Sacarias Guitron and his wife, Lilia, opened Fiesta En Jalisco, a family-run Mexican restaurant in rural Orofino, Idaho, 30 years ago and never looked back.
The location was the first in what is now a nine-restaurant chain, stretching across Montana and Washington.
Before they discovered Orofino, Sacarias and Lilia lived in Aberdeen, Washington, working for a different restaurant.
“On his day off, Sacarias flew to the nearest airport in Lewiston. He wanted to see Orofino," Lilia said. "He liked it. He came back to Aberdeen and told me, ‘Lilia, I think we have to open this restaurant with my cousins.’ That’s how we got here.”
Sacarias and his cousins, all childhood friends from Ayutla, a small town in the Mexico state of Jalisco, formed a partnership and got to work building their business. Eight other locations followed, all of which continue to be run by a family member of the original four cousins.
For Lilia, Orofino became the ideal place to raise her family. She found life there mirrored her hometown. "I go to the post office and the bank, and everybody knows everybody,” she said. “Orofino is a small town where people know and help you.”
In 2003, the restaurant moved to an older building, a few blocks from its original location. Lilia believes it was built around 1890. The Guitrons cemented the move about six years ago, purchasing the building despite its needed upgrades.
One such upgrade was recently taken care of with help from Avista. The restaurant’s lighting was completely overhauled and updated to new energy-saving LEDs. The upgrade cost just over $37,700 and is projected to save the restaurant more than 68,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year. That’s enough to power more than three typical homes in the area for a year. Even better, Avista covered the costs of the entire project.
But for Lilia and Sicarias, the overhaul means their family business can save money and continue to flourish, from generation to generation. In time, their son, Abraham, will take over and manage the Orofino location full-time.
For now, they’re excited to continue serving the small Idaho town they’ve come to love.
“I love to interact with people,” Lilia said. “At one point, I told myself I would not work here full-time anymore. But I couldn’t do it. I came back. I love people."
Washington and Idaho Avista small business customers can easily qualify for lighting upgrades, such as the one mentioned in this account. Plus, Avista typically covers 100% of the project costs.