- April 22, 2024
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Marianna Gorshelek and Max Tarannik have used their custom home-building experience with Golden Magnolia to renovate what used to be called the White Orchid Inn. As of the spring of 2021, the boutique hotel is now called the Golden Magnolia Resort and Spa. at 1104 S Ocean Shore Blvd., in Flagler Beach.
Gorshelek recently participated in the Observer's Business Leader Q+A to talk about the company's approach to quality and management.
When did you arrive in Flagler County? What brought you here?
Max and his family have lived in Flagler County for almost 12 years, and my children and I moved here in 2015. We all fell in love with the coastal community and thought it would be a wonderful area to raise our children and build our business. It was the best decision of our lives. Max's career as a contractor created his love for ingenuity. His 20 years of experience in construction and design catapulted his career in business development. For two decades, I have worked in business development, helping entrepreneurs build strong, successful companies and teaching them how to grow and thrive. Business is my life! After many serious conversations, Max and I decided to take our love for business and our 40 years of combined experience and finally use our skills to build and grow a business of our own.
We followed our dreams and opened Golden Magnolia Inc. We specialize in luxurious custom home design, and last year we built nearly 90 custom homes. We are pleased to see how much our local community loves the homes that we built.
What is new in your business?
In our first five years of business, we are gracious to be awarded from the Flagler Home Builders Association, Parade of Homes for four consecutive years. The demand and appreciation that we have received from local homeowners have been astounding and life-changing. We couldn’t be more proud to be part of this growing community.
The growth of our business has inspired us to continue to grow our brand. When we heard that the White Orchid Inn was on the market, we wanted to add our “Golden Magnolia” touch to it and provide even more luxury accommodations to the already fabulously iconic resort. We have been making significant changes to the grounds by offering more resort amenities, more delicious food options, and unique metaphysical spa services specializing in relaxation and mental clarity. We want to focus on serenity, luxury, and overall peace of mind as we carry on the tradition of being Flagler Beach’s most premiere resort and spa.
What is the best business advice you have received, and how did it impact you?
Treat others the way you want to be treated.
At Golden Magnolia Inc., we have built our business foundation on trust, hard work, and integrity. The quality of our brand focuses on customer satisfaction which is overall most important to us. We have found that our customers appreciate the level of professionalism and personalism that we provide every step of the way.
We have made an impact on our local community by growing our businesses that generate more commerce that impacts more employment locally. That is another reason why we have been so excited to purchase the White Orchid Inn.
The White Orchid was once known for its serene, art-deco style and its stellar ocean-front views. Now, the Golden Magnolia Resort and Spa will continue to honor Flagler County’s historical location that was originally owned by the Moody family, built in 1945.
We are thrilled to announce that we recently purchased two more historical buildings known as the Riley Peck property located across the street from the Halifax Harbor Marina in the Historic District of South Beach Street, Daytona Beach. We want to continue to build history by giving life to these historical sites keeping the buildings beautiful, well cared for, and productive to our local economic growth.
What have you learned about leadership from running your business, and what is your leadership style?
Our leadership style is laissez-faire; we have confidence in our team because we are diligent in our employment process. Our staff members are trained, certified and educated. We have complete trust in our employees as we have the same common goal: to provide stellar service with integrity and honesty. We believe in treating our employees as a family; we all work together as a team.
What have been the biggest obstacles to opening or running your business? How have you overcome them?
We have had such great success building our Golden Magnolia Inc. brand and we plan to continue to grow the Golden Magnolia Spa as well. We have had a few obstacles during this transition. The most difficult obstacle for the spas has been finding responsible and disciplined employees. Many local businesses are struggling to keep hard-working employees due to the pandemic unemployment compensation. We work hard to overcome this obstacle by practicing excellent communication skills and always keeping an open relationship; when a situation may occur, we can work together to resolve any issues that might arise.
We understand that in these coming days, we cannot control the ever-changing ordinances or recommendations. However, we choose to be proactive and responsible and consider every detail for the safety of our staff and guests. We are in this together as a community.
