Mark Florimonte’s passion for his family, charity and great customer service.
Mark Florimonte’s wife, Karen, was 24 weeks pregnant. It was 1999.
They had moved to Williamsburg the year before, as the next step in his career growth as a chef with the Marriott Corporation. He was slotted to be in the Historic Triangle for two years, moving after that to Baltimore, and ultimately New York City as he grew in stature and experience with the company.
But 24 weeks was all the time that would pass before their daughter Andrea would be born. At 1 pound, 7 ounces, it would be four months until Andrea emerged from the neonatal intensive care unit at CHKD.
“Her fingers were the size of toothpicks,” said Mark.
Over that four-month period, Mark and Karen were floored by the outpouring of support they received, especially from the March of Dimes. When the time came for Mark to take his next step with Marriott, he and his wife looked at each other in agreement.
“This is our home now.”
Mark opened Florimonte’s Deli and Fine Foods in what then was the only strip mall in Williamsburg. Route 199 was brand new, and the town was just beginning its next growth spurt.
“We wanted to recreate the neighborhood deli where we got to know our customers, anticipate everyone’s needs and replicating that home town store.”
The plan was successful. Reviews on social media raved about the authentic New York style deli, and about the pizza, sandwiches and cannoli. Soon after Florimonte opened a bakery, expanded his catering business, and took over the concessions at William and Mary athletic events. It was a great ten-year run, at which point Florimonte decided to sell.
“You build it, and after ten years you sell it. That’s the American dream, right?’ he laughed.
Over the next several years, Florimonte worked as an executive chef at a few fine food establishments, happy to be in Williamsburg and watch his children grow. Then the day came when he saw a recruitment ad for a hospitality position with the Historic Colonial Williamsburg restaurants.
“You’ve got five incredible restaurants, some of them on three floors, chopped up like a house, an incredible variety of places to eat, it was a really great challenge. I like challenges. I wanted to give it a shot.”
Now, a year later, as the Director of Historic Area Food and Beverage, Florimonte is candid about both the progress he’s made, and the areas that need improvement; which has become his main focus. Shields Tavern is one example of that.
Shields Tavern is known for being by far the most experimental of the restaurants in the colonial historic area. Recognizing Colonial Williamsburg as a “port of call for ships from all corners of the world,” the Shields menu offered some truly exotic menu items; enhanced by spices and ingredients from the many countries whose representatives visited the area with their goods.
The items were popular, but locals and returning visitors missed some of the favorites that were previously offered at the tavern. Florimonte and his team welcomed guest feedback, returned to the basics, and added some nostalgic changes that are reflected in its newest menu.
“First, we focused on the flavors that were here in Williamsburg back in 1760, with more local ingredients, including produce and fish native to Virginia,” Florimonte explained.
“Then we added back some of the classics that have proven strong over the years, like the ale potted beef and ‘truly local’ fish and chips. People love the ale potted beef because it’s a classic stew dish, very home feeling, belly warming, comfort food that would have been served in the day when Mr. Shields owned and ran the tavern.”
“We’ve also made it more fun and family friendly; more of a casual relaxing atmosphere with special events to create more memories and moments, like ice cream socials for the kids, a pig roast and a very cool pub crawl every week. And we are using even more fresh ingredients than before,” added Florimonte.
An equally important area of focus for Florimonte has been service, which he addressed head on.
“Without an excited staff, it’s hard to accomplish your goals,” noted Florimonte.
“Everyone’s known the changes that have taken place. We wanted only people who loved their job. Some decided not to play, not to be part of the team, and some of the folks left the hospitality industry completely, understanding that this may not be their passion.”
With an eye towards service, Florimonte and the Colonial Williamsburg hospitality team kept asking questions, getting as much feedback as possible.
“We wanted to hear from our guests and listen to what they were saying. A change from some of our past practices and we are proud of it,” he points out. “We decided to install a new guest surveying system. One item that came back was how long it took to get beverages, a byproduct of how far the bar can be from some of the tables in such a large and spread out tavern space. Our solution: a punch bowl beverage service, serving between two and four people at a time.”
The returned surveys, about 300 a month, led Florimonte’s work to making Shields’ food and service better and better.
“We are now averaging about 4.8 out of 5.0 as far as service goes in the tavern, with lots of comments on how we are providing excellent service.” said Florimonte.
Florimonte is proud of his job, and the work everyone on his team has done. When in and around Williamsburg, he encourages locals to visit Shields, especially if they haven’t been in a while.
Meanwhile, his two daughters are all grown up. His oldest daughter Isabel is a 21-year-old senior, music major at JMU, and once tiny Andrea, now 18, just headed off to VCU to pursue her education as an art major. Mark, meanwhile, continues his second passion: working at Colonial Williamsburg.
He proudly finished the conversation.
“I have the most unique job in the world. Nobody can say they do what I do.”
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