Family Business

In 1988, two college boys and their father, a retired New York baker, were looking for the right spot to open an Italian-American family restaurant. They had been driving up and down Florida’s west coast for days. With Robert Caragiulo at the wheel, brother Mark riding shotgun and father Tony in the back, they headed for downtown Sarasota. When they got to Palm Avenue, Tony spotted a “for lease” sign on a shiny, renovated building and ordered Robert to stop the car. “This is it,” Tony announced.

The father and sons signed a lease the next day and opened Caragiulos a year later, in February 1989.

Today the Caragiulos are running some of the hottest restaurants in downtown Sarasota. Robert and Mark, along with three other brothers, own and operate not only the original restaurant at 69 S. Palm Ave., but last year also launched the wildly popular Owen’s Fish Camp in Burns Court, and, more recently, joined with managing partner Nancy Krohngold to open Nancy’s Bar-B-Q on Pineapple Avenue. At both new eateries people wait in long lines for more than an hour to get a seat. And now, plans could lead to yet another restaurant on St. Armands Circle.

“We are in Phase 2 of our journey,” says Paul Caragiulo, 35. “We were in our ‘doing’ phase for many years, and now we are in our growth phase.” This is happening as Paul, the youngest brother, took on a new role May 13 as a member of the Sarasota City Commission, making the Caragiulo name even more high-profile.

Anyone who’s run a restaurant knows that it’s a risky venture, and the majority fail in the first few years. But the close-knit Caragiulos, with their Old-World traditions of family loyalty, a love of food and a roll-up-your-sleeves work ethic, have found the ingredients to success.