The Pachota family’s Venice Pier Group operates Fin’s and Sharky’s on the Pier.
By Gretchen Cochran
Original Air Date: October 8, 2025
Host: The Bay park will soon get a restaurant, and the non-profit that manages the park’s development picked a politically connected family to run it. Gretchen Cochran has the scoop.
Gretchen Cochran: Years ago, when the early staff of The Bay was conducting community surveys, one of the primary things people said they wanted in that great big city park by the water was a restaurant—not a rinky-dink hot dog stand, but a full-service place where they could sit a spell.
View from the boat ramp of the site of the future restaurant. Photo: John Haupt
Now, The Bay is celebrating its third birthday and is ready to begin putting the pieces in place for that restaurant.
The Bay is that park taking shape between Tamiami Trail and Sarasota Bay at the west end of 10th Avenue near downtown Sarasota. The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall is at one end. The new restaurant will be at the opposite end, next to the Boat Canal.
That Boat Canal is significant. We’ll tell you about that in just a minute. But first, the news. Following a request for proposals, The Bay folks have selected the restaurateur who will create the park’s first standalone, full-service dining place.
Nick Pachota, currently mayor of Venice, is running for James Buchanan’s seat in the Florida House. Photo via venicegov.com
It is the Venice Pier Group, owner of Sharky’s on the Pier and Fin’s in Venice. The Venice Pier Group is owned by the Pachota family. If that name sounds familiar, that’s because the brother of the president is the mayor of the City of Venice.
There is little on paper yet. Bidders were asked to present plans for a full-service restaurant in a Sarasota Modern architectural style building with views concentrating on the Bay and the boat canal.
Sunset views will be important, as will the comings and goings of the boats, says Justin Pachota, president of the Venice Pier Group.
The contract is still being negotiated, Diana Shaheen, chief operating officer of The Bay, said. “But we’re very excited. There are not that many waterfront restaurants here,” she said.
Since little has been decided yet, we headed to Venice to check out Sharky’s and meet with Justin Pachota.
It turns out he’s not new to the Bay folks. His company has handled the concessions at the Bay from the beginning.
Justin Pachota
Justin Pachota: That was our first introduction into Sarasota. Really learning downtown Sarasota and the clientele was very important for us. That was a big part in establishing the direction we wanted to go. When the opportunity came up to bid on this, their first standalone restaurant, we were really excited at that. It was something we wanted to do, so we went very competitively after that opportunity..
GC: With an eye toward serving Van Wezel audiences and possibly a new performing arts center, Pachota dubbed the style he’s hoping to achieve as what he calls “polished casual,” similar to what they do in Venice.
JP: What I love about it is it’s a flexible concept in that that you can have lunch. You can enjoy it if you’re out for a walk in the park and you want to grab a bite to eat, or if you’re going to a show and you want to have a nice dinner before or after the show, it’s a good venue for that, too.
Sharky’s on the Pier.
GC: Sharky’s is a Florida tiki-bar type of place on the beach, surrounded by sand and water. The menu features drinks like Mango Bango and items like Tailgate Bratwurst. That’s made with housemade sausage, tailgate mustard sauce and sauerkraut on a steamed bun.
Here’s what it sounded like:
[Customers chatter, music plays]
GC: It’s the kind of place you’d take your grandkids or your relatives from Michigan with umpteen children in tow.
Just upstairs is Fin’s. It’s serenely quiet with white tablecloths and a place you might take your potential mother-in-law.
JP: When we built Fin’s, one of the most important parts was the orientation of the seating so that everybody has a great view of the water.
GC: The Bay has similar potential, he said.
Detail of a map showing the location of the yet-to-be-built restaurant.
JP: I look at that location as: You have the canal, you have a boat ramp—a nice bit of activity over there—and then you have the entire bay and the west-facing sunset. The viewpoints are going to be really important.
GC: There is much yet to be determined, like who will build the building, the length of the contract, and its terms. But the Pier Group’s contract with the City of Venice may yield some clues.
JP: We have a land lease. We build the building, we pay for the construction, and then we pay the city rent that is a flat base rent and a percentage of sales. I love percentage of sales rent because it creates a nice partnership. The Bay is invested in the success of the restaurant because they have a bit of the profit share, and then the restaurant has an investment in the property to make sure it always looks beautiful and things kept up because of their investment. It makes for a nice public-private partnership.
GC: We noted Pachota presented a check to the city of Venice for a million dollars
Work is underway on a dock at the Sarasota Boat Canal. Photo: John Haupt
a couple of years ago for Sharky’s and Fin’s rent. There’s much still to be determined in Sarasota. It may be a couple of years before we’ll sample some of that “polished casual” ambiance at the Bay.
For now, we’ll leave you with this:
JP: We have to have great food, we have to have great service, we’re going to build a great building, and the view is going to be amazing.
GC: Reporting for WSLR, I’m Gretchen Cochran.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.
