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An Enduring Family Business in a Competitive Industry – Columbia Restaurant Group
BACKGROUND NOTE
Columbia’s history was closely linked with the growth, fall, and re-emergence of the place in which it was founded – Ybor City of Tampa, Florida. A vendor of Columbia said, “If you say ‘Ybor City,’ most people equate it with the Columbia Restaurant.” Ybor city was founded by Vicente Martinez Ybor (Ybor), a Spanish immigrant to the US, who went on to become a noted industrialist and cigar manufacturer. Ybor brought in large number of Cuban workers to work in his cigar factory. Later, other entrepreneurs also set up cigar making operations in the city, prompting the arrival of more immigrant labor from Cuba. Slowly, Ybor City emerged as the world’s cigar-making epicenter, with more than 200 factories existing in the city as of the early 20th century. |
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In 1902, Casimiro Hernandez Sr. (Casimiro Sr.) – a Spaniard – emigrated from Cuba with his family of four children to Ybor City. He initially worked at a brewery but sensing a new business opportunity, he acquired a 60-seater small local saloon in 1905 which he named the Columbia Café . It was named after the ballad When the Columbia opened, Ybor City was undergoing the tobacco equivalent of the Gold Rush . In the early days, the Columbia was mostly patronized by Cuban cigar factory workers. It did not even have a door and was open all though the day and night. At low prices, the café offered light meals, coffee, and strong drinks. Gradually, it came to be well known for its Cuban coffee and authentic Cuban sandwiches. .......
