FMBGN-BIZ-Tiki Pub FMB-Party Your Way: The Tiki Pub Experience

When Hurricane Ian devastated Fort Myers Beach, Darcy Kuenzel and her family faced a crossroads: rebuild what was lost or create something entirely new. Standing amid the wreckage of their recently purchased marina, they asked themselves a simple question: "What is going to make people happy?" The answer became the Tiki Pub – a floating celebration that embodies the resilient spirit of this beach community.

The Tiki Pub isn't just another party boat; it's a thoughtfully designed experience that adapts to whatever "vibe" guests bring aboard. From Justin Bieber-themed bachelorette parties to Sunday family fun days complete with "kid-ioki," these floating tiki huts create customized celebrations for groups of all types. As Darcy explains, "Whatever your form of fun is, we enhance your theme."

What makes this business truly remarkable is how it was built with lessons learned from disaster. Everything is movable, allowing them to quickly secure their assets before storms and reopen almost immediately afterward. This adaptive approach has proven invaluable during subsequent weather events, but their commitment extends beyond self-preservation. The Tiki Pub regularly offers free cruises to neighbors struggling with recovery, supports local animal rescue organizations, and celebrates what many would call "off-season" as "local season" – a special time when year-round residents can enjoy their paradise without the crowds.

With three vessels now in their fleet, including their original 25-passenger boat, a new 28-passenger "Islandside" craft, and a six-passenger tiki with a water slide, the family-run operation has become a symbol of Fort Myers Beach's comeback. Ready to experience the joy yourself? Visit tikipubfmb.com or call 239-800-8454 to book your own customized cruise and be part of the community's inspiring journey from devastation to celebration.

Tiki Pub - Ft Myers Beach
Darcy Kuenzel
18450 San Carlos Blvd Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931
[phone]
[e-mail]
tikipub.com/fortmyersbeach

Ft Myers Beach-Good Neighbor
To Nominate Someone to be Featured
Or
To Subscribe to the Newsletter
CLICK HERE
https://cabowabojim.com/listen-to-podcasts/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor
Podcast, where the sun's alwaysshining and the stories are even
brighter.
Each episode we bring youcloser to the neighbors, local
legends and beachside businessesthat make Fort Myers Beach the
slice of paradise we all love.
Pull up a beach chair, grab adrink and let's meet the people
who make this island feel likehome.
We want to send out some islandlove to Eric Tibbs from Edward

(00:21):
Jones State Insurance, usa andHome Well Care Services Fort
Myers.
Love to Eric Tibbs from EdwardJones State Insurance, usa and
Home Well Care Services FortMyers.
They are the businesses thatallow us to share the soul of
our community with everylistener, from local stories to
the positive vibe of island life.
Here's to celebrating all thatmakes Fort Myers Beach the slice
of paradise we all love.
Here's your host, cabo, jimSchaller.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome, fort Myers Beach Good Neighbors to another
episode of the Fort Myers BeachGood Neighbors, to another
episode of the Fort Myers BeachGood Neighbor podcast.
Today we have good neighborDarcy Kuenzel from the Tiki Pub,
fort Myers Beach.
Welcome, and we're actually onthe boat.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yes, we are.
Thank you for having us, we are.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
It's not moving now.
We're not going anywhere, notright now, not yet.
So let's start off by why don'tyou share a little bit about
what you do with the Tiki Pub?

Speaker 3 (01:05):
So Tiki Pub is a party boat and when I say party,
I mean it's party your way.
So, depending on your vibe,your vibe may be super crazy and
we can handle that, and yourvibe may be kids birthday party.
So, whatever your vibe is, welive up to what you're looking
to do.
We enhance your theme.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
It's all about having fun, right?

Speaker 3 (01:27):
It's all about having fun, Whatever your form of fun
is.
For example, this weekend wehave a Justin Bieber-themed
bachelorette party.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Really.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Super excited about it.
Yes, these girls are crazy good.
So it's all about whatever youwant to do, we just take your
vibe, no Swifties.
We've had Swifty tours.
Yep, we have.
Whatever works, whatever floatsyour boat.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
That's it.
That's it.
I don't have a rocker guys.
There you go.
You can do that too.
Tequila, it's about the tequila.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
We've done those too, I love that.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
I love that.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
So did you get involved in all this?
Um, so after ian came anddesecrated our world and
everybody's world around us, um,we had a bunch of space and
nothing here because it was allgone and we basically had a
blank slate.
And so we thought what is goingto make people happy?
What is a happy thing to do,because there's not a lot of
happy going on here.
Yeah.
So we thought tiki Tiki soundsgood, right.
So we bought a tiki boat andnow we sell happy there we go

(02:31):
and what did you do before?
I've been a dance professional.
My life Really Dance andfitness and all that fun stuff.
Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, so it was a natural segue.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
My husband's a great business man and I jump around
on a boat.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
There you go, there's the combo.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
There you go.
You've got to love that.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
So running a business by the beach sounds like a
dream job, right who?

Speaker 1 (02:52):
doesn't want to work by the beach right.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
For sure, yeah, but we have storms that we deal with
and we've had a lot of stormslately, some good, some bad,
mostly bad.
But is there something thatwe've learned from all that?

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yes, be smart with your stuff.
So what we've done is, when webought the Marina, which was
only a few months before Ian hit, we were like how bad could it
be, right?
Yeah, well, we know how bad itwas, yeah.
So we learned a huge lesson andwhat we decided to do was make

(03:28):
everything movable.
So over the course of thefollowing years, we had several
back-to-back storms and weliterally put all of our stuff
in or on a truck, took it awayand we were able to literally
put it together the next day andthe following day we're like
this is the way to go.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Right you know.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
So our boats went upstream and all of our stuff
around us that you see isportable.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
I love it.
I was talking to somebody theother day.
It's like unfortunately it'snot something I wanted to be
good at, but you learn throughthe process that certain things
need to be done in advance toprotect yourself in the future
For sure.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
We were amongst the lucky ones.
I mean, we lost our home, welost our business.
We have the resources to beable to rebuild.
There are lots of people ourfriends, our neighbors that have
not been able to do that, andso we try to help those people
by saying you know what, youjust need a break.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Get your little butt out here on the Tiki Pub.
We're not going to charge youanything, just go clear your
head and have a great ride.
And you know, when you getperspective you're like, oh, you
see things so much more clearlythat's it.
That's what I go to the beach,but tiki pub's a good thing too
it clears your mind, lets youthink and escape reality for a
while you can't help but have agood time, and we love our

(04:50):
locals.
Our locals have supported usthrough everything and we don't
slow down, we don't close down,we don't do anything during what
we call.
It's not off season on Tiki Pub, it's local season.
Right, it's when the locals getto come out and they get to
enjoy Tiki Pub because they'renot crazy busy like they are
during peak season, yep, so wecelebrate that.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
We live here to celebrate that stuff and that's
exactly what we do.
So you touched on it a littlebit about community and how
important that is and how youknow really, through all this,
it's really about the communitytogether.
Are there certain things thatyou're doing to help give back
to the community?

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, we do a lot of different stuff.
We put our names on some stuffand we don't put our names on
some stuff.
So I'm kind of a big believerin not taking credit for doing
stuff that you do, just do itfor the good of doing it.
So, yeah, we've done a lot ofstuff kind of under the table,
sending our crew out todifferent places to just help
homeowners, business owners,just get them up and running.

(05:50):
We do a lot of stuff withrescues, animal rescues we're
constantly having some kind ofbenefit going on here or
promotion for these amazingplaces like Guardians of Florida
or Team Moose and there areothers that are fantastic as
well, but those two just kind ofstand out in my head and they

(06:13):
invest all of their time intohelping these animals, tons of
which were stranded after.
Sure right, yes, and these otherstorms, and they just don't
stop ever.
They just keep on going, likeour local people that are just
still working hard because welook a lot better, it looks a
lot better, but everybody'sstill fighting.
You know, we're all stilltrying to get it up and running

(06:35):
and back to where we were.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
There's still a long way to go, but it's getting
better every day, every day it's.
It's just what's great.
Driving around and checking outwhat's going on every day, you
see something new popping up forsure.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
It's amazing and it's exciting there's an energy
coming back, which is great.
Yep, I love it I love it.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
So are you from southwest?

Speaker 3 (06:51):
florida?
No, no, I'm from Kennebunkport,maine.
What Right, yep, that's?

Speaker 2 (06:57):
a long way up there.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
It is.
It's great in the summer, so wego and we vacation up there.
But this is our life now.
We've been here for 20 yearsand just love it.
There is no other place.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
No, that's what I mean.
That's why we live here,because we can do stuff like
this and be outside year round.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
Right and everybody's happy People show up for TV.
I don't like that.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
So owning a business can be very demanding of your
time, right.
So when you do get a freemoment other than being on a
tiki boat, what do you enjoydoing?

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Well, I have five kids Okay, so I enjoy doing well
, I have five kids okay, so Ienjoy doing anything that they
enjoy so we spend some goodfamily time.
We, every now and then we sneakout on one of our boats and
we're just like but yeah, mykids are athletes, so I, I love
going to their games, but I, Ihonestly, I just like being here

(07:51):
, yeah, so today I'm not working, as you can see yeah, and I'll
be here all day because I loveit.
I love the people that show up.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Being around the atmosphere and your kids helping
you out too.
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yes, one of my daughters is a manager and
another one works at the frontdesk and does some stuff around
here and positive, happy people.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Positive, happy family right.
Happy family, that's the bestpart.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
The crew that we have .
They all go out and hang outwhenever they're not working and
everybody gets along.
It is really a family here.
I love it.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Whether you're family or not, you're still family,
everybody's family.
That's what I love.
I love it.
So is there one thing you wishour listeners knew about the
Tiki Pub that maybe they're nottoo familiar with?

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Just how much fun it is, you know.
And we are family friendly.
I know a lot of the videos thatI put up are, you know, like
crazy.
Um, but those are the evenings.
You know the evenings.
We do say you know 18 and up,and it's not because anything
crazy happens on the boat, butit's because if you're an older
person, if you're my age oryou're even if you're in your,
you know your late 20s, youdon't want to go out and cut

(08:58):
loose when you've got like afive-year-old because you want
to respect that.
But we do do a lot of Sundayfamily fun days and lots of
kid-friendly tours and we havekid-ioki.
So we're known for karaoke, wedo our karaoke.
We call them tiki-oki.
We have kiddos out here andthey are hula-hooping at the

(09:21):
front of the boat.
We take them out to the sandbar.
They're swimming like littlefish, having a ball singing at
the top of their lungs.
And our entertainers on board.
We have an entertainer on everyone of our cruises.
They're super kid friendly.
So they recognize the need forparents to, you know, sit down
and enjoy some fun in the sun,and there's nothing that a
parent likes better than sittingand watching their kids

(09:42):
joyfully play.
And our entertainers make surethat they can do that.
You know they'll take the kidsand they're like hey, mom and
dad watch this kind of thing,while mom and dad are just kind
of kicking it.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
I love it.
So you've got different typesof tours that you do, right,
yeah?
And do you have to be part of agroup to come on board, or you
can just no, we sell tickets andwe do private cruises as well.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
So one person can hop on a cruise, so, but we also do
private parties as well, um.
So whatever your vibe is, we,we accommodate it.
So this, the boat that we'resitting on, um, has 25
passengers, okay.
And then, um, we just startedannouncing that we are taking
over tipsy tiki, which which islocated we're calling it

(10:23):
Islandside.
It's right in front of NervousNellie's Snug Harbor.
So that passenger boat willhave 28 passengers.
It will be a BYOB vessel, justlike all of our vessels are BYOB
, so we will have the capacitywith that 28 and this 25.
And we have a six-passengerTiki that has a water slide on

(10:46):
it, so that's a lot of fun.
So we've been doing really bigparties, weddings.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
I love it.
So you're saying I have tobring a bigger bottle of tequila
to share with everybody.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
You might have to, and we've got shots.
He's right over there, so wejust line it right up.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
There we go Tiki and tequila right over there, just
line it right up, there we goTiki and tequila.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
They kind of go together.
I love it.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I love it.
I love it.
So how would our listeners goabout contacting you if they
were interested in booking thetour or just learning more?

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Sure, so you can go online at tikipubfmbcom.
You can see all of our cruisesbooked from there, or you can
give me a call if you want tocustomize it, if you want to go
on a Justin Bieber tour, or ifyou're a 50, or football cruises
.
We do a ton of football cruisesIf you're a football person
who's your team?
Do you have a team?

Speaker 2 (11:30):
I was born in Wisconsin, so I kind of like
them, but.
I became a Cowboy fan becausethe Packers weren't very good
and they also had cheerleaders.
Don't judge me, Don't judge me.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
No judgment here.
No judgment zone.
I'm a Broncos fan, so we're upand coming Right.
We're coming back after Peyton.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
There, you go.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
It's a bad story, so, but yeah, so we do those two.
Whatever your vibe is, you cancall me at 239-800-8454 and I
can customize anything.
Very good, I think you're atthe best cruise for you.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
I love it.
Any last words for ourlisteners today Go.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Fort Myers Beach.
Yes, it's coming back.
It's coming back strong.
Let's go.
We're going to be here for ityou need to be here for it too.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
So well, darcy, it's been a pleasure getting to know
you.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Thank you for being such a you take care have a
great day.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Thanks for tuning in to the fort myers beach good
neighbor podcast, wherecommunity meets paradise.
If you loved what you heard,share it with a friend and keep
the good vibes going until nexttime.
Stay sunny, stay salty and keepbeing a good neighbor.
Also, to nominate your favoriteneighbors, local legends,
heroes or island businesses tobe on the show, go to
cabooWaboJim.
com.
That's CaboWaboJim.

(12:41):
com, or call 239-427-4100.
We want to send out some islandlove to Eric Tibbs from Edward
Jones State Insurance USA andHome Well Care Services Fort
Myers.
They are the businesses thatallow us to share the soul of
our community with everylistener, from local stories to
the positive vibe of island life.
Here's to celebrating all thatmakes Fort Myers Beach the slice

(13:02):
of paradise we all love.