The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
New owners, new concept for eatery
Las Margaritas goes to fast casual restaurant
Las Margaritas, located at 519 Avon Belden Road in Avon Lake, opened earlier this year as a joint venture between Rogelio Hernandez and his business partner Adriana Melo.
The latest in a long line of restaurants owned by Hernandez, he said Las Margaritas originally was planned as a “traditional” sitdown Mexican restaurant.
However, the young restaurant experienced consistent staffing issues, which caused training employees to drag on, Hernandez said.
“We started here in February with a new concept, with just a regular sit-down Mexican restaurant,” Melo said through Hernandez, her translator. “We made the decision to do the change because, unfortunately … we just were having problems with the staff, because we were training all the time.
“They would work for a week, a month, two months, and leave.”
Now more akin to fast casual restaurants like Chipotle and
Moe’s Southwest Grill, the restaurant advertised it has more traditional Mexican ingredients than the chain eateries, providing a dozen different meat options.
“I (told Melo), look, we’ve already talked about this, let’s just make it a Chipotle style,” Hernandez said. “The realistic part of a sit-down Mexican restaurant, if you want to do things right, you need to have at least four guys who know what they’re doing.
“With this concept, you only need one.”
The change took place Aug. 24, and after a slow start, the restaurant gradually has gotten back to a similar level of business as before thanks to word of mouth around Avon Lake.
“When we made the change,” Hernandez said. “We were like, did we make a mistake?
“We were scratching our heads.
After that, people started finding out and it started getting nice. People started talking about it in town, and on social media.”
Hernandez said he recently sold the restaurant to Melo in the hopes that the building could receive a liquor license faster with her at the helm.
While the restaurant is doing average business without the ability to sell alcohol, Hernandez said that liquor certainly would help.
“What’s really been hurting this business, is the liquor part,” he said. “Because without liquor, people come, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the same.”
Hernandez said the hope is that the restaurant will be able to secure a liquor license within the next few months.
He and Melo still are waiting on their initial hearing for the permit.
In the meantime, the restaurant is open for business.
Las Margaritas now sports an online order pickup window, according to Hernandez.
The restaurant also is available on Doordash and Toast, he said.
“We work so hard to make it work,” Melo said. “We’re excited to see the turnaround now, that the people are loving it.
“People are talking so highly about it. We put our heart into it … we can’t wait to see the restaurant working 100 percent full time with liquor and everything.”
Las Margaritas is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays; and 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sundays.