provided to The Santiva Chronicle
HM Restaurant Group celebrates the holiday season with online gift card promotions for its family of Southwest Florida and St. Petersburg restaurants – Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, Dixie Fish Company and the newly opened Bonita Fish Company. Online shoppers receive a free $20 gift card with every $100 gift card purchase. Visit shopdocfords.com to take advantage of this limited-time holiday deal through Wednesday, Dec. 31.
Recipients can redeem their gift cards at HM Restaurant Group’s award-winning Southwest Florida and St. Petersburg area restaurants, open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Doc Ford’s: Renowned for its legendary guest experience, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille offers locations on Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach, the St. Petersburg Pier and Jungle Terrace in St. Petersburg and features a unique balance of flavors inspired by the Caribbean Rim. Beloved for its sauces, spices and signature Yucatán shrimp served daily, Doc Ford’s is highly regarded by locals and visitors alike as a spectacular seafood restaurant.
Established on Sanibel in 2003, the restaurant is a perennial Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Award winner. The St. Petersburg Pier location was named the nation’s No. 1 restaurant for Best of the Best Restaurants for Everyday Eats in 2023.
Dixie Fish Company: Celebrating its 10th anniversary this past January, Dixie Fish Company offers revered service and the freshest seafood in Southwest Florida. Established on Fort Myers Beach in 1937 as The Dixie Fish Co., a wholesale and retail fish market, the waterfront restaurant honors its origins by serving the catch of the day and best-sellers, including apple moonshine-spiked mussels, grouper Reuben, whole fried fish and Yucatán shrimp tacos.
Offering open-air waterfront dining overlooking scenic Matanzas Pass and live music most nights, Dixie Fish Company is a 2023 Yelp Top 100 Florida Restaurant and ranked No. 2 of Tripadvisor’s 75 Fort Myers Beach restaurants. Its buttermilk-battered fried whole fish, served the “Dixie way” with garlic butter sauce, was featured on The Food Network. Menu items are made from scratch and made to order.
Bonita Fish Company: HM Restaurant Group’s newest restaurant, the highly anticipated Bonita Fish Company on Fort Myers Beach opened Nov. 3 with a menu highlighting fresh seafood and signature dishes like shrimp and grits, grouper and hot chicken sandwiches, house-smoked mullet and brisket.
Also serving brunch Friday through Sunday, the restaurant was originally built in 1926 and honors Fort Myers Beach’s rich coastal heritage and its predecessors. Overlooking Matanzas Pass, Bonita Fish Company also offers Bayside Private Events, an indoor-outdoor waterfront event venue accommodating plated dinners for 70 guests and up to 150 people for standing receptions. A floating dock marina with 30 to 35 slips and annual leases opens in 2026.
A Gulfshore Business 2025 Best Places to Work, HM Restaurant Group is envisioning a revitalization of Fisherman’s Wharf as a destination for dining, entertainment, waterfront and marina access on Fort Myers Beach.
Philanthropy and community outreach are engrained in the company philosophy. Proceeds from specialty cocktails at Doc Ford’s and Dixie Fish Company have raised money for water quality issues and over $133,000 to support children’s hospitals in Fort Myers and St. Petersburg. HM Restaurant Group also supports local nonprofits dedicated to conservation, community, education and the environment. The annual “Ding” Darling & Doc Ford’s Tarpon Tournament has donated over $1.57 million to conservation and water-quality research at Sanibel’s J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The 14th annual tournament is May 15, 2026.
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