Mexican restaurant and salsa wholesaler Pelon’s Baja Grill under construction at 2231 Dabney Rd. (Photo by Michael Thompson.)
A Mexican restaurant and salsa manufacturer is set to spice up a stretch of a Richmond industrial area.
Pelon’s Baja Grill plans to open by the end of the month at 2231 Dabney Road. The business joins Strangeways Brewing a few doors down in trying to draw foot traffic to a largely industrial neighborhood just west of Interstate 195.
“It’s zoned for industrial and for retail… It captures all the areas we’re trying to go after,” Pelon’s owner John Muscara said of the space. “I know it’s a strange industrial park to be at.”
Muscara spent $350,000 to build the kitchen and infrastructure and another $100,000 to build the interior at the 8,000-square-foot space.
The Richmond location will be the third Pelon’s the Muscara family has opened since launching a Virginia Beach location in 2004. The family opened a second Pelon’s in Norfolk in 2009. “Pelon” means hairless or bald in Spanish.
Muscara said he expects to draw nearby workers for breakfast and lunch. For the evenings, Muscara plans to hold events to attract Virginia Commonwealth University students.
Pelon’s operators Matt Muscara and Cali Muscara.
In addition to functioning as a restaurant space, Muscara’s facility will manufacture Pelon’s brand of salsa for retail distribution. Muscara said he’s worked out a number of deals for his salsa with grocers such as Libbie Market, Ellwood Thompson’s and others as far as Northern Virginia. Pints of salsa wholesale for $3.50, and Muscara said he’s sold a couple thousand of them since January. The pints typically retail for about $6.
Muscara is so confident in his salsa that even patrons of Pelon’s restaurant will have to ante up for the dip.
“It’s a premium product,” Muscara said. “The kind of salsa that they usually give away is a generic can-style product.”
Muscara added that the drought in California has driven up the price on the ingredients he uses in his salsa.
Pelon’s wants to hire about 12 employees to run the restaurant and salsa manufacturing space. Two of Muscara’s children, Matt Muscara and Cali Muscara, will operate the business.
Cali Muscara said that she’s met many Virginia Beach Pelon’s patrons who came from Richmond to try their tacos.
“They’re not pretentious tacos,” she said. “They’re just fresh tacos.”
Mexican restaurant and salsa wholesaler Pelon’s Baja Grill under construction at 2231 Dabney Rd. (Photo by Michael Thompson.)
A Mexican restaurant and salsa manufacturer is set to spice up a stretch of a Richmond industrial area.
Pelon’s Baja Grill plans to open by the end of the month at 2231 Dabney Road. The business joins Strangeways Brewing a few doors down in trying to draw foot traffic to a largely industrial neighborhood just west of Interstate 195.
“It’s zoned for industrial and for retail… It captures all the areas we’re trying to go after,” Pelon’s owner John Muscara said of the space. “I know it’s a strange industrial park to be at.”
Muscara spent $350,000 to build the kitchen and infrastructure and another $100,000 to build the interior at the 8,000-square-foot space.
The Richmond location will be the third Pelon’s the Muscara family has opened since launching a Virginia Beach location in 2004. The family opened a second Pelon’s in Norfolk in 2009. “Pelon” means hairless or bald in Spanish.
Muscara said he expects to draw nearby workers for breakfast and lunch. For the evenings, Muscara plans to hold events to attract Virginia Commonwealth University students.
Pelon’s operators Matt Muscara and Cali Muscara.
In addition to functioning as a restaurant space, Muscara’s facility will manufacture Pelon’s brand of salsa for retail distribution. Muscara said he’s worked out a number of deals for his salsa with grocers such as Libbie Market, Ellwood Thompson’s and others as far as Northern Virginia. Pints of salsa wholesale for $3.50, and Muscara said he’s sold a couple thousand of them since January. The pints typically retail for about $6.
Muscara is so confident in his salsa that even patrons of Pelon’s restaurant will have to ante up for the dip.
“It’s a premium product,” Muscara said. “The kind of salsa that they usually give away is a generic can-style product.”
Muscara added that the drought in California has driven up the price on the ingredients he uses in his salsa.
Pelon’s wants to hire about 12 employees to run the restaurant and salsa manufacturing space. Two of Muscara’s children, Matt Muscara and Cali Muscara, will operate the business.
Cali Muscara said that she’s met many Virginia Beach Pelon’s patrons who came from Richmond to try their tacos.
“They’re not pretentious tacos,” she said. “They’re just fresh tacos.”