Since the coffee shop opened in 2018, co-owners Cristina Figueroa Colón and José Medina Mato have relied on culinary ingenuity and business creativity in the face of adversity.
Located near three hospitals, Centro Comprensivo de Cáncer Héctor José Ferrer Ríos, Centro Médico and the VA Caribbean Healthcare System, is Sorbo, a breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant in San Juan.
The business, which opened in 2018, is the culinary creative project of Cristina Figueroa Colón and her husband, chef José Medina Matos.
The owners have extensive experience in the hotel industry. After some personal challenges, they decided to fulfill their dream of creating a colorful space, developing a repertoire of dishes and giving their diners a positive experience.
This past August marked six years since they made that dream a reality.
"Six years of a lot of effort, a lot of work. We started in this space seating around 30 to 35 diners. Two years ago we expanded into [the space next door]. Now we seat around 82-84" and employ a team of 20, Figueroa Colón explained.
The restaurant offers a wide variety of coffees and breakfast items such as creams, with their cornstarch pudding being the most popular, along with French toast, omelets and sandwiches.
It also has classic brunch dishes such as chicken and waffles, steak and eggs and burgers.
In addition to their regular menu, they post their lunch menu daily on their Instagram and Facebook social media pages.
"On weekends, we have a special menu" featuring creative variations on their traditional menu, the co-owner added.
All of their desserts are also made in-house. The idea grew from Figueroa Colón's love of baking, which began in childhood and which she rediscovered on her path as an entrepreneur. She is now the one primarily responsible for making quesitos in different flavors, cakes, breads, brownies and other sweets.
Creativity in the face of adversity
Since the coffee shop opened, Figueroa Colón and Medina Mato have relied on culinary ingenuity and business creativity in the face of adversity.
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the couple "made brunch boxes, little boxes of pastries, lemonades by the half gallon, juices" and baked large cakes for birthdays to keep the business going.
All the effort paid off because after the coronavirus, "our clientele grew a lot more" as they made regular food deliveries to the nearby hospitals.
In August, however, Sorbo suffered a setback.
At 5:00 in the morning on Monday, Aug. 12, Figueroa Colón noticed a strong smell of burning, not thinking it was coming from her restaurant. She saw smoke when she opened the doors and, when she tried to turn on the lights, a spark came out.
The right side of the space had no electricity and there was soot on all its colorful surfaces: the tables, chairs, products, walls. Everything was covered in a fine black dust.
A security camera that was not affected captured the moment a fire broke out in the kitchen at around 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 11. "A very difficult, frustrating moment, and a lot of fear," Figueroa said.
Over the following eight days, the business was cleaned, painted and restored. The support of her team and her diners moved her.
"Diners who came by brought us coffee, brought us food, came to say hello. They gave us hugs. The number of kind messages has been something really impressive in the middle of all the difficulty," the entrepreneur said.
"The way [in which] they can help us most is by supporting us, coming to our business, spreading the word that we're open again," she added.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
