s business as usual at his Sign of the Mermaid restaurant, even though the restaurant property was recently sold.
“I wanted to stop the rumors going around. In a nutshell, we sold the property a few months back due to a divorce that had to settled through the court. I leased the property back from the new owner for six years and our goal is to continue on with the Sign of the Mermaid as we have for the last 25 years,” Spring said.
“We’re still making the homemade pies, cakes and wedding cakes like we have for the past 25 years and nothing has changed.” – Ed Spring
“The new owners have no intention of tearing the building down because they’re into the old style of Florida and they want the operation to continue on,” he added.
“Both my daughters are still there – Kellie Garden and Serena Spring. They’re still running the restaurant for me. Serena does the kitchen and Kellie does the dining room and manages the whole operation. I’ve got pretty much the same kitchen crew that I had before and we’re increasing it with new employees and working with a new chef. And I’m still the main force behind everything,” Spring explained.
He also wanted to dispel any rumors about the Sign of the Mermaid’s signature desserts.
“We’re still making the homemade pies, cakes and wedding cakes like we have for the past 25 years and nothing has changed. They’re our recipes and they have been since day one,” Spring said.
According to Spring, the only real changes in store include the addition of some new menu items and the seasonal expansion of the restaurant’s hours of operations.
“Our hours change on a regular basis because we go along with the season. Right now we’re doing dinner six nights a week (Tuesday through Sunday) and breakfast and lunch five days a week (Wednesday through Sunday),” Spring said. “There will be times in March and April that we’re running seven days a week and we’ll let everybody know through our voice mail and our e-mails.”
The Sign of the Mermaid is located at 9707 Gulf Drive in Anna Maria and the restaurant phone number is 941-778-9399. You can visit the restaurant online at http://signofthemermaid.wixsite.com/themermaid or on Facebook.
