CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. — The Black community in Citrus County is small, but mighty, and has a pretty extensive history.
It’s a history many say isn’t widely known, but there’s one lifelong Crystal River resident and Black business owner who wants his hard work to change that.
If you ask William Bunch, there’s no real recipe for success. There is, however, a secret recipe for the perfect fried chicken.
“Love. I put love into it,” he said.
Bunch has been working for a long time.
“I’ve been working at the age of 13 and I’m 70,” he said.
He got his start in Citrus County in the middle of the segregated south.
“I started at the Plantation Inn as a helper, and then I worked my way up to the chef and out the door,” Bunch said.
He was out of the door there, and into the doors at his very own restaurant in Crystal River called Oysters.
“I had this Englishman who wanted me to come and work for him, and I said, 'I won’t come to work for you, but I will buy it from you.' So, I came in and he made me an offer, and I borrowed a little money and put it down, and we went to work,” he said.
He’s owned and operated Oysters for the past 29 years and they’re most popular item is — you guessed it — fried chicken?
That’s right. He said the most popular item isn’t oysters.
Bunch said his spirit of entrepreneurship dates back even further.
“Taxi business, we (were) the first taxi people in this area. So, it did good when we first started,” he said.
There are still remnants on the walls of Oysters of Bunch’s accomplishments.
Storm damage over the last decade wiped out all of his older photos. He said those lost photos told the story of his landscaping company he started in high school.
That landscaping company included driving his customers to the airport, which launched his taxi service. The photos were also a reminder of the days he couldn’t pick people up past sundown in sundown towns because he’s Black.
Bunch said unlike a lot of cites, there was not a bustling Black business district in Crystal River. No Black Wall Street. So, he didn’t have any examples. But he did it anyway, despite adversities.
“The bad experience I had back in '93, my brother was killed by the police in '93, and then when the verdict came out, they said the police had just cause to do what they had done, and the city really wanted to get up in arms, but I told them go home, the verdict is done, my brother is not coming back,” Bunch said.
Bunch said he felt a sense of responsibility to bring order to his community then, and it’s something he continues to do now. He wants to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs by doing the work.
“You have to be dedicated if you want to do a business. You have good days and you have bad days. So, I wanted to do it since I was a little kid and I had the opportunity and I’ve done it,” Bunch said.
Bunch said his legacy will continue long after he’s gone. He passed down his landscaping business to his son and he hopes it will continue to honor the family name.