Columbia Restaurant Community Harvest!

For the month of September, you can support local non-profits, including SPCA Tampa Bay, just by dining at any of the locations of the 1905 Family Of Restaurants.

That includes all seven locations of Columbia Restaurant but also expands this year to include Cha Cha Coconuts, Ulele, Goody Goody Burgers and Casa Santo Stefano.

Through its month-long Community Harvest program, now in its 25th year, the company donates 5 percent of all diners’ checks to charities selected by the guests.

Over the last 24 years, this program provided more than $3 million to non-profit organizations throughout Florida.

Community Harvest involves each of the Columbia locations! For reservations, go to the websites of the participating restaurants.

“We started this program as a way to help many of the worthy non-profit groups that are so important to our communities,” said 4th generation family member and president Richard Gonzmart. “I can’t believe how much it has grown in 25 years. We’re excited this year to extend the ballots and gift certificates to all our restaurant concepts, which should provide a real increase in our donations to the charities.”

Gonzmart said the process is simple: Choose a charity from a ballot that’s provided with the check. The restaurant calculates the 5 percent and provides the charity with gift certificates that can be used at any of the restaurants for up to 12 months. There’s no additional cost to the guest.

The original Columbia Restaurant was founded in Tampa’s Historic Ybor City in 1905 by Cuban immigrant Casimiro Hernandez, Sr., and is Florida’s oldest restaurant.

All the restaurants are owned and operated by 4th and 5th generation members of the founding family, except for the Columbia Restaurant Cafe at Tampa International Airport, which is operated in partnership with HMSHost.