A new kind of American museum — part history exhibit, part cultural landmark, part souvenir shop, part cafe — built to celebrate the entrepreneurs, businesses, and inventions that shaped Tampa and inspired generations.
These founders and companies started in Tampa Bay and grew into institutions whose influence extends far beyond the region.
1881 · Peace River
The Mosaic Company
Thomas Meadows
Phosphate pulled from the Peace River valley launched an industry that feeds the world — and today Tampa-based Mosaic is the planet's leading fertilizer company.
1895 · Ybor City
J.C. Newman Cigar Co.
Julius Caesar Newman
The oldest family-owned cigar maker in America still rolls premium cigars by hand in Tampa's last working cigar factory — the same brick building since 1895.
1899 · Tampa
Tampa Electric (TECO)
Peter O. Knight
The company that first lit Tampa's streets and powered its streetcars grew into the energy backbone of the entire region.
1905 · Tampa
Columbia Restaurant
Casimiro Hernandez Sr.
A 60-seat Ybor City corner cafe serving Cuban coffee to cigar workers grew into the largest Spanish restaurant in the world — still run by the same family.
1912 · West Tampa
Arturo Fuente
Arturo Fuente
Started rolling premium cigars in a West Tampa workshop, then closed by the cigar strikes — and rebuilt by the family into one of the most celebrated cigar makers in the world.
1915 · Bradenton
Bealls
R.M. Beall
A small-town five-and-dime built on "outfitting families for less" grew into a regional department store chain that's still family-run.
1927 · Tampa
Tampa General Hospital
Opened as Tampa Municipal Hospital on Davis Islands and became the region's leading teaching hospital — where Tampa's doctors, nurses, and medical breakthroughs are made.
1930 · Winter Haven
Publix
George Jenkins
Started as a single grocery store in a converted garage. Today it's one of the largest employee-owned companies in the country.
1934 · Tampa
Suncoast Credit Union
Henry Claywell & local educators
Chartered in a Tampa school office during the Depression and later opened to the whole community. Today it is Florida's largest credit union, with more than a million members and a foundation that has given tens of millions to local children's causes.
1937 · Dunedin
Achieva Credit Union
Seven Pinellas County teachers
Started with a cigar box of deposits in a Pinellas classroom, renamed Achieva in 2001, and now one of Florida's oldest credit unions — with branches across the Gulf Coast and its own small-business lending arm.
1947 · Bradenton
Tropicana
Anthony Rossi
Anthony Rossi figured out how to ship fresh Florida orange juice nationwide, and built an entire industry around it.
1952 · Clearwater
Eckerd
Jack Eckerd
Jack Eckerd bought a handful of Florida drugstores and built them into a nationwide chain of more than a thousand stores, run from Clearwater.
1954 · Lakeland
MIDFLORIDA Credit Union
Rebecca Keith
Grew out of Florida's citrus and phosphate belt into a statewide lender, and put its name on Lakeland's downtown ballpark and amphitheater along the way.
1955 · Tampa
Grow Financial
Frances E. Doughty
Founded on base to give airmen an alternative to predatory lenders, it stayed after the runways emptied — now a Bay-area institution known for putting branches inside local high schools and grocery stores.
1956 · Tampa
Bern's Steak House
Bern & Gert Laxer
A tiny South Howard sandwich shop became a world-famous steakhouse with one of the largest wine collections on the planet.
1962 · St. Petersburg
Raymond James
Bob James
One advisor's storefront office grew into a wealth management firm now overseeing more than a trillion dollars in client assets.
1962 · Tampa
Kforce
David Dunkel
A local staffing office grew into one of the country's leading professional talent firms, placing specialists nationwide.
1966 · St. Petersburg
Jabil
Bill Morean & James Golden
A two-man circuit-board shop grew into one of the world's largest manufacturing companies, building electronics for the biggest brands on earth.
1968 · Largo
Valpak
John Valentine
A printer stuffed blue envelopes with local coupons and mailed them across the Bay. The idea became a national franchise carried into tens of millions of homes.
1971 · Clearwater
Amerilife
William Shelton
A Clearwater startup built a national network for marketing life insurance and retirement products to America's seniors — still headquartered there today.
1974 · Clearwater
Tech Data
Edward C. Raymund
Started as a small office selling data-processing supplies, it grew into one of the largest technology distributors on earth before merging to form TD Synnex.
1976 · Tampa
Lazydays RV
Herb & Don Wallace
A father-and-son lot with a handful of trailers became the largest RV dealership in the world, right off I-4.
1977 · Clearwater
HSN
Lowell Paxson & Roy Speer
A local radio swap show turned into the format that became home shopping television.
1977 · Tampa
Sykes Enterprises
John Sykes
A Tampa entrepreneur built a global customer-experience company serving many of the world's biggest brands.
1981 · Sarasota
Roper Technologies
George D. Roper
From industrial pumps and valves to a diversified software powerhouse — one of the region's largest public companies.
1982 · Tampa
ConnectWise
Arnie Bellini & David Bellini
Two brothers running a local IT shop wrote software to manage their own work, then sold it to the world's IT providers.
1983 · Bradenton
First Watch
Ken Pendery & John Sullivan
A daytime-only breakfast cafe proved you could build a national restaurant brand without ever serving dinner.
1983 · Clearwater
Hooters
Lynn D. Stewart, Gil DiGiannantonio, Ed Droste, Billy Ranieri, Ken Wimmer & Dennis Johnson
Six friends opened a beachside spot on Clearwater Beach that grew into a global restaurant brand with locations around the world.
1984 · Tampa
The Bank of Tampa
A. Gerald “Jerry” Divers
Built on the idea that a city's businesses deserve a bank of their own, it remains independently owned and Tampa-headquartered.
1984 · St. Petersburg
Catalina Marketing
Mike O'Brien, Tom Mindrum, George Off, Brian Yeatman & Mike Scroggie
Its machines printed coupons right at the grocery checkout — an invention from St. Pete that changed how America's biggest brands reach shoppers.
1985 · Brandon
Beef 'O' Brady's
Jim Mellody
A neighborhood family sports pub in Brandon grew into a franchise found in small towns across the Southeast.
1985 · Tampa
WellCare Health Plans
Began as a local Medicaid provider and grew into a national managed-care company serving millions of members before its 2020 acquisition.
1986 · Tampa
Checkers Drive-In
Jim Mattei
A double drive-thru burger stand built for speed grew into a national chain run from Tampa headquarters.
1988 · Tampa
Bloomin' Brands
Chris Sullivan, Bob Basham & Trudy Cooper
Four friends opened one Australian-themed steakhouse in Tampa. Today the company is one of the world's largest casual-dining groups — home of Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and Aussie Grill.
1989 · Tampa
Amscot
Ian MacKechnie
Started as a single check-cashing office and grew into Florida's largest neighborhood financial services chain, with branches across the state.
1991 · Seffner
Rooms To Go
Jeffrey & Morty Seaman
Two brothers pioneered selling furniture in complete, ready-to-buy rooms — an idea that turned a single Tampa-area store into one of America's largest furniture retailers.
1991 · Tampa
Syniverse
Born in Tampa as a telecom services shop, it became the invisible backbone connecting the world's mobile networks to each other.
1995 · Tampa
Tampa Bay Brewing Company
David & Doreen Doble
A family brewpub in Ybor City poured some of Tampa's first craft beers decades before the brewery boom made the scene famous.
1997 · Clearwater
BayCare
A group of hometown hospitals — Morton Plant, Mease, St. Anthony's and others — joined together into one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in Florida.
1998 · Clearwater
MarineMax
Bill McGill
A roll-up of family boat dealers became the largest recreational boat and yacht retailer in the world.
1998 · Clearwater
PODS
Pete Warhurst
One founder's idea for bringing storage directly to the customer invented an entire industry: the portable moving container.
2003 · Tampa
College Hunks Hauling Junk
Nick Friedman & Omar Soliman
Two friends with a borrowed cargo van built a national junk-removal and moving franchise from the ground up.
2005 · Tampa
ReliaQuest
Brian Murphy
A Tampa startup with a handful of employees grew into a global cybersecurity force protecting some of the biggest companies in the world.
2006 · St. Petersburg
Kahwa Coffee
Raphael & Sarah Peres
A husband-and-wife roasting team named their tiny cafe for an ancient coffee bean — and grew it into the Gulf Coast's favorite hometown roaster.
2009 · Tampa
Cigar City Brewing
Joey Redner
A home brewer took Tampa's cigar-industry heritage and turned it into one of the most recognized craft breweries in the country.
2010 · Tampa
Bellini Capital
Arnie Bellini
After building a global software company in Tampa, its founder reinvested the proceeds into the city itself — real estate, startups, and the downtown skyline.
2013 · St. Petersburg
3 Daughters Brewing
Mike Harting
A St. Pete brewery named for a family of daughters became one of the largest independent craft breweries in Florida.
And that's just the beginning — hundreds more regional legends will be celebrated inside.
The mission
A place to learn, gather, and explore.
The Museum of Innovation brings Tampa's business and entrepreneurial history to life while creating a third space for people to grab a snack, shop, attend events, and experience the city in a new way.
Hundreds
of regional legends celebrated
1st
Location, with a franchise model built for more cities
Beyond the walls
More than a museum.
This museum will make its city better. We transform overlooked spaces into destinations that bring people downtown, create new things to explore, and add more character, creativity, and energy to the streets around them.
Beyond the walls
More than a museum.
This museum will make its city better. We transform overlooked spaces into destinations that bring people downtown, create new things to explore, and add more character, creativity, and energy to the streets around them.
Community impact
Built to give back.
A share of profits is reinvested into the communities we serve — funding public art, statues, sculptures, murals, unique architecture, and initiatives that improve walkability, transportation, and the overall experience of living in Tampa Bay.
Public Art & Murals
Helping fund local murals and public art initiatives.
Statues & Sculptures
Supporting monuments and public sculptures that celebrate community heritage.
Unique Architecture
Investing in projects that enhance the visual identity of the downtown core.
Transportation
Supporting improvements that make downtown Tampa more walkable, connected, and accessible.
Every dollar
helps fund the buildout, the artists we commission, and the culture we're bringing back to Main Street. The more we grow, the more we give back.
Fund the build
Help us turn on the lights.
Every dollar goes into the buildout, the artists we commission, and the culture we're bringing back to Main Street. This is your city too — help us build it.
