The restaurant includes a play area for children, and offers other menu itemssuch as garlic peanuts, fried pork chops, and fruit kabobs. Sweet Racks seats 60 and is open every day except Monday. 'When we tell people we're out of food, they come back the next day,' Cherek said, noting that he encouraged customers to call ahead and order their rack of ribs.Ĭherek said Sweet Racks marinates its barbecue chicken and ribs, sears the meat, smokes it, and then puts it back in the marinade to give it its formidable taste. The couple said local response has been overwhelming since they opened in March, with customers particularly taken with their sauce. To get started, Dolar and Cherek have relied on used equipment, pots and pans from their home, and a skeleton crew comprised of them, Wise, and Cherek's father, Ben, and family members. 'We just go, 'taste it, taste it, taste it,'' Dolar said, adding, 'and so far, so good.' To get the word out about their business and its Tocino Style barbecue ribs, chicken, and chicken sandwiches, Dolar and Cherek said they have turned to 'guerrilla style' person-to-person marketing.ĭolar said she has stood at public beach access areas and offered beach visitors a sampling of their barbecue, and Cherek said he has visited some of the Beach's bars with a rack of ribs. We tell local Panama City news & weather stories, and we do what we do to make Panama City, and the rest of Northwest Florida PanhandleStrong. 'We're building a life, career, and a community one rib at a time,' Dolar said. Linda Ordonez, Dolar's mother and a Panama City physician, died in June 2008.ĭolar said she and Cherek returned to Bay County to take care of her mother's affairs.īoth had trouble finding jobs comparable to their previous employment in Chicago, Dolar said, and decided to cash in their retirement and take the plunge into the restaurant business.Ī former city council candidate in Chicago, Dolar said neither she nor Cherek was afraid to try a new venture or face a challenge. The opening of Sweet Racks is the couple's first foray into restaurant ownership.ĭolar, a Rutherford High School graduate, worked most recently in Chicago as a liaison to the mayor's office, while Cherek served as a Chicago police officer. Panama City News Herald (Panama City, FL) Celebrating Bays Beginning: A Pictorial Retrospective of Bay County, Florida 1900s - 2000s Cover Panama City News. researching the legal ad section of the Panama City News Herald or Bay County Bullet. 'Our business concept is, the way we did it in Chicago is the way we do it here,' Dolar said Friday, as she sat with Cherek and restaurant manager Aaron Wise in Sweet Racks' dining area. Bill Kinsaul, Clerk of Court & Comptroller of Bay County Florida. In 1962, the paper was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for. The couple still cooks their distinctive brand of barbecue in a casual atmosphere, but now it's on a nightly basis at their Panama City Beach restaurant.ĭolar and Cherek opened Sweet Racks on Thomas Drive, on March 7. The Panama City News Herald is the biggest daily paper serving the Bay County area.

News herald panama city fl