Chiropractor in Little Silver Point, NJ

Catch a fish we should know about? Email Dan Radel at dradel@gannettnj.com or call 732-643-4072.

POINT PLEASANT BEACH - As the water level dropped in Little Silver Lake, the result of a planned dredge project, residents became alarmed at several big fish trapped in pools of shallow water

The fish would have faced an almost certain death if it weren't for the efforts of a few lake residents, who documented their mission in the video at the top of this story.

But just how the fish got there is now the talk of this seaside town. Many people believe the fish were put there years ago by the late Joseph Spader.

It was not a well-kept secret that Spader, who passed away in 2014 at age 84, liked to stock Little Silver Lake, a land-locked lake, with striped bass he caught from saltwater.

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"He would catch them at the beach or Point Pleasant Canal and then bring them back and keep them in a holding pen on the lake," said his grandson Tyler Spader, 31, who resides at his grandfather's old home on Trenton Avenue.

Joseph Spader would attach a line and floating bobber to their tails before releasing them into the lake proper so that later he could check on their survival, his grandson said. Joseph Spader would then paddle out in a canoe and remove the bobber.

Tyler Spader, along with neighbors Dave Miles and Chris Schlegel, rescued five striped bass they believe were fish stocked by his grandad. He said they transported the fish to Lake Louise and released them alive.

The fish measured between 31 and 39 inches. The biggest weighed approximately 30 pounds.

The borough is in the process of removing silt from the lake in a flood mitigation project.

Borough Engineer Ray Savacool said the lake was electrically shocked in a prior year, which revealed no fish. As a result, they did not have to shock the lake again before the dredging started this winter.

An electric shock stuns fish so they can be relocated, said Savacool.

Another explanation for the striped bass is that they traveled through the underground pipes that connect Lake Louise to Little Silver Lake, and which also brings in the saltwater.

Lake Louise connects to the Manasquan River, which in turns empties directly into the Atlantic Ocean.

That's not the story, however, many prefer to tell.

"I'd like to think they were Joe Spader's fish and that his legend lives on," said Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Stephen Reid.

Dan Radel: Twitter@danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com

It's the kind of pitch that may appeal to an experienced restaurateur who's tired of the grind of long days and nights that can come with owning your own place.

Forget dinner. Go breakfast, lunch and brunch instead. It's what Kirk Ruoff did after he founded Turning Point in Little Silver. Started in 1998, it has grown into a group of 21 restaurants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Now, backed by private equity firm NewSpring Capital, Ruoff, the company's chief executive officer, is franchising Turning Point Restaurants, fueling growth that will take his company into Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Florida.

"People know the brand. People know us," said Ruoff, a Monmouth Beach resident. "They've been waiting for it and we're going to have conversations with people, and, if it's a good fit, we're going to move forward."

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Turning Point has come far since Ruoff and his wife, Pam, purchased the Turning Point Coffee & Tea Salon, a failing 12-table spot on Prospect Avenue in Little Silver. For six months, he worked 80 hours a week, working a full day and night before coming home at 11 p.m.

But with his wife expecting their first child, they knew life had to change. So they, along with new chef Bonnie Iavaroni, now Turning Point's chief operating officer, decided to drop dinner service and just do breakfast and lunch. The restaurant closed at 3 p.m. "You know," Ruoff said, "to try to get our lives kind of back a little bit."

They added unique dishes, food that you can’t get at a traditional diner or luncheonette, such as lobster eggs benedict or a “bacon lollipop,” a piece of bacon wrapped around a Granny Smith apple slice. They served lattes and French-press coffees.

”We kind of focused on the higher-end breakfast and lunch,” Ruoff said. “People liked it.”

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Around 2001, he decided to open a restaurant in Holmdel Commons, a new shopping center on Route 35. “It really just took off,” he said. “It was, you know, line out the door.”

They knew they had something special. Over the next 20 years, they added locations, such as Brick, Manalapan and at Pier Village in Long Branch, as well restaurants outside of Monmouth County, in towns like Westfield and Hoboken.

”They were all really highly profitable, and, knock on wood, after 23 years, we’ve never closed a location,” Ruoff said.

Last year, he opened Turning Point at Ocean County Mall in Toms River. A new restaurant also is being built at the corner of Route 35 and Deal Road in Ocean Township. That new two-story location will include the company's corporate offices, which will move from Eatontown, and a training center for franchisees.

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In 2019, a private equity investment from NewSpring Capital, a firm that has backed Duck Donuts and Blo Blow Dry Bar, helped the Turning Point grow faster, providing a fresh perspective and ideas. During the pandemic's shutdown, Turning Point took a "hard look" at franchising,

"People had been asking for years," Ruoff said. "We probably would take three to four calls a week from people saying, 'Just ate at the store, I love it. I'm a restaurateur.'"

In the past, he always said no. Until now, the time just wasn't right. One reason why is he wanted to make sure he had a well-thought out plan and processes in place.

Now he has hired a vice president of franchise development.

"Over the years, we've built an incredible team that could support a franchise business," Ruoff said. "You have to have a deep bullpen of people that can not only sustain what you've already built but also help people in their quest to open up their own Turning Points."

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Ruoff said the company is now negotiating two franchise agreements, including one that has found a location in Pennsylvania, and is in discussion with six different groups. "We're just starting now," he said. He said he would like to have six to 12 agreements signed by the end of the year.

The company is looking for experienced restaurateurs only. The initial investment to become a franchisee ranges from $695,000 to nearly $1.2 million. Prospective franchisees also have to have at least $500,000 in liquid assets and a net worth of at least $1.5 million for each restaurant to be developed.

Meanwhile, Ruoff said Turning Point also will add its own corporate-owned restaurants in the Northeast, with three expected in 2022 and six in the pipeline for 2023.

Turning Point is a culmination of a dream that began when he was a cook a Chili's in Freehold Township. He was promoted and became the manager of Chili's in Holmdel before he had the opportunity to buy the Little Silver restaurant.

"It's like a dream come true," Ruoff said. "I'm fortunate to have incredible people around me and did my best to treat them right, and they stuck around. We're at where we're at."

David P. Willis, an award-winning business writer, has covered business and consumer news at the Asbury Park Press for more than 20 years. He writes APP.com's What's Going There column and can be reached at dwillis@gannettnj.com. Join his What's Going There page on Facebook for updates.

Andrea Bowne says her dog has to cross his paws before he goes outside to use the bathroom.

Bowne was among several residents who spoke at a recent Point Pleasant Beach Council meeting to say they're tired that their block on Arnold Avenue is often flooded, according to The Ocean Star. Now they want a solution.

The Little Silver Lake dredging project has caused flooding problems on Arnold and Ocean avenues, they say. Among the complaints were frequent flooding and runoff from dredging spoils onto their properties, according to The Ocean Star.

Borough engineer Raymond Savacool said that the project needs to be completed to help mitigate the issue of flooding in the area of Arnold Avenue. But the borough engineer has said for years that the issue may not be completely resolved.

In 2015, Savacool told the Borough Council that the flooding the borough saw that summer in the area of the lake was caused by a combination of several factors.

Find out what's happening in Point Pleasantwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Little Silver Lake is half the size of Lake of the Lilies, but is the drainage point for nearly 250 acres of the town -- twice as much area as drains into Lake of the Lilies, he said. The result is that it has four times the impact when it comes to stormwater runoff. That combined with 6 inches of rain falling in less than 12 hours during a full-moon high tide resulted in the severe flooding seen on Aug. 13, 2015.

Long-time borough residents who attended an August 2015 council meeting were critical of Savacool’s assessment at that time, saying homes and property that had been in the family for 30 or 40 years or more had never flooded prior to Superstorm Sandy They questioned how there could not be an impact from sand washed into the lake during the storm, as well as years of built-up silt.

John Colvin of Trenton Avenue, whose family had two cars totaled by the flooding, said then that the :ittle Silver Lake hadn’t had any attention in years. Savacool said the elevation is the biggest issue.

“Point Pleasant Beach is a prehistoric extension of Barnegat Bay,” Savacool said, noting that linkages have been found from Lake Louise through Little Silver Lake, Lake of the Lilies and Twilight Lake in Bay Head. That makes those spots natural drainage areas.

“Little Silver Lake tends to overflow because of its elevation,” he said. Savacool said dredging the lake to lower its elevation will help with some of the drainage, but it will not completely fix the problem.

Some flooding issues could be mitigated by other things, such as installing a self-regulating tidal gate between Lake Louise and Little Silver Lake, which would close and stop drainage into Little Silver Lake when the tide rose to a certain point, Savacool has said.

With reporting by Karen Wall

(PHOTO: Flooding on Arnold Avenue in the area of Little Silver Lake after the Aug. 13 storm. Credit: Barnegat Bay Island Facebook page)

This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Little Silver Point Road student Jake Gasperino entered the National Woodsy Owl Poster competition through the school's Evergreens Club and won best second grade poster in the state.

Neighbor

|Updated Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 6:33 pm ET

The Garden Club of Little Silver honored second grade student Jake Gasperino on Friday morning at the Point Road School morning assembly. Jake placed first in all New Jersey second grade students in a poster competition he entered through the Junior Gardening Evergreens club at last year.

The Woodsy Owl/Smokey Bear Poster contest is an annual competition for first through fifth grade students who are invited to demonstrate through original drawings of Smokey Bear or Woodsy Owl their understanding of fire prevention and basic environmental conservation principles.

Woodsy Owl is America’s icon for the conservation of the environment. Since 1971, Woodsy has helped parents and teachers inspire children to observe, explore, and care for the environment. He challenges children to “Lend a Hand, Care for the Land!” and to take an active role in caring for the land through recycling, reusing, and reducing waste, planting and caring for trees, using resources wisely, and not littering.

Jake was presented with a certificate by the Little Silver Garden Club President Liz Hanson. He also received a gift of a new set of markers and a garden club pencil. “I was a bit nervous about getting my award today but felt really proud and happy too” said Jake. “I like animals and Smokey the Bear looked like a fun thing to draw” he said of his poster.

“We want to introduce kids to a love of gardens and things you find in the garden. We give the children a lot of information and they are like sponges. It’s amazing how much they soak up” said Katharine McCleary who was the chairman of the Evergreens Children’s Garden Club last year. “Apart from the Woodsy Owl Poster completion, we grow our own aloe plants with the children and even do some floral design.”

Find out what's happening in Little Silver-Oceanportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Evergreens Club is open to all second grade students at Little Silver Point Road School.

LITTLE SILVER — After 23 years of successful growth, Turning Point Restaurants, the award-winning breakfast, brunch and lunch concept — which started with its first restaurant in Little Silver — announced today the launch of its franchise opportunity. Turning Point has reimagined the daytime dining experience by offering unique, creatively designed, seasonal options in a warm and inviting setting.

The brand completed a successful capital raise in 2019 with its now partner, NewSpring Capital, a private equity firm which represents other successful franchise-focused brands including Duck Donuts and Blo Blow Dry Bar.

In 1998, Founder and CEO Kirk Ruoff purchased a small lunch and dinner restaurant in Little Silver and turned it into the admired brand it is today. Having started with just one location, Turning Point now has 21 units across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, with additional corporate-owned stores under development and is headquartered in Eatontown.

Besides the Little Silver location, in Monmouth County Turning Point has restaurants in Holmdel, Long Branch and Wall Township.

Alongside today’s announcement, Turning Point has plans to expand into Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Florida. With demand for entrepreneurship opportunities at an all-time high, the Turning Point team wants to be selective with choosing experienced restaurant operators to maintain the quality and reputation they have built over the years. To this day, Turning Point has never permanently closed a location, and they aim to continue this trend.

“With nearly two decades of experience perfecting our craft and building a concept that we are really proud of, the timing of launching our franchise opportunity is truly ideal,” said Ruoff. “Turning Point has been a labor of love for the last 23 years, so when we knew we wanted to launch our franchise opportunity, we were patient, made sure our business model was sustainable, and waited until the right moment to ensure that our franchisees work with an experienced leadership team.”

Having spent the majority of his professional career in the restaurant industry, Ruoff brought the experience and training he received working under National Restaurant Association past President Michael Hurst and created a concept now known for its high-quality, fresh daytime meals served in a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere. Turning Point’s spacious interiors are decorated with natural wood floors, bright traditional colors, and fireplaces. Its menu offers elevated daytime meal options that change with the seasons. Popular items include lobster avocado toast, bacon lollipops, and seven different origins of French press coffee.

“The events of the past two years have not only opened up an opportunity for us to grow, but also allow us to provide prospective franchisees with a better quality of life,” said Ruoff. “The pandemic created a sense of urgency for existing restaurant operators and entrepreneurs to evaluate their priorities in life and we know our franchise opportunity will give them exactly what they are looking for – business success and the perfect work-life balance.”

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Turning Point locations are open from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., which provides an enhanced quality of life for franchisees and their families. These attributes also carry over to the staff. The Turning Point finds hiring and retaining team members significantly easier than quick service, fast casual or evening restaurant concepts. The brand is looking to attract experienced and sophisticated restaurant operators with deep community ties and a track record of building successful teams. These people will be highly involved in their Turning Point business and have a strong understanding of what is required to operate a successful restaurant.

The initial investment to become a Turning Point franchisee ranges from $695,000 - $1,195,000, which includes an initial franchise fee of $45,000. Turning Point will provide its franchisees with everything from site selection assistance to construction and design management, on-site visits and coaching, extensive training programs and cutting-edge technology to help them thrive. “Becoming a franchisee with us means joining a team of individuals who are passionate about exceptional hospitality and operating successful restaurants with attractive unit-level economics in the fastest-growing segment of the restaurant industry,” said Graham Buckley, VP of Franchise Development for Turning Point. “Our franchisees can say goodbye to working 80-hour weeks and say hello to spending more time with their loved ones and controlling their financial destiny.”

ABOUT TURNING POINTFounded in 1998 in Little Silver, Turning Point currently has 21 locations throughout the American Northeast including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Turning Point reimagines the breakfast, brunch, and lunch experience by offering unique, creatively designed, seasonal options in an environment that feels like home. The award-winning brand has accumulated multiple awards over the years including being named the Best Breakfast – Lunch for over 10 consecutive years by New Jersey Monthly Magazine, Reader’s Choice Best Breakfast by Philly Magazine, and Gold Plate Award Winner by the New Jersey Restaurant Hospitality Association. For more information on franchising opportunities, please visit www.theturningpointfranchise.com or by emailing Franchising@tpbbl.com.