Chuck Stiles: Food Is His Thing
By Patrick Donohue
Destin Log staff writer

DESTIN – Chuck Stiles sees a bright future in serving hungry diners in a funky restaurant.
  
Stiles, 42, and his wife, Carmen, own two restaurants: Graffiti and Funky Blues Shack on U.S. 98 in Destin and the newly opened restaurant and blues club of the same name at the Village of Baytowne Wharf in Sandestin. The opening of the second place signals the Stiles’ confidence, not only in the future prosperity of the Village of Baytowne Wharf, but the future of the economy region-wide.
  
For 12 years, Chuck Stiles has served pizza, seafood and pasta dishes out of a restaurant whose walls are plastered with funky, folk art. The opening just a few weeks ago at Baytowne Wharf, he said, was something that had long been in the works.
  
The concept for an Italian restaurant was one that Stiles said he initially had prior to Baytowne’s opening, but he was not entirely sold on the concept, due to Intrawest’s lack of experience with Southern resorts. Intrawest owned Sandestin prior to selling it to Fortress Investment Group LLC this past summer for $2.8 billion.
  
Prior to the sale, the company almost exclusively owned ski resorts. Sandestin remains one of two “golf and beach” resorts the company owned.
  
“I wasn’t sold on the concept until some four years later,” Stiles said in an interview. “I always thought our restaurant was a good fit out there as an alternative to what they already have.”
  
Graffiti at Baytowne features the funky decor of the Destin eatery, and Stiles said the restaurant supports local artists by showing their work inside both venues. The art can be purchased right off the walls.
  
Stiles, however, is not an aspiring restaurant mogul and said the restaurant and nightclub at Baytowne will likely be his last.
  
As for owning and operating restaurants, Stiles said the recipe is simple: Good service and good food will keep customers coming back.
  
“My philosophy is to work hard and try to provide good food and service,” he said. “Try to make people happy and treat them the way you’d want to be treated.”
  
Running a restaurant at Baytowne Wharf is a little different from the one he’s operated for 12 years in Destin.
  
“If I’m having a slow night in Destin and we’re dead, then I can just close,” he said. “Here, there are rules and I have to stay open until 10 p.m. regardless of how slow it is.”
  
Business at Baytowne Wharf has been steady and is about what Stiles expected when the restaurant opened.
  
“The Village has been trending the same as Okaloosa County — the weekdays are slow and the weekends are good,” he said.
  
While managing both restaurants is a challenge, Stiles credits the team he has in place at the Destin site for allowing him to spend most of his time at Baytowne Wharf.
  
The management at the Village of Baytowne Wharf is pleased with its new neighbor and the business the Stiles have generated.
  
“We’re very pleased with Graffiti’s first month of business, especially since they opened in the shoulder season,” said Kim Layden, director of commercial property for the Village of Baytowne Wharf. “We couldn’t be more thrilled with the wonderful job that Chuck and Carmen have done on the build-out and have received nothing but rave reviews across the board.”

Location

Graffiti and Funky Blues Shack has two locations – one in the Village of Baytowne Wharf and the other in the heart of Destin.

Village of Baytowne Wharf

109 Cannery Lane
Sandestin, FL 32550
(850) 424-6650

Destin

707 Highway 98 East
Destin, FL 32541
(850) 654-3839