Three brothers have turned a single food truck into five restaurants scattered across the Denver metro area, expanding a family business across the region.
The brothers' restaurant roster now includes Encanto Cocina, Encanto Taquería, Ocho's Mexican Cocina, DGO, and DGO Mexican Grill. The names trace back to the SV Restaurant Group, which according to taqueriaencanto.com was founded by Alonso “Ocho” Saenz. The group's own account of its history says the whole operation began in 2018 with a single food truck called La Única.
From a Single Truck to a Multi-Concept Group
The company's about page describes the leap from that original truck into a broader portfolio, stating plainly that it has “grown into multiple restaurant concepts across the Denver metro area,” per the same account on taqueriaencanto.com. That framing lines up with the five-restaurant count reported by 9News, even as the public materials reviewed don't spell out addresses, opening dates, or exactly how ownership is split among the concepts.
One of those five, DGO Mexican Grill, operates in Commerce City. The restaurant's own site, dgomexicangrill.com, bills itself as one of the best Mexican grill restaurants in the city, giving the group a footprint beyond central Denver and into the surrounding suburbs.
Part of a Broader Latino Business Wave
The Saenz family's trajectory echoes a larger pattern playing out across Colorado's small-business landscape. The Denver Post has reported that Colorado is home to more than 90,000 Hispanic-owned small businesses, with Hispanic residents making up 20% of the state's workforce and nearly 14% of its business owners, according to The Denver Post. Separately, the Colorado Restaurant Association has cited a national demographic profile finding that 18% of restaurant firms nationwide are Hispanic-owned, per the Colorado Restaurant Association.
That growth is happening even as Denver's overall restaurant count has been shifting. The Colorado Sun has reported that the city had 1,780 active restaurant licenses at one recent point, compared with 2,356 in July 2023 — a drop the outlet calculated at 24.4%, or 576 businesses. It's a reminder that expanding from a food truck into a five-restaurant group bucks a citywide trend that has seen plenty of other dining spots close their doors.
Food Trucks as a Launching Pad
The move from truck to storefront is a familiar one in Denver's food scene, though it rarely comes easy. Rocky Mountain PBS has reported on other local operators who made that same jump, with one truck owner describing the mobile-kitchen grind as “the hardest thing I've ever done,” according to Rocky Mountain PBS. Westword has chronicled similar conversions around the metro, including Natascha Hess turning her Ginger Pig truck into a freestanding restaurant at 4262 Lowell Boulevard, as reported by Westword.
For the Saenz brothers, the path from La Única's food truck window to a five-restaurant footprint spanning Denver and Commerce City fits into that same lineage of mobile vendors betting on brick-and-mortar growth. What started as one truck in 2018 is now a name recognized across multiple neighborhoods, built one taco order at a time.
