Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville is honoring educators by giving away fifteen trips to Margaritaville destinations:

Teachers have reinvented their classrooms in all kinds of ways this year and continue to be an integral part of keeping communities moving. Margaritaville believes it is time to pay it forward. The global lifestyle brand is celebrating all educators, from teachers to school counselors, who have helped families navigate a difficult year with their first ever “Educators: Our Everyday Heroes” Giveaway. From May 3 to June 24, 15 nominated educators, plus one grand prize winner, from around the U.S. will win an escape to a Margaritaville destination.

Anyone with an excellent educator in their life is eligible to nominate him or her for a chance to win a much-needed vacation. All submissions must be made through www.margaritaville.com/educators and nominations must include a photo of the educator or the person submitting the nomination along with a caption as to why their favorite teacher, counselor and/or administrator deserves a trip full of fun and relaxation. Winners will be selected based on a range of criteria including earned votes and sharing activity as well as insights from Margaritaville’s selection committee on originality and overall story.

One grand prize winner will receive the ultimate escape to the brand-new Margaritaville Beach Resort Nassau in the Bahamas. The island getaway destination features white-sand beaches, sunshine, laid-back, tropical accommodations, spectacular food, fun activities, and more frozen cocktails than one could imagine. Valued at over $25K, the winner and their group will win a 7-night retreat to the beach resort, accommodations in the coveted 2-bedroom Jimmy Buffett Suite, dinner at JWB Prime Steak and Seafood, luxurious spa treatments, and more.

Other participating destinations include Margaritaville Beach Resort Playa Flamingo Costa Rica, Margaritaville Resort Times Square, Margaritaville Resort Palm Springs, Margaritaville Island Reserve Riviera Cancún, Margaritaville Beach Hotel Jacksonville Beach, and many more. In addition to a $1,000 travel voucher for the group, the winners and their guests will be treated to daily breakfast (or a comparable resort credit) and other amenities.

Winners will be announced by July 1 and deserving educators may plan their trip at any time until the end of December 2022.

For more information, visit https://www.margaritaville.com/educators.

There were some developments this week in Jimmy Buffett’s vast business empire.

Buffett’s latest hotel opened in Jacksonville, Florida last week:

The Jimmy Buffett-themed, 202-room hotel from Margaritaville and Elite Hospitality is now open to guests. The new building features three Margaritaville-inspired restaurants including the LandShark Bar & Grill, a large pool and firepit, a beachside observation deck, fitness center, and meeting space in addition to its guest rooms.

The new hotel is located at 715 1st St. N., just a few blocks north of Seawalk Pavilion.

And in the heart of New York City, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Resort Times Square is on track for a Spring opening:

Despite the fact that businesses have been ravaged due to the deleterious effects of the coronavirus, New Yorkers have something to look forward to. According to a recent New York Post report, iconic singer and entrepreneur, Jimmy Buffett has plans to bring his Margaritaville Resort empire to Times Square in this spring.

The glitzy resort was originally scheduled to make its debut in the fall of 2020, but was upended by the coronavirus. Located in a 32-story building on the southern edge of Times Square at 560 Seventh Avenue, the new Midtown headquarters for Buffett fans will feature 234 guest rooms, 4,861 square feet of ground-floor retail space, five restaurants and bars including License to Chill Bar, 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar, Landshark Bar & Grill, Joe Merchant and Margaritaville Restaurant, as was reported by the Post.

Read more at thejewishvoice.com.

The lone operating Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant in Secaucus, New Jersey has closed its doors. The restaurant chain, founded by Jimmy Buffett and OSI Partners in 2002, reached a peak in 2006 with 38 locations in 17 states.

The first Cheeseburger in Paradise opened 2002 in Indianapolis. It was co-owned by Jimmy Buffett, whose famous song inspired the restaurant, and OSI Restaurant Partners (now Bloomin’ Brands). In 2009, Cheeseburger in Paradise was taken over by Paradise Restaurant Group, LLC.

In 2012, Luby’s purchased the brand for $11 million; there were 23 locations across 14 states. Even then, the brand faced financial issues. Lisa Lee, vice president of brand and marketing strategy for Luby’s Fuddruckers Restaurants, told the North Jersey Record at the time that Cheeseburger in Paradise was “already challenged when we purchased it in 2012 and continued to face headwinds since. We had to make a tough decision to close underperforming locations.”

At peak in 2006, the concept spread to 38 units across 17 states.

By August 2015, there were eight Cheeseburger in Paradise units. By July 2018, there were three locations remaining. An Indianapolis store closed in August of that year and an Omaha, Nebraska, unit shuttered in October. During Luby’s Q1 2019 earnings call, CEO Chris Pappas referred to the last Cheeseburger in Paradise as profitable and said it wasn’t dragging on the P&L. Since then, Luby’s has continued to face worsening sales and the global pandemic only made matters worse.

If you have a minor league or major league baseball team in your city, you may have noticed that they’ve had a Margaritaville night recently.

Bill Shea at The Athletic has an article on Buffett’s move into baseball: Sports fanatic Jimmy Buffett is bringing his $1.5 billion ‘Margaritaville’ empire to a ballpark near you

A catchy four-minute, 10-second song about a salty tequila cocktail and failed relationships topped out at No. 8 on 1977’s Billboard Hot 100 chart. But it has evolved over four subsequent decades into a lifestyle anthem for a brand that continues to grow, in part, because of its increasing presence in America’s ballparks and arenas.

The song, of course, is Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville.”

It’s also the name of Buffett’s $1.5 billion corporate business empire that includes music, apparel and merchandise, a satellite radio station, hotels, casinos, retirement communities, beer, liquor, food, New York Times best-selling books, a Broadway musical and now the “Coral Reefer” marijuana brand.

This year, 16 major-league and 25 minor-league baseball teams held official “Margaritaville” theme nights at their stadiums to goose revenue, the company said, and the promotion resulted in thousands of additional ticket sales. A couple of NHL…

Read the full article at The Athletic.

Jimmy Buffett will launch a line of cannabis products called Coral Reefer this Friday.

From the press release:

Surterra Wellness, one of the nation’s fastest growing health and wellness companies, will officially kick-off the national launch of the Coral Reefer™ cannabis brand, a range of wellness-focused cannabis products and lifestyle merchandise, in Florida on April 19. The highly anticipated Coral Reefer brand will initially be exclusively distributed through the more than 20 Surterra Wellness Centers located in most major cities throughout Florida, and will roll-out in other states, including California and Nevada, by mid-summer 2019.

“It never dawned on me that Coral Reefer would be anything other than a cool name for a tropical band born out of the Key West lifestyle in the mid-70s,” singer, songwriter and best-selling author, Jimmy Buffett said. “But life is supposed to be about having fun and staying healthy enough to enjoy it. I think Coral Reefer will help a lot of folks do that.”

Surterra Wellness developed Coral Reefer in collaboration with Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer team based on a landmark global licensing deal. The new Coral Reefer cannabis brand aims to enhance peoples’ lives while representing the carefree, relaxed roots of Key West. The launch of Coral Reefer represents a new approach of bringing cannabis and lifestyle products to consumers through an exclusive collaboration with an established, iconic, global brand.

At launch, Coral Reefer will offer a selection of cannabis-based product formulas available in both disposable and reusable battery vaporizer formats and branded merchandise, including hats and t-shirts. The uniquely designed vape pen called the TideRider™ embodies the spirit of the brand with a sleek surfboard design, variable temperature controls and advanced ceramic coil technology for a clean and consistent vaping experience. All branded products feature the new signature Coral Reefer logo, a distinctive tropical design and Key West-inspired colors.

Later this year, the Coral Reefer brand plans to extend its product line to include edibles, topicals, pre-rolls, and CBD only formulas, inspired by tropical summer days. The expanded product selection will provide alternative ways to access the beneficial effects of cannabis, offering even more ways to unwind, relax and de-stress.