Generational achievement for family business patriarch

The Columbia Restaurant Group’s fourth-generation caretaker, Richard Gonzmart, recently crossed off one of the biggest item’s on his career to-do list: buying the building that houses the Tampa-based company’s Sarasota Columbia Restaurant.

On St. Armands Circle, the 30,000-square-foot space has long been the home of both the Columbia and Cha Cha Coconuts, a bar and grill concept also owned by Columbia Restaurant Group. The company owns and operates a dozen restaurants in Florida, including the under-construction Buccaneer on nearby Longboat Key.