Patience and timing allowed Hollister resident Don Alvarez to
capture a dream he’d had for more than 20 years
– owning a restaurant.
The new owner of The Elegant Touch had observed the restaurant’s
business since he moved to Hollister about five years ago. After
being in the food business for more than 30 years, he knew the
location was prime and was exactly what he wanted.
Patience and timing allowed Hollister resident Don Alvarez to capture a dream he’d had for more than 20 years – owning a restaurant.
The new owner of The Elegant Touch had observed the restaurant’s business since he moved to Hollister about five years ago. After being in the food business for more than 30 years, he knew the location was prime and was exactly what he wanted.
“I approached (the owners), we made a deal and the rest is history,” Alvarez said.
A short history, with Alvarez officially owning the restaurant for only three months, but a busy one nonetheless.
Since he bought the restaurant from Cynthia and Roger McDonald, he’s tried extremely hard to upgrade and make necessary changes, but at the same time keep them gradual so the customers and employees have time to adjust.
“I didn’t come in the day I took over and say, ‘OK, everything’s changed,'” he said. “I haven’t taken anything off the menu. I just expanded on it, so it wasn’t a big shock.”
During the past few months he’s added a complete new menu with about 15 new sandwiches and salads, will be offering hot foods and is starting a full-service catering service that will be up and running in the very near future, he said.
Alvarez didn’t had the resources or knowledge to attempt such a grand endeavor on his own until now, he said.
By saving most of the money for the restaurant and financing the rest, he bought it without much apprehension to the volatile environment that is the restaurant business.
“I’m confident that it will do well with my experience of knowing how to run operations to make a profitable business,” he said. “Every place I worked in for the last 30 years was a profitable business. Now it’s time for me.”
For the past five years, Alvarez commuted to Palo Alto to his job at the Boudin Bakery, which is famous for its San Francisco sourdough bread. Being the owner isn’t too different from his numerous managerial positions he’s held over the years, except that now he’s in charge of everything.
“I’m the human resources department, the complaint department – I’m this and I’m that,” he said. “It is a little overwhelming at certain times.”
One thing that cut down on some of the stress of owning a business was that the business was already established and had a pretty good following.
When he took over, he saw there were gaps in food choices and sales, and was able to fill those gaps by menu and operations improvements.
Because the restaurant business is one of the toughest businesses to conquer, Alvarez advises not getting into it unless you are totally aware of what it takes to make it successful.
“There are a lot of good cooks out there that want to have their own place, but you have to know the fundamentals,” he said. “The key is to keep people’s interest up and know the numbers and operations.”
His years of experience and cooking expertise have helped to improve business from day one, Alvarez said, but it comes from very long hours and hard work.
He spends an average of 12 to 13 hours a day, seven days a week at the restaurant. Working hard for yourself is a lot different than working those kinds of hours for someone else, though.
“It doesn’t bother me because it’s my business,” he said. “When I get up in the morning I’m looking forward to coming to work.”
Eventually he hopes to reduce those hours by hiring someone who can take charge when he can’t be there, but he will never hire a full time manager, he said.
“I want to be hands on, to be here all the time,” he said. “That’s the only way to do it.”
Customers welcomed Alvarez from the start, and have given him positive feedback concerning new food items to keeping almost all of the past owner’s employees.
If the restaurant is a success, he said he hopes to expand, but for now his greatest success is seeing the smiles on his customers’ faces, he said.
“Seeing happy people that love good food is always rewarding,” he said. “I know I’m doing something right.”
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