Downtown Phoenix favorite The Coronado PHX is moving locations but will continue to serve the community as they work towards a plant-based future. The restaurant announced its plans on Facebook last week, saying they will reopen at a new location on 12th St and Oak during the summer.
“We are eternally grateful for the opportunity to start The Coronado PHX in the little house on 7th back in 2015, but life tosses all sorts of things your way & it’s time for us to move on,” the Facebook post said.
The Coronado was opened in 2015 by Emily Spetrino, Liz Tavarez, Juan Tavarez and Elle Murtagh in a little space on 7th street. Spetrino said their lease was up at its current location and found another location to move into.
“We have been working hard over the last year to figure out what our next step would be and were fortunate enough to get mixed up with a really awesome guy who helped us land our new spot,” Spetrino said.
The group bonded over their passion for vegan food and similar political ideologies. They set out to create a space where people can feel safe, get some delicious vegan food & maybe learn about a way they can help out their community. Through their hard work, The Coronado was built.
“My wife Elle is a classically trained chef,” Spetrino said. “But more importantly Elle, Liz & Juan were all in a band together back in the early ’00s, so we knew that if you can tour together, you can operate a business together.”
Like many businesses, The Coronado has experienced the impact of COVID-19. The Coronado had a drop in sales and while sales are not as low as they had planned, they have decreased from what is expected during a “typical year.” The difficulties that have been faced during the pandemic have also taken a toll on the morale of the staff.
“It’s already hard to work in this industry but that compacted with a pandemic and some difficult customers and situations has been really tough on the staff,” Spetrino said. “We are forever grateful to all of them for sticking it out with us.”
In a post-pandemic world, The Coronado is looking forward to hosting the events for the community they would typically have. Spetrino said they miss being able to hold space for people to gather.
The Coronado is also striving to see the vegan food scene taken seriously and would like to help put Phoenix on the map as part of a plant-based food future.
“It’s a shame that there’s really only a handful of non-plant-based, male-owned restaurants that are labeled with any sort of ‘prestige’ in our city,” Spetrino said. “Being a trans/female/POC-owned space here is a feat of its own, so we’re grateful that we’re still in the game at all. We know plant-based is the future and we would like to think that we’re gonna help put Phoenix on the map for it.”
The Coronado is looking forward to their future and growing at their new location, 2245 N 12th St. Spetrino said they plan on making some changes, but their mission to serve the community by providing a welcoming atmosphere and good food will remain the same.
“We have some changes in mind for Coronado 2.0 but ultimately we just want to continue making good vegan food & helping our community,” said Spetrino.
Contact the reporter at amlay3@asu.edu.
