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Beef ‘O’ Brady’s COO Scott SirLouis says Jacksonville is one of the biggest remaining growth opportunities for the 40-year-old, Florida-grown “family sports pub” brand. He explains how Beef’s uses site analytics (cell phone and purchase-pattern modeling) to pinpoint strong neighborhoods, why grocery-anchored centers outperform mall-front real estate for them, and what makes the chain different in a crowded sports-bar category: kid-friendly booths and game rooms, community events like trivia and bingo, and a bar program that’s part of the mix—but not the identity.

Workforce expert and former Congressman Dr. Jason Altmire joins Kent Justice on "This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition" to talk about his new book, Trade Up, and why he believes the future of American competitiveness depends on rebuilding the skilled-trades pipeline.

Entrepreneur Darien “Jack” Jackson returns to This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition to open his newest downtown venture in the Elbow: Dapper Cheesesteaks downstairs paired with a cigar lounge experience upstairs in the former 11 Ocean space.

Florida now requires a stand-alone personal financial literacy course for high school graduation - but guests on This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition say the real question is whether it changes behavior. Host Kent Justice talks with Dr. Ronetta Wards of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) and Howard Dale of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville about what “financial literacy” should actually mean for 17- and 18-year-olds: credit, debt, taxes, budgeting, savings, investing, and even emerging currency like crypto.

Kent Justice talks with former Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Akin Ayodele, now Gallagher’s market leader for North Texas, about the Gallagher Partnership Internship Program with the Jaguars—designed to help pro athletes translate what they’ve built in sports (resilience, preparation, competition, leadership) into post-playing careers, especially in consultative sales and risk management. Ayodele explains how the program works (typically in the offseason), what interns experience day-to-day inside Gallagher, and why he believes employers should value an athlete’s mindset even if the résumé doesn’t look “traditional.”

Kent Justice talks with Colin Tarbert, the new CEO of Jacksonville’s Downtown Investment Authority, about what DIA actually does and what’s driving the current wave of downtown activity.

Kent Justice visits the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus in downtown Jacksonville and talks with Artistic Director Darren Dailey about how a youth arts nonprofit became a world-class cultural institution - and why that matters to the region’s growth. Dailey explains JCC’s mission of high-quality choral education for children of diverse backgrounds, the international invitations that signal Jacksonville’s rising profile, and the tangible outcomes for students, including major scholarship opportunities. He also describes why JCC chose downtown, how the new facility was designed for safety and function, and the chorus’s long-term sustainability push - aiming to grow an endowment to ensure the organization thrives for decades to come.

Kent Justice talks with Jacksonville contractor Fabian Videla about the least glamorous construction bottleneck: permitting. Videla says projects can stall for weeks or months at multiple points - figuring out the right forms for each city/county, collecting signatures and notarizations, waiting through plan review, and then stopping work for inspections. Those delays, he argues, ripple through Northeast Florida’s economy by raising costs for contractors, slowing business openings, and frustrating homeowners. Videla’s company, Permit Rockstar, aims to streamline the process end-to-end using AI-assisted form completion, remote online notarization, private plan review to speed approvals, and same-day virtual inspections. He says Florida law already allows private providers to help, and the next big improvement would be a uniform permit application across the state.

Two surprise Democratic wins this week — one in Hillsborough County and one in Palm Beach County — are being read by local analysts as more than isolated events.

As Northeast Florida heads into Q2 2026, Bank of America Jacksonville President & Southeast Regional Executive Mark Bennett says local business confidence has shifted toward growth - if owners have the right capital in place to seize opportunities. Bennett shares three priorities he’s hearing most from Jacksonville leaders and also points to continued strength in sectors like advanced manufacturing, fintech/financial services, healthcare, and technology as companies adopt more AI solutions.

Jacksonville’s rapid growth is putting new pressure on an old bottleneck: permitting. On this episode of This Week in Jacksonville Business Edition, Kent Justice talks with Sabrina Dugan, managing partner of SwiftBuild.ai, about how artificial intelligence is being used to speed up plan review—without removing human oversight.

VyStar Credit Union paired a regional survey with TransUnion data and found Jacksonville residents are experiencing high financial stress - with higher debt and delinquency than national averages. VyStar’s chief marketing officer Dana Karzan discusses a community-focused approach that includes a debt payoff challenge, financial education and fraud-prevention outreach.

This week’s episode of This Week in Jacksonville, Business Edition previews Players Championship week at TPC Sawgrass with executive director Lee Smith. He explains why running the tournament is a “52-week-a-year job,” outlines changes for this year — including a smaller field, new fan areas and drone coverage — and discusses economic impact for northeast Florida.

In this episode of This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition, host Kent Justice talks with Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, about the latest data showing a decline in childhood poverty across Florida. They discuss what this means for local businesses, the importance of targeting efforts at the zip code level, and how businesses can play a crucial role in breaking the cycle of generational poverty.