Rio Grande tweaks name, menu of downtown location in bid to boost sales
After three years on Wazee Street Rio Grande is rechanneling The downtown Mexican restaurant which opened on Blake Street in and moved to Wazee St in is getting a slightly different name and menu The shift stems from subpar sales according to owner Pat McGaughran Quite honestly it hasn t been what our expectation was when we moved he stated But after winter comes spring McGaughran opened the first Rio Grande in Fort Collins in and there are now five locations along the Front Range But the downtown location has been renamed Rio on Wazee and is going beyond its Tex-Mex heritage While classics like Rio s fajitas remain on the menu executive chef Jesus Martinez has added more elevated traditional Mexican dishes like a roasted pork shank birria and striped bass veracruzana We re still Rio and this rebranding effort is to get people to come downtown to have a sort of more urban experience the type of dining experience that people who paid to park downtown came to enjoy McGaughran noted noting it is less family-oriented as well Mole a Mexican sauce made of fruits spices seeds and nuts is prominently featured Rio s well-known margaritas which have a three-drink limit are sticking around too It s a bit of a pilot McGaughran stated of the revamp Who s to say if that migrates to other locations Those outposts along with RARE Italian an upscale steakhouse he owns in Fort Collins have seen sales drop around from two years ago though that number isn t uniform across all the restaurants In LoDo sales are around two-thirds of the peak nearly years ago at the original Blake St location McGaughran explained He bought the Wazee property the home of Morton s The Steakhouse until for million in Part of the reason for the move was to get out of substantial renovation costs at the old location He also desired to get closer to the vitality where LoDo is regathering post-COVID We ll allegedly never be like LoDo in but we re doing remarkably well with regard to everything we know and hear about the restaurant industry right now he noted I don t want to paint a rosy picture when the roses aren t there but we have a level of business that s sustainable Consumer preferences and macro-economic conditions constantly change McGaughran announced noting that Rio has gone through several evolutions during its time Related Articles Cuba Cuba co-founder returns with soulful take on Cuban specialties Four Denver restaurant dishes we loved in June including poke at Aloha Cones After abruptly closing restaurants Del Taco reopening sites across Colorado The Death by Chocolate trifle What a way to go Easy and Delicious Approaches to Eat Well This Summer Being in the restaurant business you have to see what tricks you need to be vibrant he noted We feel super confident with what we have to offer in our mission message provide sanctuary from the troubles of the world and serve the greatest Tex-Mex this side of the Rio Grande In the future McGaughran hopes to add more locations But for now the focus is on his current crop We would like to expand We re still considering ourselves a growing company and we ll wait until the economic conditions are good enough for that The good news being a mature company is we can wait and not take on unnecessary liability Rio s former building on Blake meanwhile was purchased in for million by Francois Safieddine the restaurateur behind ViewHouse and My Neighbor Felix But nothing has opened in the space and the property has been listed for sale Subscribe to our new food newsletter Stuffed to get Denver food and drink news sent straight to your inbox
