The fortunes of one the most famous restaurants on Longboat Key turned on a text.
That text buzzed into Jason Ghormley’s phone one night in late April. The note, from a friend, delivered sad news: Euphemia Haye, the landmark Longboat Key restaurant Ghormley and his wife, Rachel, had frequented for years, was closing. Jason turned to Rachel upon hearing the news, she says, with a question: Do you want to buy it?
As the Ghormleys pondered the purchase, the longtime co-owner of Euphemia Haye, Ray Arpke, was also busy on the phone. Arpke says his phone was “ringing off the hook,” in late April and early May, as he fielded more than 15 phone calls from potential buyers of the shuttered eatery. Arpke and his wife, D’Arcy Arpke, owned Euphemia Haye from 1980 to 2021. They transitioned ownership of the restaurant — but not the building — to their assistant and longtime bookkeeper, Amy Whitt, just before Christmas in 2021…