Stetson alumnus Chris Marlow, who earned his bachelor’s degree in Family Enterprise in 2012, is striving to change the Central Florida community in a unique way through selling his family restaurant’s signature product.

One of the most popular items on the menu of The Golden Lion Café, his family’s restaurant, located in Flagler Beach since 1993, is the fish and chips served with their signature key lime tartar sauce. As of May 19, this sauce has been selling in over 400 Publix stores. One-half of their profits from this family recipe will be donated to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, a nonprofit organization that donates food to over 550 nonprofit partner agencies in Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties.

Initially, when Marlow began selling his sauce starting on April 15, he donated half of his profits to the Flagler County Resource Center, but he recently partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida because he wanted to expand the number of families he could help.

Marlow accredited much of his growing success to his experiences at Stetson: “I owe everything I know to Stetson,” he said. “I am so fortunate to have studied in the LBC (Lynn Business Center) with some truly amazing professors–Greg McCann, and Peter Begalla, especially–and alongside extremely bright young men and women. Stetson provided me opportunities to speak at conferences outside the school, which led to my incredible internship at Columbia Restaurants. There I saw how the Gonzmart family runs their highly successful restaurant, which inspired me to want to develop The Golden Lion into a small restaurant chain.”

Marlow also credits his mentor, Fred Lane, with teaching him how to conduct himself in the business world. He met Lane in the process of finding scholarships to attend Stetson. “Fred once explained to me that many people ask for people to give, but they never show people how to give,” Marlow explained. “Fred showed me how, and all he asked is that I one day return the favor to someone else.”

Marlow’s decision to sell his key lime tartar sauce was not motivated by financial gains. Rather, he stands by the ethics and morals that Lane and Stetson taught him.

Marlow took on a lot of responsibility directly after graduating college as an active social entrepreneur. Already he has learned a lot. “I have learned that working for yourself means you put in a ton of hours,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t get a day off, and you always get stuck with all the worry. The good news is that I don’t work in a cubicle! Stetson gave me a wonderful education, but that doesn’t mean that I know the answer to every problem. There are a lot of brainstorming sessions, trial and error, and sticking to my gut. The key is to just be relentless.”

Marlow’s actions reflect his relentlessness. His plans for the future are increasingly ambitious. “It is my goal for next year for the Key Lime Tartar Sauce to be accepted into all 1,000 Publix locations. I’m currently putting together a statewide marketing strategy to grow awareness about the product, which will hopefully help us reach our goal.”

Marlow also wants to focus on donating more to Second Harvest, as well as open half a dozen more locations of The Golden Lion Café. He hopes to open a new one by next year and continue serving the freshest seafood on the beachside that so many customers have come to love.

For more information about The Golden Lion Cafe or his other entrepreneurial projects, contact Chris Marlow at [email protected].

by Nicole Melchionda