FMBGN-BIZ-NN-Nervous Nellies-Ruby Shares How She Keeps Nervous Nellies Running Smoothly For Locals And Vacationers

A bar on Fort Myers Beach looks effortless when it is done right, but Ruby tells us what is really happening behind the scenes. We’re at Nervous Nellies on the water, watching the boats roll by, talking with the front-of-house and bar manager who builds schedules, trains staff, and keeps the whole operation moving when the dining room is buzzing.

Ruby also gets personal about Hurricane Ian and what displacement felt like for workers who make the island run. She shares why she left, what she focused on while the restaurant rebuilt, and why hospitality kept pulling her back: the fast pace, the people, and the work family that makes long shifts feel worth it. If you care about Fort Myers Beach restaurants, local recovery stories, or what makes a great guest experience for travelers from around the world, her “restaurant motor” analogy will stick with you.

Then we get into St. Patrick’s Day at Nervous Nellies, one of the biggest Fort Myers Beach events of the season. Ruby previews live music, festive outfits, Irish egg rolls, traditional corned beef and cabbage, and a stacked bar with Guinness plus themed specials like the Lucky Leprechaun shot and the Shamrock Rita. It is part party, part community meetup, and fully a reminder that good hospitality is built on preparation and heart.

If you enjoy the show, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find these Fort Myers Beach stories. What is your favorite St. Patrick’s Day food or drink?

Nervous Nellie's
1131 First St, Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931
(239) 999-8077
nervousnelliesfmb@gmail.com
nervousnellies.net
#NervousNelliesFMB 
#LiveMusic
#WaterfrontDining
#HappyHour
@NervousNelliesFMB

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Transcript

Welcome And Meet Ruby

"Cabo" Jim 0:32

Welcome to another edition of the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor podcast. We're at nervous Nellies again. And we've got Ruby.

Ruby Debondt 0:38

Good morning, thank you so much for having us.

"Cabo" Jim 0:41

Yeah, thanks for coming out and doing this. And um I don't think I officially ever got your title here. What is your title here?

Ruby Debondt 0:49

So I am a manager, a front-of-the-house manager.

"Cabo" Jim 0:52

Um, that's why you get that, right?

Ruby Debondt 0:56

Yeah, that's all. Well, let's put that over there for now.

"Cabo" Jim 0:58

Right.

Ruby Debondt 0:58

Um, so I'm the bar manager.

"Cabo" Jim 1:00

Okay, nice.

Ruby Debondt 1:02

Uh take care of all the uh schedules for the bar, and uh just running and and training that good stuff.

"Cabo" Jim 1:11

How long have you been doing that now?

Ruby Debondt 1:12

So I've been back here for a year. Yeah, and I was here prior to Hurricane.

"Cabo" Jim 1:19

Oh, okay, all right. You found your way back or you moved off island, or did you go somewhere else?

Ruby Debondt 1:24

Well, you know, the hurricane displaced a lot of people a lot of us. And so uh yeah, I had moved off the island then and uh was was picking up on some other things that I had known in in history, uh real estate. And then um I really just I love restaurant hospitality work and I love real estate. And so I had while we were closed and rebuilding, you know, we were closed for what eight months. Um I focused on that and then uh and then came back.

"Cabo" Jim 1:57

When they opened, you came back? There you go.

Ruby Debondt 1:59

Yeah, well it was a little bit after but um missed the family, missed the um environment, and uh I just love the the family that owns the properties and uh restaurants and then the the work family here.

"Cabo" Jim 2:13

They do a good they do a great job. And it's yeah, you know, it's just one of those industries where you try to get away from it, but it pulls you right back in, right?

Ruby Debondt 2:21

It does. I just I you know I don't know what's wrong with me. I love it. I love the fast pace.

"Cabo" Jim 2:27

I love you get to meet people and talk to people, and yeah, it's a fun atmosphere.

Ruby Debondt 2:31

And then when this is your office, your viewers can't stay right now on pirate ships going by. Yeah, right. Yes, the pirate ship is going by. We could see the Coast Guard building run the back bay here, and then if you go a couple of blocks that way, right? You're at the Gulf of America.

"Cabo" Jim 2:48

Exactly, and what a beautiful office you have, right?

Ruby Debondt 2:51

Exactly. You gotta love it. Who who couldn't love this?

Why Hospitality Work Hooks You

"Cabo" Jim 2:54

Exactly. So you've been doing this for a while. What's your favorite part of this job?

Ruby Debondt 3:00

Oh my god.

"Cabo" Jim 3:01

I don't want to put you on the spot, but you know.

Ruby Debondt 3:04

Uh I think just you know, restaurant work is like a motor.

Speaker 3 3:10

Yep.

Ruby Debondt 3:10

You know, is is my best analogy. And it's real fun to be a part of that and make um make strides and making the motor run the most efficiently that it can. And uh and those the the parts are all your people, yeah. Be it your hardworking kitchen staff, be it your bartenders that are mixing up all of our trades, uh, or you know, chef inspiring uh dishes like this uh Irish egg rolls here, yeah. Um and uh to um our servers that are taking care of our people when they come in and just our hosts at the front door, it we're all just a big, a big motor, and what we all have our part. And it's real fun to get to help um orchestrate that and keep the motor running and uh you know help it you know aid that.

"Cabo" Jim 4:05

Well, it's all about the experience people have coming here, not just the food, not just the drink, but the atmosphere and the experience and the service that they get and making sure that all goes well. But at the same time, you want to turn some of those people too because you want to get new people coming in. So it is a it is a different industry because it is a service industry, but it's very fun because you get to deal with different people in different times, some good, some bad.

Ruby Debondt 4:28

It's very gratifying when you have people coming in from all over the world and not just our country, but all over the world coming in to visit Fort Lyers Beach. And when we get to be a play, you know, a small part of their vacation, most people here on vacation. We have our wonderful locals going, but um just have them come in and have them have a good experience, and um, you know, at the end of the day, that's very gratifying to know that you could take you know, take part in making somebody's experience a good one.

Moving To Fort Myers Beach

"Cabo" Jim 5:01

Absolutely. So you're not originally from here, are you?

Ruby Debondt 5:04

I'm not.

"Cabo" Jim 5:05

You're not neither am I, but we got here as quickly as possible, right?

Ruby Debondt 5:08

Not many people are, but um, my grandparents used to live down in Benita Springs. Okay, not too far down the island, um, you know, off the island over in Bonita. And I used to come down as a young teenager and adult to their their house there. This is great. Yes, and so it's wonderful. I celebrated my 21st birthday down there.

"Cabo" Jim 5:33

Well, we won't ask you what bar.

Ruby Debondt 5:35

No, it wasn't Nellie's at the first time. Right, right. But um, but I've done my fair share of celebrating here. Yep, yep. Um, and so I just love the area and um had uh been residing, was born in Maryland and resided in Maryland, Virginia. Okay, kind of back and forth a little bit, and then our kids grew up and we decided why wait. Pandemic was gonna we visited here and felt like okay, the state is open, it's great, let's go.

"Cabo" Jim 6:09

And who doesn't like the view and the atmosphere? And it's a different lifestyle down here, it's just calmer and slower, and you know, but it's fun.

Ruby Debondt 6:17

Yeah, so it's it's calm and slow in some ways if you if you want it to be and retired, and others if you're not completely retired yet, like myself, but you still want the beauty of the palm trees, exactly the ocean air and um warm weather, right?

"Cabo" Jim 6:35

And everybody's in a good mood because they're on vacation, right?

Ruby Debondt 6:40

And we have 360 beautiful days a year.

"Cabo" Jim 6:44

We might have a handful of ones that are we do have one day coming up, and it just so happens that it falls on St. Patrick's Day, right?

Ruby Debondt 6:52

Yes, I know.

"Cabo" Jim 6:53

So let's talk a little bit about that. What are you guys doing for St. Patrick's Day?

Ruby Debondt 6:56

Oh my gosh, so we really have a very, very huge event on St. Patrick's Day here. Um, and for years the family has been doing a huge event, and I've gotten to take part in those, and it's um absolutely um fun. Right. Uh the music is amazing. Uh, we have the dweeds out, we have uh coast to coast open us up. We have uh siren, which I think was formerly rock candy. Okay, so they're a very good band, and uh we have all kinds of great food, um, as we were talking about earlier here. We have these Irish egg rolls, which Chef has designed, created with kind of like a corned beef sandwich, but in an egg roll. I love it. Um so yeah, um I'm gonna try one. I'm gonna try one. I can't partake because I have uh gluten allergies, but we have other things on the menu that don't uh have gluten, by the way. Um what do you think?

"Cabo" Jim 7:58

I love it.

Ruby Debondt 7:59

And that's delicious. And so we'll we're uh he's also I'm ready for St.

"Cabo" Jim 8:03

Patrick's Day, right?

Ruby Debondt 8:04

Yeah, we'll come back out and join us. We also have all the traditional corned beef and potatoes and cabbage and carrots. Um, and then we'll have all kinds of um drinks, specials, and things like that as well. We'll have our out bar outside, our both bars inside will be stocked up. We'll of course have Guinness. Of course, right? Um our Lucky Leprechaun shot, and we'll have our green tea shot, and we'll have a lot of uh and our shamrock reta. Right. Go ahead and give that a on the rocks.

"Cabo" Jim 8:40

Yeah, I love it. And and it's a Tuesday this year, right? Yes, so it's taco and tequila Tuesday, Aze Pepper's Day.

Ruby Debondt 8:51

Yep, you could also everybody Irish uh feast tacos are great, by the way.

"Cabo" Jim 8:58

I love the tacos. Yes, and you're all your margaritas are great, yeah.

Ruby Debondt 9:02

Yes, we uh we have a wide variety of margaritas and of course all of the other goodies, uh draft beer, regular beer, and uh all kinds of other concoctions and drinks to um to try out.

Speaker 3 9:15

So very good.

Ruby Debondt 9:17

Definitely want to get out here on St. Patrick's Day and enjoy the festivities.

"Cabo" Jim 9:21

Um, even if it's a little chillier this you do have indoor seating and indoor bars. So I mean, you don't have to be outside if you don't want to.

Ruby Debondt 9:29

Come in and warm up or whatever, you can do that. Um we say warm up like it's gonna be freezing, but for us it is just be one of those rare pants days. Right, right, right.

"Cabo" Jim 9:38

Oh, I gotta put a jacket on.

Ruby Debondt 9:40

How so annoying? Well, people from other states don't put a jacket on 70 degrees. Yeah, right, right. We do Floridians do now.

"Cabo" Jim 9:48

Exactly.

Ruby Debondt 9:49

They're like, it's great.

"Cabo" Jim 9:50

Yeah, we'll be inside with our hats on and it's nine degrees and cold.

Ruby Debondt 9:55

70 is great.

"Cabo" Jim 9:56

So my mom just got they got 12 inches of snow in Wisconsin last night. She goes, and it's still snowing. I'm like, all right.

Ruby Debondt 10:03

And then you're like, it's gonna be cold Tuesday, it's only gonna be 70. Right.

"Cabo" Jim 10:08

Put them back up to 80 by Wednesday.

Ruby Debondt 10:10

We're spoiled.

"Cabo" Jim 10:12

We're good. But I love it. I love what you guys do here. It's a beautiful view, beautiful atmosphere. And you guys need to come out and check out St. Patrick's Day here. Lots of good things happening, live music, great food, great drinks.

Ruby Debondt 10:25

All of our employees dress up, so everybody will be very festive.

"Cabo" Jim 10:29

So you can dress up too. Come on out, right?

Ruby Debondt 10:32

Dress up, come out and join us, put on your best green and your shamlocks, and uh come listen to the dweeds and uh and join in the festivities with us.

"Cabo" Jim 10:42

Very good. Well, Ruby, it's been a pleasure again. Once again, thank you very much.

Speaker 3 10:46

Thank you.

"Cabo" Jim 10:46

Yes, and we'll see you Tuesday for Tacos, Tequila, and St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, also perfect. Thank you.

Ruby Debondt 10:54

Thank you.

"Cabo" Jim 10:55

I just played my little closing video.

Intro/Close 11:05

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