We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tim Schwartzman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.

I am so very grateful to be part of a small family business. We might have some challenges, limitations and disadvantages due to our size but I happen to think the number of advantages we have number far greater. Something we pride ourselves on at Sawgrass Recreation Park is our ability to adapt and adjust when the tide turns. When we face obstacles like hurricanes, wildfires, COVID etc we are able to reinvent our course in a matter of hours to prepare our staff, facility and animals for what lies ahead. Our staff are told to prioritize their health and wellness above any job or task and we truly value their happiness in the workplace and in their lives so for this reason our co-workers become and extension of our family. Our family heavily values feedback and ideas and we can change policy in a moments notice if we feel the current path is not created our intended outcome in terms of quality or experience. It is nice not having outsiders to answer to in our decision making and not to have to wait on the time it takes for a larger corporation to change the protocols.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My wife’s family started taking over the business from the former owners in 2005. I was finishing up schooling for sound engineering and working as a stage hand for concerts. I started helping out with the park on weekends and days off and ended up spending most of my time working with the adopted and rescued reptiles. After a few years I made the switch permanent and came on board full time along with my wife, her brother, parents and some aunts and uncles to help run the park. I worked in the exhibit areas for almost 10 years and then went on to learn everything about maintenance, construction projects onsite, sales, marketing, and I also trained to be an airboat captain and started driving and repairing the vessels in our fleet. I was proud to work alongside our family as a team to accomplish a common goal of growing the park into something wonderful for visitors to our area and locals alike. We love that we can adopt and rescue reptiles who are in need of long term homes and also that we can educate guests about how to protect and conserve the Everglades. We host thousands of local students on educational field trips each year and our family appreciates our opportunity to teach them about their own backyard and how to coexist with native wildlife.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

COVID had us very close to losing our company. We tried to support our staff and their families for as long as we could even when our doors were closed or when we had only 10 customers a day. We worked hard to come together to create new products for our guests to try to increase sales after we reopened and we pretty much cut costs in every corner of our operation. Our family managed to make it through a very tight time financially and to help our staff out during a hard time emotionally and we are grateful we survived to tell the tale.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Our company has a history of almost 30 years so that helps with market recognition. We have also worked hard to work alongside our local cities and regions to support efforts of fundraising, donations etc. We have offered scholarships to local students entering college. Our family has fed the homeless, collected food and baby items for local organizations. Sawgrass also supports legislative efforts for the protection of the Everglades and our waterways as well as efforts that discourage pollution or littering.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.EvergladesTours.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawgrassrecreationpark/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sawgrassrecreationpark
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sawgrass-recreation-park/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/sawgrassrecpark
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-0E4z8U43tJJ5Lmbq_2Csg
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sawgrass-recreation-park-weston