Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, February 29, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 076 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
John Valentino got into the restaurant business 14 years ago when he opened Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers on Southside Boulevard.
The intrigue of restaurants John Valentino’s mantra is ‘always make it better’
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor
First Coast Success
John Valentino opened his first restaurant in Jacksonville 14 years ago. That was a Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers along Southside Boulevard in the Tinseltown area. He followed that with more Mellow Mushroom franchises in Fleming Island, Jacksonville Beach, River City Marketplace and Avondale. He is looking for a site in the Bartram Park area. That wasn’t all. Since 2014, he has been a partner and CEO of the Gallery Restaurant Group, which owns the Burrito Gallery and Uptown Kitchen & Bar. The group owns the Burrito Gallery restaurant Downtown, while Valentino and
the group’s managing member own the Burrito Gallery in Riverside and are building one at the Beaches. Sites are in review for the Tinseltown area, Orange Park, Bartram and St. Augustine. The group also owns Uptown Kitchen & Bar in Springfield. He would like to expand that concept into Tinseltown, Bartram and the Beaches. Last summer, he bought The French Pantry in Southside and will open another in Westside. It’s a collective big business. The concepts employ 707 people. Success
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Photos by Bobby King
Freight concerns hit CSX, Landstar
The outlook for freight transportation is bleak over the coming months, and that is impacting a couple of significant Jacksonville-based companies, CSX Corp. and Landstar System Inc. Analysts at Morgan Stanley last week downgraded their ratings on both companies, as part of an overall look at the state of the freight transportation market. The analysts said in their report the outlook for railroads is “unfavorable” and rated CSX at the bottom of their rankings of rail stocks. Their concerns go beyond freight demand in the coming months. “Rather than near-term expectations, we are more concerned about the mediumlong term outlook at the rails. Simply put, we do not know where the growth is going to come from through the end of the decade and beyond,” they said. CSX actually started last week on a high note, with a triple dose of good news Monday. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analysts upgraded their rating on the stock from “neutral” to “buy” and CNBC commentator Jim Cramer touted the stock on his “Squawk on the Street” show. Cramer said he thought CSX’s stock had bottomed out, so he would buy it. Monday also was the day CSX was added to the Nasdaq-100 stock index, and stocks generally benefit from joining major indexes because managers of funds tied to the indexes have to buy the stock to keep the funds consistent. That all sent CSX’s stock up as much as $1.20 Monday to $25.71, its highest level Basch continued on Page A-10
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Prep cook Sceara Davis readies sauces unique to Burrito Gallery.
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Prosecutor, public defender races heating up
By David Chapman Staff Writer It will be another six months before Jacksonville voters head to the polls to determine their next state attorney and public defender. They’ll have options in both races this time around. One pits a favored mainstay, Angela Corey, versus her critically outspoken former deputy, Wes White, a race in which money has flowed to Corey. The other involves an embattled incumbent, Matt Shirk, against an opponent with almost two
Public
decades on the bench, Charles Cofer, in a race in which neither campaign has had much time to make a financial splash. There’s still plenty of time for debates, appearances and contributions. Each candidate says as much, but there are storylines and trends emerging heading toward the Aug. 30 primary.
State Attorney’s race
Both Corey and White say their campaigns are going smoothly. Each of them has been in the legal races the longest, Corey since May and White since March.
legal notices begin on page
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From a distance, it seems that where the similarities might end. Corey, the two-time incumbent, has opened a wide financial margin over White, her former Nassau County office head. To date, Corey has collected more than $251,000 compared to White’s almost $28,000. White admits fundraising has been “really, really tough” but said he hopes after the May qualifying period more people will step up if just two candidates are in the race. “We’re working hard, going from one place to another and being well received by the pub-
lic,” said White. “I think we’re having an impact.” He’s made the rounds to law offices, bridge clubs, Bar functions and even places like the Corey Northeast Florida Scottish Games & Festival over the weekend. White says support has come in private. But, he said, donors — especially those in the legal community — are being guarded about publicly showing support
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and writing checks. “They’re concerned about repercussions,” he said. It’s one of the many reasons he believes a change in lead- White ership is needed. To get back to a system where power isn’t “believed to be locked in one person’s hands” and people can express themselves publicly. White has been critical of Election continued on Page A-11
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