"We do it all the old-school way, going out and taking care of customers ourselves."

Carlo Piras had been  investing in real estate for more than a decade.

But the Italian American was more comfortable in a kitchen, having worked in restaurants since he was 16 years old. In 2006, he opened Café Americano and built it into a downtown staple.

When Piras sold the business in late 2012, he signed a non-compete clause that forced him to stay out of the restaurant business for at least five years.

Not content to stay idle, the entrepreneur teamed up with longtime business partner Maurice Connaughton -- a real estate professional from Ireland -- to open a new boutique brokerage in downtown Sarasota.

The duo specializes in getting foreigners to invest in area residential and commercial properties.

Read more at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.