Success Stories

Meet Jose Garces

Business(es) you own in Center City:
Garces Group includes a large portfolio of restaurants, including Amada, Buena Onda, Distrito, JG Domestic,The Olde Bar, Tinto, Village Whiskey, Volvér as well as additional restaurants outside of Center City Philadelphia.

What makes Philadelphia a great place to do business?
I’ve had my restaurants in Center City since 2005. I opened Amada here on Chestnut between 2nd and 3rd in October of ’05 and it’s been a great success story since its first day. I choose to open my restaurants in Center City Philadelphia based on experience I had working with another restaurateur. I worked with Stephen Starr in Philadelphia for several years and I noticed the customer loyalty to his restaurants. I saw repeat customer business and I saw sales that were very consistent. So with that in mind, I knew that this market was really good for restaurants and there was a lot of potential to really grow here.

What about Philadelphia’s restaurant scene?
The restaurant scene here in Philadelphia has really become one that is on the national stage right now. We have a lot of great chefs that opened up their own spots in the last several years and they really bring a dynamic and unique culinary aspect to the restaurant scene and the food is really delicious here.

You can put this scene on par with any neighborhood or any place in the country and I think that you’ll find that the restaurant scene is fantastic.

The dining scene has really changed the image of Philadelphia. This is no longer a Caesar salad, crab cake and cheesesteak kind of town. There’s definitely a nice level of sophistication when it comes to the cuisine.

Our level of diner here, I would put on any scale- the food and the level of cuisine and the hospitality are on a very high level.

Who is your customer?
Our customers are hip. We’re a very cutting edge concept so we’re very food oriented and product oriented. The customers that are coming here expect and want a really high level of product and cuisine. So those are the kinds of people we are attracting.

If we were serving this food years ago, we might have not been in business still, but the fact that we’ve been able to bring a new style and really another level of cuisine to the area has meant a lot.

I would say to any prospective retailer that this is a great place to do business. The customer base is here. There’s a great market. It’s a great market place and I can attest to it just based on the number of dinners I do at my restaurants.