- December 13, 2025
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The bigger is better mantra has dominated the restaurant industry for years.
The average seating capacity per restaurant in the United States, for example is 75, according to a report from Toast, a point of sale platform for restaurants and retail businesses. Olive Garden, one of the largest chains in the country, seats around 130 people, Toast adds in a report.
While that strategy, for the most part, has worked, a pair of veteran restaurateurs — one from the Southeast, one from the Midwest — seeks to squash the bigger is better theory. And those entrepreneurs, Monte Silva and Mark Bodenstein, aim to do that starting in Sarasota, through a new hospitality group. Other locations in the region could be next.
Going smaller is even in the name: Ten Tables Hospitality. While not every location will be small, the focus is on delivering high-quality dining experiences in part by having fewer tables.
Silva is the CEO and Bodenstein is the COO and corporate chef. The duo opened the first location, Comida, on State Street in downtown Sarasota in June. (It replaces A Spring of Thyme, a Mediterranean eatery. Before that, the spot was Rise & Nye's, a coffee and ice cream shop that provided jobs for people with developmental disabilities.)
Comida in Sarasota is Ten Tables' proof of concept, with plans to open several more in the next couple of years. The restaurant — comida means “food” in Spanish — provides Latin American fare in a 1,300-square-foot eatery with 53 seats. It has 10 tables inside and three on the patio.
By creating a smaller restaurant, Bodenstein says, the business can deliver “high quality very consistently.”
Their recipe began with research; the partners say they looked at what the Sarasota restaurant scene had to offer and decided Latin American cuisine was an area where they could shine.
“We don't just want to bring another, even if it's elevated above everybody else,” Silva says. Instead, the goal was to deliver something a little different than what is available in the area.
So far, the top dish is guacamole, which is made to order and features hand-cut rather than pureed avocados, according to Bodenstein. Other best sellers are the tostadas, ceviche and steaks, which are grass-fed. Bodenstein notes the restaurant is gluten-free; all sauces are vegetarian and vegan; and it uses seed-free oils, relying on avocado and olive oil, and does not use soy.
"Mark has a mission of nurturing people's bodies and providing healthier options," says Silva, who adds: "We also have a mission to create a culture in our restaurants that creates great experiences for our people." And creating a strong culture begins with employees.
About a dozen employees work at Comida.
The restaurant provides “transformational hospitality,” Silva says, rather than transactional. “If we can create [an] authentic connection of human beings, then we're offering something you can't get anywhere else, because restaurants don't do that well.”
Several have approached Comida about working there, including those from out of state, the owners say.
“If you become the employer of choice,” Silva says, “people want to work for you.”
Bodenstein and Silva came to the area from Cincinnati and Nashville, respectively.
Silva, general manager of multiple restaurants in Nashville, went on to hold executive positions in three hospitality groups there in the last decade. He also became a business coach for restaurateurs in 2020.
Bodenstein was part of a hospitality group in Cincinnati. The two met when Silva applied for a job in the industry in Ohio. Bodenstein gave him some guidance, and the two became friends.
Silva, who in 2024 wrote a book called "Shift Happens: 7 proven Strategies to Help Your Restaurant Crush the New Economy," says his goal as an employer is to create a “culture of support. Let’s hire talented people and get out of the way.”
Comida’s owners say they look to hire employees who will have a stake in the business; for example, one server/assistant manager at Comida will become the general manager and then managing partner, Silva says.
To promote their vision for high-quality dining experiences through smaller restaurants, Bodenstein and Silva launched Ten Tables Hospitality in December.
The company offers three things, according to Silva: restaurants, which will include Comida and others to come; a management company for restaurant owners who want help with operations; and a consulting firm.
“We want to open up three, four different kinds of concepts,” Silva says of Ten Tables Hospitality, including Comida.
Having a small restaurant means they could flip the concept if needed, the owners say. Silva and Bodenstein say they are leasing the Comida space, and if after 10 years, the area calls for another type of cuisine, they could easily turn the restaurant into something else to suit the tastes of the community.
While Comida has 10 tables inside and can seat more than 50, the owners say they may open some places with a capacity of around 120 so they can get a full liquor license.
"We're not saying that every restaurant is going to be 10 tables," Silva says. "We probably will have a few restaurants [with 120 seats], but even 120 isn't a big restaurant. We just feel like, not only can we control the quality of food coming out of the kitchen, but we can control the dining experience from a service and hospitality aspect, and we're proving it because we have 118 five-star reviews." As of late August, Comida had received more than 140 five-star Google reviews.
As far as management, Ten Tables Hospitality is looking for owners who want to get out of the business or take on a partner.
The mission of the company, from ownership to management to consulting, is to provide a ”phenomenal guest experience,” according to Silva, who aims to have 10 restaurants in the group’s portfolio.
Silva says the company is currently looking to add more Comida locations in Bradenton, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Clearwater, where it hopes to open them in the next two years.
