Joe Harrity, 37

As a kid, Joe Harrity worked at his family’s Sanibel restaurant after school. He bussed tables at the popular seafood restaurant, called Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille.

Today, Harrity is managing partner of HM Restaurant Group — started in 1997 by his father, Martin Harrity, and Mark Marinello.

Photo by Mark Wemple

The business bills itself as a “family-oriented restaurant group with Florida roots and a people-first culture.”

Harrity is overseeing the opening this month of the company’s sixth restaurant, Bonita Fish Co., at Fisherman’s Wharf on the San Carlos Island side of Fort Myers Beach.

The restaurant group paid $5.5 million in January for what was once the Bonita Fish House, a nearly century-old establishment, and its waterfront property — adjacent to its Doc Ford’s and Dixie Fish Co. restaurants.

Harrity oversees all six restaurants, including the two Doc Ford’s in St. Petersburg, one with a highly visible location at the St. Pete Pier.

After graduating in 2010 from the University of Alabama, with a degree in advertising and marketing, Harrity worked as a software developer in Atlanta.

In addition, he remotely managed advertising and marketing for the restaurant group.

A decade ago, he returned to Florida and his roots to join the business started in part by his father — a former Sanibel mayor. Both Martin Harrity and Marinello remain owners.

The younger Harrity says his dad has been a key mentor in his life. Two lessons out of many he says, are to treat employees well and then get out of their way and if you need to get something done or establish an important relationship do it over a meal. “ Talk about family, tell jokes, learn who they are as a person and that will bleed into business,” Harrity says in his 40 under 40 survey. 

He’s taken the advice on leading people and corporate culture and it's fueled the company’s success. “We’ve surrounded ourselves with good people for years,” Joe Harrity says. “We’re like family. We pay well. We all know each other by name. It trickles down to the customer.”

Going forward, Harrity expects the restaurant group’s growth to be mostly organic, with its focus remaining on the people — those who work at HMRG and those who dine there.

“We’re excited to see what the future holds,” says Harrity, who became a father this year.

His daughter, Brennly, is named after his mother, Brenda Harrity, who was the hostess at the flagship Sanibel restaurant for more than two decades.