Ragga Surf Café is returning to Marineland.
The popular food-truck operation forced to vacate the River-to-Sea Preserve in Marineland at the end of 2024, after a deal it had struck with Flagler County government unraveled, has struck a deal with the new Dolphin Adventure, on whose grounds it plans to open by summer’s end.
“We were waiting for them to get established, we were waiting on the phone call, so now we have made a deal and we’re moving forward,” James Powell Jr., one of the co-owners of the Palm Coast-registered company, said today.
Ragga Surf will anchor the new location–Ragga Surf 2.0, as it is calling it–with a newly acquired 39-foot Thomas bus the company has been refurbishing, and that Powell describes in a video as nearly twice the size of the existing food truck.
The operation will be located at the north end of the Dolphin Adventure parking lot, where a huge white tent used to stand. The tent has been removed. Landscaping is under way. Down the line, Powell said, the plan is to add a gift shop and smoothies-ice cream offerings, as had been the case at the older location. The focus now is on the truck.
Felicia Cook, the general manager of the Dolphin Adventure, hinted soon after the attraction changed hands at the end of 2025 that Ragga Surf would be returning, but did not give details. Cook had been the general manager at the Dolphin Adventure until it went into bankruptcy in early 2025 and was hired back when a local philanthropist couple bought the property out of bankruptcy. “We want to come in and support the work she’s doing and spread the message of what’s happening there, and there should be really good synergy between the two of us,” Powell said.
Marineland Mayor Buddy Pinder and Town Commissioner Jessica Finch in separate interviews today were welcoming of the return as it gives workers and others in town a place to eat without having to drive north or south. “This is basically a food desert where we are, so I’m happy for additional food options here,” Finch said.
Pinder raised cautions about the operation’s impact on traffic and the environment. He remembers when Ragga Surf was in Marineland previously. “There were cars parked on either side of A1A,” he said.
“As long as the attraction follows whatever regulations, I don’t have a problem with it,” the mayor said. “There’s really nothing the town can do. We don’t have control over that attraction, other than that there’s got to be some kind of parking regulation.” He is concerned about cars parking on the highway or at some of the town’s other operations.
Unlike Palm Coast, which recently approved its own food truck ordinance with strict regulations on parking, sanitation, operational hours and other logistics, Marineland does not have such an ordinance. Pinder wondered whether it should. His understanding was that if the attraction were to have a food-truck setup, its site plan might have to be reconsidered. He was going to consult with the town’s attorneys.
Ragga Surf had initially operated on private land in Marineland owned by Jim Jacoby, the Atlanta-based developer who owns several parcels in town. Ragga Surf and Jacoby had a falling out. County government agreed to let Ragga Surf operate on a portion of the River-to-Sea Preserve’s parking lot. But the county did not secure permission from the state Division of Environmental Protection to do that, and Ragga Surf itself was not a nonprofit. DEP required the county to sever the agreement, forcing Ragga Surf off the land.
When it left Marineland, Ragga Surf immediately opened a location at 134 Ribera Street in St. Augustine. That location will stay open. Marineland is an expansion, not a replacement. It will amount to a doubling of the company’s operations. Powell said he is in the process of interviewing toward the hire of 30 people, bringing the total number of employees to 60.
“We’re trying to get renovations done, then we have to go through inspections and all of that,” Powell said, “so we’re shooting to be back in Marineland by the end of the summer.”
It’s not a small investment. The company has been selling $100 gift cards for $80, usable at either location starting on Aug. 1, to raise money for the 2.0 edition. (“You’re helping jump-start our bus build & we’ll send a thank you for helping bring Birdie 2.0 to our beloved hometown!,” goes the ask on Facebook.)
Powell’s father, also named James Powell, was working on the new grounds under a punishing sun at midday today, speaking of the return to Marineland as a return to old friends. “It means a lot,” he said. “We can’t wait.”
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