Ortt did great work, so will Touch of Italy

What a difference eight years make.

Plagued by rotating management, declining patronage, big plans and grand failures, the Ocean Pines Yacht Club and Beach Club had pretty much bottomed out in Fiscal Year 2018, missing their budget by somewhere around a million dollars.

Revenue projections were off by more than $850,000, and personnel expenses were more than $100,000 over budget, contributing mightily to the $1.6 million loss the Ocean Pines Association realized that budget year.

And then everything changed, following the board of directors’ decision in April 2018 to outsource food and beverage operations to the Matt Ortt Companies.

The turnaround was immediate, and those operations have not looked back since, producing as they did positive results year after year.

For that, Ocean Pines owes a debt of gratitude to the Ortt organization as it moves on to pursue opportunities in Ocean City, and a new company arrives Tuesday to take over Ocean Pines’ food and beverage opportunities.

That company, the Touch of Italy Group, will undoubtedly keep up the good work. It is a professional operator that has been proving itself in this area for the past 15 years with its highly successful restaurants in Ocean City and on the Delaware coast, among others.

Led by its confident and outgoing owner Bob Ciprietti and finance man Rick Lawrence, who could find a decimal point in a haystack, the company isn’t kidding when it says Ocean Pines residents and customers of its restaurants can believe it when Ciprietti  says he and his staff will deliver an outstanding product.

To the Matt Ortt Companies, it’s goodbye, thanks for everything, and best of luck on your new venture on Ocean City’s Boardwalk, and to Touch of Italy it’s welcome aboard and thanks for stepping up to the plate(s). We look forward to your success.