We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tyler Turner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tyler below.

Tyler, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Over 10 years ago my now husband, Aaron, and I were working out with a trainer at a big box gym in Tallahassee, FL. After we finished out session we were both incredibly hungry with no quality options around us. It was only fast food or proper sit down restaurants; nothing for the busy college student! Thus sparked the first inkling of our wellness center idea. It started with a proper smoothie/juice bar, and micro cafe with quick healthy bites. Over the years the idea cultivated the need for massage, esthetician services, and longevity protocols which include red light and oxygen therapy, IV hydration and peptide infusions, along with changing the mindset around “having to go to the gym”. At St. Pete Calisthenics we have such a talented community; from former Cirque du Soleil acrobats, a current Rockette, all-star college athletes, professional atheletes such as Tampa Bay Buccaneers players, pro golfers, and even former and active military members. St. Pete is the perfect place to have an all in one wellness center, the locals are extremely health conscious and active daily so we felt this would be the right spot to launch our flagship location. Right as we were building our business model one of the major movement centers here closed down so all those athletes were floating in the ethosphere with no safe space to train these dangerous routines. After a year of community outreach, and a year of searching for the right space we found our current brick and mortar. It took seven strenuous months of negotiation, loosing the bid for a couple months, then renegotiating terms and sealing the deal. We got the keys at the end of July 2024 and began minor renovations right away (i.e. painting the walls, removing unnecessary wiring and pipes leftover from the former distillery, updating the bathrooms, etc…) and we were off to the races!

Tyler, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an Army brat who planted her roots in St. Pete, FL in 2009. While finishing high school, I worked at an apothecary and started building my knowledge of holistic medicine. Right after graduation I moved to Tallahassee with the intent to graduate from Florida State University but the program I was interested in (Food Sciences) was, at that time, only being offered a satellite location too far from where I wanted to be so I got my AA at Tallahassee Community College and moved back to St. Pete where I started culinary school in Tampa; graduating with a culinary arts degree in 2015. While in culinary school I had an incredible time, chocolates class was my favorite for sure. The fascinating things one can do with chocolate and sugar is just pure magic. This is also where my interest in nutrition started to gain momentum. I have always had a huge interest in food, nutrition, holistic remedies and things related the majority of my life so this was an easy step for me to take. After graduating culinary school I helped open a couple bakeries and restaurants throughout the Tampa Bay Area, wore myself out getting up at 4am daily all while trying the maintain a healthy lifestyle, new marriage, being a brand new homeowner and also receiving my personal training certification so beginning to take on training clients too. I like to joke that I thrive in chaos. After burning out in the restaurant scene, I took a position as a cake decorator to have a less demanding job as well as allowing me to refine an art I truly admire. In February of 2020, I decided to take the leap and start my first business – Home Appétit – a luxury private chef company providing in home dining experiences to the Tampa Bay Area. We’re all familiar with what happened in March of 2020 so needless to say the worst possible time to start a business ha! Surprisingly people were very welcoming to me being a stranger providing them food in their homes during this time so this allowed me to grow the business intentionally and to the capacity that I felt necessary as a one woman show. It still operating 5 years later, but I only take on very specific clients now. Clients love having multi course meals with drink pairings in the comfort of their homes. At the time I was the only private chef offering this type of service in the Tampa Bay Area so I was hitting a great niche market for those that love an elevated, luxury experience. In 2022, Aaron and I began creating a business plan for another business model – now named St. Pete Cali – all of our previous experience has lead us to opening this venture with the intent of expanding to other health conscious cities worldwide starting in the next 2 to 3 years.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I was helping open multiple bakeries and restaurants after culinary school – two of these were simultaneously opening. I would work at one restaurant from 5am to 11am then walk over to the other restaurant and work 11:30am to 5pm, go home, cook dinner and immediately crash. Wake up at 4am and start all over, 7 days a week for I don’t even recall how long. I think I’ve repressed it by now. This burned me out so fast and was wrecking havoc on my mental and physical wellbeing. Everything from the owners of the restaurants to the other employees I’m working with, it. was. a. disaster. Everyone around me was either drunk at work, so hungover they’re shaking and throwing up, or their on recreational drugs so the work environments were horrendous. After what felt like years, I broke away from the toxic environments to regain my mental and physical health.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

The co-owner of St. Pete Cali is Aaron. We have been married for almost 10 years (March 2026 will be 10 years). We met at a friends house party where I introduced myself, we exchanged numbers and went on our happy ways. At the time we were both in different relationships, those ended a few months after meeting and we began casually talking. He was back for summer break and we began dating. Once he moved back to Tallahassee when school started we would see each other on the weekends. We were in a long distance relationship for over a year then when I graduated high school I moved up to Tallahassee and moved in with him. In 2016, we boarded a cruise ship for a 4 day dance cruise with our closest friends and got married in Miami before leaving port!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stpetecali.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stpetecalisthenics
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stpetecalisthenics
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StPeteCalisthenics
• Other: TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@st..pete.calisthe