Refreshed circumstances, ‘change of heart’ led to Skipper’s Smokehouse return

Reports of the death of Skipper’s Smokehouse have been greatly exaggerated.

The North Tampa live music venue, restaurant bar and hangout enjoyed four decades of continued success until last September when owner Tom White, weary of taking one financial blow after another because of the Covid-19 pandemic, announced his intention to shut Skipper’s down, sell it to somebody else and go fishing.

“Forty years is a long time,” the Air Force veteran said on The Catalyst Sessions after announcing the closure. “And I think, pretty much enough for someone to be in one business.”

This week, White’s partner, operations manager Cricket Larson, detailed what happened in the intervening eight months.

“It was mostly the day-to-day operations part of it that Tom grew very weary of,” Larson said. “He was over it. As far as the music aspect of it, out agency never closed. And so Tom has always intended to keep the agency, and keep booking music at various venues.

“So with that being said, him continuing to book music at Skipper’s is actually something he enjoys. And something that’s not as time-consuming and life-involving as day-to-day operations.”

So massive re-organizing, combined with a most-welcome second round of PPP funding, brought about a change of heart.

There was more.

“Number one, the community has just begged, pleaded, poked, prodded,” Larson explained. “We have just been bombarded – everything from ‘We miss you guys so much’ to ‘We feel displaced without having Skipper’s to go to’ to ‘You owe it to the community. You have a social responsibility to open back up.’”

White and Larson.

White takes the Skipper’s community seriously, as he does the welfare of his employees. Obtaining financial assistance, he said in September, was massively frustrating. And a mosquito swarm of small creditors like music “administrators” ASCAP and BMI trying to get “blood from a turnip,” made keeping the business going into an uncertain future simply too frustrating.

“Covid pretty much killed us, business-wise,” Larson said. “That seemed like the perfect time to re-tool and re-vamp, and let somebody else come in and carry the legacy.

“But we’ve experienced a lack of proper fit in bringing in new ownership … there have been some folks that came forward. We had serious talks and negotiations with some folks. Some of them went to the wayside when the pandemic got worse. And the hospitality industry was hit especially hard. People were starting to get cold feet about jumping into that industry, and some folks backed out.”

Skipper’s Smokehouse, as a live music venue, would seem to qualify for aid from Congress’ so-called “Save Our Stages” act. The paperwork was submitted, the grant applied for … and, explains Larson, the silence from Washington has been deafening.

Anyway, White didn’t like the idea of Skipper’s expansive collection of audio and production equipment sitting idle for so long.

So instead of waiting a white knight that might never come, he decided to resuscitate the business himself.

“Tom is stepping back from an operations perspective,” explained Larson. “He’s going to continue to book music, but he’s going to remain mostly retired. And so it seemed like we could put something together that would work to re-open and keep the legacy going, basically.”

It’s a gamble they’re happy about taking. “We listened to the community,” said Larson, “and so we really hope they’ll show up for us when we open the doors.”

Although a date has not been chosen, Larson said the venue will most likely re-open in June. Check the Skipper’s Smokehouse Facebook page for updates.