The Sabroso Story
Owners Greg and Patti Benson both come from corporate backgrounds: Greg, from Sylvania and corporate lighting sales, and Patti from Public Service Co. (now Xcel Energy). Patti’s time with Xcel gave her the privilege of traveling around the country working with multi-location hospitality customers. As a result of years of traveling, she grew to appreciate great food that is cooked in a healthy manner. Mexican food in particular does not have a reputation for that, something she and Greg are trying to change at Sabroso.
Growing up in Northern New Mexico and eating at restaurants in Chimayo, Taos & Santa Fe, Patti’s native upbringing also served as an impetus for Sabroso’s concept: serving authentic food that is beautifully presented and incredibly delicious. It is a love of her culture that has inspired her in the creation of Sabroso.
Patti’s role in all of this has been to provide internal menu direction from her New Mexico roots and upbringing and oversight on the interior design. She also oversees back-of-the-house marketing programs. As a vegetarian, she is sensitive to varying dietary needs and works with the Chef to create diverse menus that appeal to a variety of needs and palates. (Patti can't do it alone, read about our management team)
How Sabroso came to be…
Married in 1995 and with three children, interest in finding something that would allow for a more flexible schedule prompted Greg to start a single burrito route. In 1999 he started buying burritos from a local restaurant. It didn’t take long to build a customer following and word-of-mouth demand for more burritos started coming from a variety of outlets. Greg started adding routes and rented kitchen space to make the burritos. He then outgrew that space and opened a commercial kitchen to support the route business and in 2000 added retail to the front of the space. From “in my kitchen to large commercial concept, he then built a USDA approved commissary to support burrito routes and expanding wholesale business while the existing facility continued to grow as a “hole in the wall” burrito restaurant.
Amidst a growing burrito business and requests (once again) from customers for “something more,” Greg and Patti started considering a more full-service restaurant concept and started looking for space. The Sabroso location on Ken Pratt Blvd. came and went several times but the timing was never quite right. They both believe that everything happens for a reason and knew that when the timing was right, the space would be available. And so it was. And Sabroso came to be.