Cross City opens a Gulf-to-plate diner focused on serving the community

A family of fifth-generation aquaculturists are now serving their community through JanaLou’s Seafood Market and Takeout Diner, a restaurant they own and operate in Cross City.

The person behind it all is Jana Kight, who grew up surrounded by the seafood industry.

“All of my family has made their living off the water,” said Kight.

For the past 150 years, Kight’s family has made a living in various aquaculture work, including shrimping, fishing, oystering and crabbing.

Kight’s family owns JanaLou’s Seafood Inc., based in Horseshoe Beach, Florida. Prior to opening their restaurant, they operated as a wholesale and retail seafood seller, supplying restaurants in Steinhatchee, Gainesville, Branford, Perry, Mayo and elsewhere with fresh seafood.

“All my seafood, I try to get as local as possible,” said Kight.

The seafood they distribute comes from several areas along the Gulf, including Horseshoe Beach, Suwannee, Steinhatchee, Apalachicola and Eastpoint.

Kight said her dream was always to open a restaurant that combined her passion for cooking with her family’s seafood tradition.

Lisa Bregenzer and her husband are local customers and visited the restaurant as soon as they could. In the past, they bought seafood from the Kight’s wholesale store in Horseshoe Beach, where they not only found quality seafood but made friends.

“It’s important when you live coastal to have some place that takes pride in their food,” said Bregenzer.

After experiencing three hurricanes in 13 months, during which several stores were forced to close, Bregenzer said the town is focused on helping one another recover.

“Having a new store open up in our area is exciting,” said Bregenzer. “That means that we are moving forward. That means that we are in the recovering phase of the hurricane, and you are seeing positive progress.”

While it’s a process to get crabs and shrimp from the Gulf to customers’ plates, the restaurant handles every aspect of it. Everything served at the restaurant – from shrimp baskets to flounder sandwiches and smash burgers – is fresh and homemade.

“We are actually cleaning the live crab to cook and eat just hours after it has been in the water and out of the Gulf,” said Kight.

The restaurant uses locally sourced produce from a mix of local farmers and community members.

“Instead of having to go to McDonald's, they can get a burger and know that it's homecooked,” said Alisha Lindsey, a local home baker.

JanaLou’s not only serves the community through fresh local seafood, it opens its doors to community members to sell their own goods.

Lindsey is the owner of Sweet Acres Cookies and sells individual cakes and other baked goods at JanaLou’s. Her bakery business began as a hobby, and she still works full time at the University of Florida clinic in Old Town.

“I actually just went there earlier today, and they sold out of everything I’ve made,” said Lindsey.

Jana Kight’s 17-year-old daughter, Abbygael Kight, said about 13 local businesses have sold products at the restaurant located at 17120 U.S. 19 in Cross City. A display table features homemade goat soaps, seasonings, baked goods and quilts. Vendors are not charged to display their goods, but the restaurant adds a dollar to the sale price to make a small profit on each item.

“Always support locals anytime you can no matter what,” said Lindsey. “It goes to prove itself that helping one another and just by allowing people to sell their stuff, it just helps everyone out.”

The opening of JanaLou’s on Aug. 22 was a long time coming, said Bregenzer. Jana Kight and her family dedicated time and effort to get the building ready. A neighbor even donated the roof, said Abbygael Kight.

“It needed a lot of elbow grease,” said Abbygael Kight. “There was a lot of lipstick on that pig.”

As the diner approaches one month since opening, the Kight family is looking to the future.

Plans are underway to grow the restaurant. It currently operates as a takeout and drive-thru diner. Soon, they hope to add coolers to sell prepackaged seafood products in advance and eventually expand to include indoor seating.

As they anticipate growth, the foundational principle of family remains steady.

“I would just like to continue our legacy and heritage that my family has had for five generations and further that through my children,” said Jana Kight.