The Restaurant People (TRP) has been creating restaurants and nightlife concepts in South Florida for nearly three decades, but CEO and co-founder Tim Petrillo sees something different happening in the company’s home city of Fort Lauderdale.
This fall, the hospitality group will open Naia at 904 E. Las Olas Boulevard, a restaurant that Petrillo believes reflects both the changing tastes of local diners and the larger evolution taking place along Las Olas and throughout downtown Fort Lauderdale.
For Petrillo, the restaurant is arriving at an important moment for the city.
“We went from a bedroom community to a thriving city,” he says, pointing to the thousands of residential units that have been added or planned downtown, along with the convention center expansion, and projects such as the planned St. Regis at Bahia Mar.
Perhaps more important is who is living there.
“It is amazing to see how youthful our city has become,” Petrillo says. “Now you’re seeing a lot of people coming back. There are things for them to do and get excited about.”
Naia is The Restaurant People’s response to that changing Fort Lauderdale. The company purchased the Las Olas real estate with the hope of eventually regaining control of the leasehold, Petrillo says, giving TRP the opportunity to build something new from the ground up.
Slated to open in early October, Naia, whose name refers to the flow of water, will combine Mediterranean and Asian influences with an emphasis on lighter, wellness-minded food and shareable dishes. The newly constructed restaurant will have indoor and outdoor dining centered around a large bar serving cocktails and wines, along with dedicated parking and valet service.
The design is equally ambitious. South African designer Tristan du Plessis is overseeing the project, his fourth restaurant with The Restaurant People.
This time, Petrillo traveled to South Africa to meet du Plessis’ team and see what could be sourced there. The answer turned out to be quite a lot. Much of Naia’s woodwork, furnishings, and artwork are being shipped to Fort Lauderdale from there. Getting everything here presented its own challenges. At one point, the restaurant was waiting for containers of materials to make their way across the globe. Those shipments have now arrived.
“It’s here. It’s on site,” Petrillo says. “We can breathe.”
The culinary side will also bring new talent to Las Olas. Petrillo says the team includes a sushi chef from a Michelin-starred establishment, with another chef announcement still to come.
But despite the international design and culinary influences, Petrillo doesn’t want Naia to feel as though a restaurant from Miami, New York, or another major dining city has simply been dropped onto Las Olas.
The Restaurant People, which was founded in 1997 and has developed, managed or operated more than 70 hospitality concepts, has learned that the basis of success is to understand the local customer and make a restaurant sophisticated without being intimidating. “We know we need to make it approachable,” he says.
On Las Olas, that can mean serving guests in shorts and sandals alongside diners dressed for a night out. Petrillo sees that lack of rigidity as one of Broward’s strengths.
“The lifestyle in Broward is a bit more approachable,” he says.
He also believes Fort Lauderdale has an advantage in its relative convenience. Residents can move among downtown, the beach, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades without some of the logistical challenges that come with living in a larger city. “I love Miami, don’t get me wrong,” Petrillo says. But, he adds, “The convenience of living in our city is it’s easier to get around. I think our bones are a lot more attractive.”
Petrillo sees evidence of Fort Lauderdale’s evolution beyond Las Olas as well. TRP is involved in FAT Village, where he says the level of interest reflects the transformation underway in Flagler Village.
Young families are moving downtown, schools are following, and residential growth is creating something Fort Lauderdale didn’t always have: a population that lives, works and spends its leisure time in the urban core.
“We’re really starting to see the fruits,” Petrillo says.
For The Restaurant People, Naia is both a product of those changes and another sign that the transformation is far from finished.
“I love Las Olas,” Petrillo says. “I’m super excited about what’s coming.”
