Page 11 - Ohio Restaurant Association Industry Awards

Rising Star
LAURIE TORRES
MALLORCA RESTAURANT
Laurie Torres is the Owner of Mallorca Restaurant, a 25-year-old legacy restaurant in Cleveland Ohio. She bought the restaurant for her husband back in 1997 and together they created the “hottest seat” in Cleveland according to Fortune Magazine. She then went back to her own career as a legal mediator, writer of children’s books and mother to four girls. For a variety of reasons, she was forced to take over the restaurant in 2016. Then, as a newly single mom who had very little knowledge in the industry, she had to figure out how to save Mallorca which was at the time over $300,000 in debt. With hard work, perseverance and integrity, she was able to create relationships with vendors, clean up debts and lawsuits and create a new Mallorca that is now downtown Cleveland’s most awarded restaurant and without debt. Because of her legal knowledge, she is familiar with the art of negotiation and building relationships. These skills were crucial in rescuing Mallorca and continued to help as she began to expand beyond the day-to-day of the restaurant into her first love and making changes to help other small business owners. She joined the ORA and the IRC in lobbying for change in legislation at the local, state and federal level and will soon become the President of the Cleveland Independent Restaurants. She is a fierce advocate for minority and women-owned business’ and believes in partnering with other small business to create business opportunities for all. She believes strongly that as the owner of a legacy restaurant she not only represents the restaurant but the city in which it resides, telling staff that “for every visitor we must remember that we represent Cleveland and for that we must put our best foot forward for not just our Mallorca house but for the beautiful city of Cleveland in which we are honored to do business”. On almost any day, you can see Ms. Torres behind the bar with a huge smile greeting her customer-family, working alongside her staff, many of whom have been a part of the Mallorca family for over
20 years.
2021
INDUSTRY AWARD WINNERS