(Former) New York entrepreneur embraces Florida's freedoms

Buddy Foy is all in on Florida.

His conversion started in late 2020 — first it was more of an anti-New York thing than a straight up pro-Florida move. Back then, a week before Christmas 2020, the noted entrepreneur and restaurant owner opened The Chateau Anna Maria in the Waterline Marina Resort on Anna Maria Island.

Star of the new Food Network TV show Summer Rush, Foy, in a pre-pandemic world, had been operating Chateau by the Lake, a French-inspired eatery in upstate Lake George. Then the pandemic, and specifically what Foy considers arbitrary and capricious restaurant capacity rules imposed by then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, began to crush his business. When indoor dining was banned in New York, for example, Foy says restaurants were only given 24 hours notice to comply. So Foy and family decamped for Florida.