Pelican Bay Is Spending More on Its Beach This Season, and November Is Where It Shows

The Pelican Bay Foundation's FY2027 budget expects its beach restaurants to serve 249,266 covers, up from 235,387 in its FY2026 forecast. That is about 5.9 percent more meals. Food and beverage staffing rises faster, from 110.8 full-time equivalents to 119.4, and payroll for the department climbs from $6,874,770 to $7,886,561. Revenue grows more slowly than costs, so the budgeted shortfall for dining widens from $2,468,903 to $3,388,581. That was a deliberate decision, and Marker 36, Sandbar and The Nest are where it will play out this winter.

The first place to see it is a single weekend in mid-November.

Three days that open the season

The October 2026 issue of the Pelican Bay Post lays out Welcome Back Weekend as one continuous program running from Friday night through Sunday afternoon.

The table shows that only two parts of the weekend still need no reservation or are still taking registrations as of the October issue: the Friday bash, which takes registration, and the Sunday bocce, which is open to members of all ages without signing up. Availability may have changed since the issue went to print, so the Foundation is the place to confirm.

The brunch is the one item on the program that continues after the weekend. The Post calls it "the beginning of something new at Pelican Bay," and says Foundation leadership and management will join the Marker 36 team in welcoming members at the first service. Until now, Sunday mornings at North Beach had no brunch service. Starting Nov. 15, they do.

The five people behind the new menu

A new weekly service needs people to run it. The same October issue introduces a new food and beverage leadership team, which it sums up as "Five leaders. Three restaurants."

• Marco Garnica, Director of Food and Beverage, oversees all of Pelican Bay dining.
• Chef Fabio Bermudez, Director of Culinary – North, at Marker 36.
• Christopher Wright, Director of Operations – North, at Marker 36.
• Chef Rushaune "Rush" Thompson, Director of Culinary – South, at Sandbar and The Nest.
• Kevin Adames, Director of Operations – South, at Sandbar and The Nest.

The team is split by geography, with a chef and an operations director for each end of the beach. That matches how members actually reach the restaurants: the electric tram connects eight stations to the mangrove boardwalks, and Marker 36 and Sandbar sit at opposite ends of almost three miles of beach. The article says each restaurant "will continue to have its own personality" while the team works on "consistency, quality and service across Pelican Bay dining." It describes the aim as "improvements you can see, taste and feel." Michael Broughton, Deputy General Manager of Community & Member Experience, calls the new team an important part of Pelican Bay's investment in dining. The Post also says members can expect to see these five leaders working in the restaurants themselves.

The budget shows the same priority. Education and training for dining staff goes from $5,329 in the FY2026 forecast to $24,440 for FY2027. The cost per billable unit rises from $342 to $469. The average check, meanwhile, rises only from $33.92 to $34.44. Members will be served by more staff with more training, while prices per meal stay close to last year's.

What the money buys that diners won't see

Not all of the spending is in the dining rooms. The July/August/September 2026 Post reports storm-preparedness work that changes how quickly the beach can reopen after a storm. Marker 36 now has a backup generator, and through a partnership the Foundation has secured access to a spare electrical transformer. The article notes that long waits for replacement transformers can hold up power restoration. Sandbar's backup generator runs IT, emergency lighting and refrigeration during outages. The lift-station and grease-trap systems at both restaurants have been hardened to protect restaurant and sanitary operations. The Community Center also got a generator.

The 2024 recovery explains why this matters. According to the Foundation's November 2024 Post, Marker 36 reopened within a week of Helene and Milton and North Beach two days after that. Sandbar needed an inside-out rebuild and did not return until the first week of November. In 2024, the beach season started late at the south end. The generators, the transformer arrangement and the hardened utilities are meant to keep that from happening again, and South Beach is hosting the Friday bash and the Saturday show in 2026.

The renovated Sandbar is set for a full season with music on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m. Marker 36 has live music on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, also from 5 to 8 p.m. Between the two, four weeknights of the season have live music on the beach.

The courts and the cash register

The same approach of adding capacity applies away from the restaurants. The Community Park Racquets Facility opened on February 16, 2026, with pickleball player Ben Johns playing an exhibition match. It has eight Har-Tru tennis courts and 20 outdoor pickleball courts. Three of the tennis courts and 10 of the pickleball courts are set aside for Pelican Bay members and guests. Last season it opened in the middle of winter. The Nov. 14 kickoff, which sold out, starts its first full season.

Retail is new as well. The FY2027 budget projects retail sales of $383,196, compared with an FY2026 forecast of $188,046. In the budget's question-and-answer section, the Foundation says new retail points of sale will open at Community Park, The Nest, Marker 36 and Sandbar. The new outlets build on the retail already running at the Community Center and South Tennis. An online store for Pelican Bay branded merchandise will also launch. Member Barb Davolis is advising on merchandising, and the $4,000 in the budget for the e-store covers boxes, tape and shipping, not website development. The Foundation calls retail a "startup operation" and does not expect it to turn a profit in its first year.

One item already for sale is a book. "Pelican Bay: A History of Our Home in Paradise," a 144-page hardbound history commissioned by the Foundation, won a 2026 Silver Medal from the Independent Book Publishers Association. Copies are sold at The Commons, the Community Center, the North and South Racquets Centers and The Baker Museum Store.

The weeks around Welcome Back Weekend

The Foundation's calendar overlaps with a busy fall season next door. Artis—Naples' 2026–27 season is themed "To Light: The Art of Hope." On October 17, two Baker Museum exhibitions open: "The Surrealist International: Fifty Years of Dreams," drawn from Tate's collection, and "Florida Contemporary 2026–27." That same day, Louise Nevelson's monumental "Dawn's Forest" reopens in the Drackett Gallery and Hayes Hall after a temporary closure. The Masterworks series begins October 29–30, when Alexander Shelley conducts pianist Yeol Eum Son in Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto, followed by Brahms' First Symphony. The free Fall Community Day falls on November 8, five days before the Beach Bash.

At Waterside Shops, Eddie V's Prime Seafood is now open at 765 Seagate Drive, with live music trios every night in the V Lounge. Buck & Rider is scheduled to open there in late 2026, and Piranesi is listed for fall 2026. These are the center's projected dates.

Sunday Brunch at Marker 36 begins November 15, and from that weekend on it is part of the regular week at North Beach.

When buyers ask about Pelican Bay, the amenities funded through the Foundation are a large part of what they are buying into, and this season shows how the Foundation invests in them. If you would like to talk about how the beach, the courts and the restaurants factor into a home's value here, J2 Luxury Group is glad to arrange a private consultation.