- March 20, 2025
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On Feb. 10 about 100 people gathered at a Clearwater manufacturing facility on Mears Court not far from the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport.
The crowd was there that Monday morning for a ribbon cutting, the kind of event that draws local politicians looking to take a victory lap, vendors looking to network and local TV stations looking for B-roll.
The gathering was to commemorate the completion of a $2.2 million, 18,387-square-foot expansion of a company named Florida Seating.
For those there, it was an important moment.
But for those without any dealings with the company, it wasn’t even a blip on the radar.
That’s largely because Florida Seating is one of those companies that quietly go about its business, one that few outside the industry have ever heard of.
But here’s the thing: The next time you are led to a table at a restaurant chain anywhere in the country chances are high the chair you will settle into was built in this unremarkable Clearwater facility.
“We have a business here, a family-owned and operated business for 20 years, that has grown and expanded their footprint significantly,” says Pinellas County Commission Chairperson Brian Scott. “They employ over 80 people. They are becoming a global leader in restaurant supply seating. I couldn't be more thrilled about this.”
Florida Seating has been producing chairs and furniture for restaurant chains and the hospitality industry in Pinellas since 1997.
Today, its clients today include Bloomin’ Brands, Bay Star Restaurant Group, Hooters, PDQ, the Tampa Bay Rays, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, World of Beer and restaurant giant Darden Restaurants. It has even manufactured chairs for Hell’s Kitchen, the Gordon Ramsay restaurant chain based on the hit television show.
With its latest addition, the company’s Pinellas compound includes five buildings across 6.9 acres, totaling about 200,000 square feet. It employs 83.
Behind it all is Maria Nikolova, Florida Seating’s owner and president.
Nikolova, who grew up in Bulgaria, first came to the United State in the early 1990s.
She had earned a bachelor’s in international tourism and made the move from her native country “only with an education and a desire to succeed.”
Settling in Las Vegas, Nikolova attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where she earned a master’s in international tourism in 1998.
After graduation, according to her LinkedIn profile, she worked for nine months as a new product development and marketing analyst for a company named Nikovision.
She then joined the Rio Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, where she spent three years at the property working as a marketing executive. Her duties included targeting multicultural ethnic groups on the east and west coasts.
Then, in 2003, an opportunity came up to buy a small business in Florida, Nikolova says. “I moved to the sunny coast of Pinellas County to pursue this opportunity. It has been my home for 20 years.”
She bought Florida Seating the following year.
According to Pinellas property records, Florida Seating bought the property at 6120 Mears Court Dec. 1, 2014 for $1.7 million. It then sold the property in March 2019 to an LLC named Commercial Seating that, according to state records, was operated by Nikolova.
It was transferred to another LLC, also operated by Nikolova, in January 2202.
(Nikolova spoke about her background and the company at the Feb. 10 event at Florida Seating’s facility. Afterward, she talked with the Business Observer for a few minutes; she did not respond to several subsequent emails to set up an interview or answer more questions. )
“The decision to move and invest here was easy,” she says. “Beautiful beaches, great local tourism industry, no state income taxes and Pinellas County being business friendly area with a lot of potential to grow.”
When she first bought the company, Florida Seating was a chair manufacturer with a small footprint in the county. It had 20 employees and 20,000 square feet of manufacturing space.
The company now specializes in manufacturing furniture for the restaurant, hospitality and design industries as well as commercial indoor and outdoor seating.
Deep in the facility, there’s a showroom housing hundreds of chairs and tables lined from one end of the cavernous room to the other.
While its home is in Pinellas, Nikolova says the company’s business spans the entire U.S., with products designed to be “affordable, trendy and built to withstand the demands of busy hospitality environments.”
She says that the company’s fiscal and physical growth “did not happen overnight.”
“Over the years, I have invested countless hours and personal energy to make Florida Seating succeed. I have continually reinvested into Florida Seating throughout the years, acquiring more warehousing and manufacturing space, hiring more workers, purchasing more equipment, stocking up on inventory from day one.”
Nikolova, however, hasn’t done it alone.
She credits the company’s growth in large part to craftsmanship.
Following the required pomp and circumstance of the Feb. 10 event, employees took attendees on a behind-the-scenes tour of the facility. As the visitors traipsed through their spaces, workers assembled chairs and other furnishings.
Several specialists at one station were handweaving seat bottoms and seatbacks to fill an order for a new Carrabba’s Italian Grill concept restaurant.
“Our employees,” says Nikolova, “bring a remarkable range of skills. Craftsmanship in upholstery and sewing. Welding and assembly for framing and finishing. Logistics and warehousing to manage scheduling and ensure on time customer delivery. Sales administration and customer support to keep our clients satisfied and operations smooth.”
Employment was an important part of the Feb. 10 event. And of the Florida Seating’s expansion.
Of the $2.2 million for the expansion, Pinellas County provided the company with a $606,940 grant from its Employment Sites Program.
The money from the county was used to offset the cost of stormwater improvements, site demolition and sidewalks.
It also allowed the company to hire 10 additional employees.
Nikolova says Florida Seating needed to build the expansion on the former parking lot space to maximize its manufacturing, production and inventory space. But it could not build on the site without the upgrades. And the cost of that was unfeasible without the county’s help.
With the expansion complete, the company is moving forward and will continue to grow — whether you know about it or not.
“I know that when you sit in these seats you're probably feeling a little familiar,” Cynthia Johnson, the director of Pinellas County Economic Development, said at the Feb. 10 event.
At “any Bloom’ Brand restaurant, be it Carrabba's or Outback, you probably sat in one of these seats. Who would ever thought right here in Pinellas County, we have such a dynamic company?”
