When Hurricane Irma barreled into the Upper Keys in September 2017, David Fulmer’s canal-front breakfast and lunch eatery, Made 2 Order, was right in its path. As was the case with many waterfront properties, the damage was extensive.
Three feet of water poured into the restaurant, drenching everything in sight. The ceiling dropped and the sign blew off the top. Fulmer worked nonstop over the next three weeks to reopen his doors and return to serving the community.
Hurricane Irma was one of several challenges the restaurateur faced and survived over the years. Especially trying was the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. When restaurants were forced to close, Fulmer pivoted and started offering food delivery service, almost immediately.
“Anybody that was working here that had a car was delivering food,” recalled Fulmer’s friend of 20 years, Jeffrey Killian.
Fast forward almost four-and-a-half years later and Killian, who now lives in Clearwater, was back at Made 2 Order, this time helping his friend shutter up the restaurant for good.
The two friends spent several days breaking down tables and carrying out chairs to be taken to a storage facility. Most of the kitchen equipment had already been sold. Made 2 Order, a popular brunch and lunch spot, is now permanently closed.
Father’s Day was the last day meals were served at Made 2 Order, located on the Creekside Inn property at MM 90 along the Old Highway in Islamorada.
Fulmer did not want to elaborate as to why the restaurant closed down, but through public records, this is what is known about the proposed changes to the Creekside Inn property, which housed Made 2 Order.
On June 10, an attorney representing Creekside Inn, which is owned by the same company as the Islander Resort, went before the Village of Islamorada Local Planning Agency asking members to approve a zoning change that would allow it convert all 50 Creekside Inn motel rooms into a multifamily affordable workforce housing development with roughly 12 units. Under the proposal, the rights to Creekside’s 50 motel/hotel units would be transferred to the Islander Resort in Upper Matecumbe.
During the meeting on June 10, when asked about the future of the restaurant building itself, the attorney petitioning for the zoning amendment said he did not know of any intent for the restaurant.
Fulmer says he has no regrets.
“We had a good run,” he said of Made 2 Order’s 16 years in business. “The community has been here with us the whole time and it’s just been a blessing,” he added.
Fulmer credits his mother for much of his success. When his daughter was just an infant, his mother moved from Pennsylvania to the Keys to help care for his daughter, giving him the ability to work the required long restaurant hours and grow his business.
The chef’s fondest memories come from working with all of the high school students who passed through the doors and grew with the restaurant over the years.
“The kids that came through here, that’s the best part,” recalled Fulmer.
Many of those kids would come back year after year while in college to pick up summer work.
Jack Owens started working at Made 2 Order when he was 15 years old. He worked every single weekend and once in college, would work at the restaurant during the summer.
Owens is now 24 and lives in Orlando. On a recent trip back home to Islamorada he received a call from his former boss, a call that he was not expecting.
“I got a phone call and he was like, ‘yeah, I’m closing down the restaurant,’” recalled Owens.
“I knew eventually it might happen, but it was not the phone call I was expecting to answer right now,” he added. Owens quickly rolled up his sleeves and helped Fulmer move the last pieces of furniture from the restaurant.
As for Fulmer, he plans to move back to his hometown of Pittsburgh. His 14-year-old daughter will be starting high school in the fall and he wants to enjoy that time with her.
Down the road, Fulmer plans to open a food truck and is not ruling out a return to the Florida Keys. Being a chef is his passion.
“It was fun, it was a good time,” said Fulmer of his time owning Made 2 Order. “One of the best things about being a chef, if you’re passionate about it, and you really love it, just like any other job, it never seems like work.”
