Virginia Borges came to Canada in 2014 from Venezuela with the dream of starting her own business. She wanted her business to give back to the community in some way. She then opened Re:Grub Burger Bar.Known for their highly instagrammable milkshakes and burgers, Re:Grub has become a popular Calgary hotspot for their unique and delicious creations. This is Virginia’s story.
Virginia Borges came to Canada in 2014 from Venezuela with the dream of starting her own business. She wanted her business to give back to the community in some way. She then opened Re:Grub Burger Bar.
Known for their highly instagrammable milkshakes and burgers, Re:Grub has become a popular Calgary hotspot for their unique and delicious creations.
This is Virginia’s story.
You can learn more about Re:Grub Burger Bar at regrub.ca.
Allan: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, I'm Al Grego, and this is the Yes We Are Open podcast.
For this week's story, I thought I'd skip ahead in my Alberta trip to my last day. It's Friday morning. I'm in the northeast end of Calgary, in a commercial and warehousing district near the airport, just off Alberta's busiest highway, Deerfoot Trail. The highway is a 46. 4 km segment of Highway 2 that stretches the entire length of the city of Calgary from south to north.
Originally named the Blackfoot Trail Freeway in 1971, it was renamed in 1974 after a late 19th century Siksika Nation long distance runner, Deerfoot, who was known for [00:01:00] his exceptional speed. Today I'm parked just outside Deerfoot City, an outdoor shopping center that boasts 80 plus acres with over 50 retailers and a bunch of future development to come.
According to their website, Deerfood City is Calgary's most vibrant retail hub, with celebrated eateries, seasonal celebrations, and year round entertainment. I'm headed to one of those celebrated eateries now, located in a building called the Food Lodge. Between a Vietnamese restaurant and a bubble tea shop is a cool looking burger joint, and the subject of this week's story, Regrub Burger Bar.
That's Virginia Borges, the owner of Regrub. The restaurant isn't open yet, but she lets me in and shows me around. [00:02:00] This is Regrub's second location. Their first location is in downtown Calgary in the Beltline District. But Virginia thought this place would be quieter for our interview. As I walk into this restaurant, to my left is the kitchen, and on my right is the counter where you place your order.
Both sides are separated by floor to ceiling chain link fence. The floors are polished concrete. But before you think that all sounds too cold and industrial, there are light blue highlights throughout the whole place and a very colourful mural above the kitchen, telling the story of Regrub's history in colourful artwork to keep a vibrant atmosphere.
Virginia: So this is from February 2016, and it's when our shades became famous.
Allan: Past the kitchen, in a modest dining area, the restaurant opens to a larger shared food court area for the rest of the food lodge. The food court is currently quiet, so Virginia and I find a table and sit for her interview.
Virginia: My name is Virginia Borges and I'm the co owner and managing director of ReGrab.[00:03:00]
I came here in 2014 from Venezuela and I was like full of dreams and I always wanted to have a business to be honest. What brought you to
Allan: Calgary from Venezuela? Why Calgary?
Virginia: I had two options. I was thinking about Canada and Australia at that point. Um, my best friend came here. So we have a culture that is very, I would say close a little bit.
So in order to her to move here with her boyfriend, they have to get married before and all that. And she was like, Virginia, I don't want you. I want to meet the country first. So I say, I was coming back from U. S. I went to U. S. University, so I was looking for different countries and they say for me it's the same if I go to U.
S. or Canada, so I decide let's go to Canada. I went to school for accounting and supply chain and international business as well. So I'm the person that I do like to see my scenarios. So I started to do in my spreadsheet and [00:04:00] using Google for actually walking into the streets and see myself if I'm able to, I'd never been in Canada before, but it was my one shot decision.
I only had the resources to buy my ticket and come here. So I was not able to go back.
Allan: What was your first winter like?
Virginia: For me, it was very fun. We don't have snow over there. We do have some cities that it has a snow if you go to the top of the mountain, but having the experience to feel the snow, like seeing that snow falling, I was very grateful.
So for me, it was amazing to leave that, even though it was very cold for a Latina being here. But. I really enjoyed it. I was like, I want to go to do a snowboarding and
Allan: you embraced it. Totally, totally.
Virginia: Yeah. Now, but at that point I was like, where is this? I only watch it in like movies or I just had that energy to embrace the moment.
I'm going to [00:05:00] be honest. The first two weeks I was like, this is so quiet, mom. I was like, I want to go back. And my mom was like, Virginia, give yourself six months. And then that's when I started to create plans for three years and then turn it around. I'm already 10 years here. Right. But my first plan, it was, I'm going to survive for three years.
Allan: Is your mom still back in Venezuela?
Virginia: They moved to Spain. Spain? Okay. Yeah. My two sisters has a career. One is a doctor and the other one is a lawyer. So over there, you actually do a test and you're able to work as your profession. For me, it was easier to come to a country that an accountant, it's a little bit different, it's more business.
So it's number, yes, you do your CPA and everything, but it works differently than health. Okay,
Allan: so you were here 2014, I mean that is so quickly, because if you opened your door in 2015, [00:06:00] it didn't take you long.
Virginia: No. So at that point I came in, I was very, very focused. I went to school to SAIT supply chain management, so I knew that I have a certain time, but when I was doing my Excel sheet, I knew how much income I had to have to pay my international fee and the university and everything.
So I was very focused and I say, okay, how can I make this work? I want to work that I'm able to, of course, get some income, but I'm able to see in the longterm to create my company. So my initial thought, it was like, I want to know about the restaurant business. My first idea was like, I want to create something back home, honestly.
So yeah, so there is a restaurant that it calls like Robin hood. They serve in the morning and in the night, they actually provide the same service, not changing the experience, not changing anything. But a fair price for people that have low income. So I wanted to learn to be able to replicate that back home and [00:07:00] be able to pay back to the community.
So that's the point that I met Jose and he was looking for a front of the house manager. He told me, Virginia has this idea. We, we just started.
We started, we grew up. After three years, he started to looking for a new ventures. So at that point he presented to me, let's say, Virginia, let's go to continue. You can take over and then we have some sweat equity at that point. So I took the challenge completely. I was like, this is the challenge to learn and grow myself, but also prove myself.
Back home, I was working for a company for six years. And even though that I had the knowledge and I wanted to grow, I felt that just because being a woman, I didn't have the opportunity to, and this country actually is very open to that. [00:08:00] I feel the gap here. It's a little bit. It's just. But I had that I wanted to be the business woman at the beginning.
I used to Have classes in the morning and then I was being nanny for two hours and then like I used to go to work At 6 a. m. Pick up the girls and everything drop it on the school. I went to stage until 2 p. m I was working and we grew up to 2 to 9 until close And then 9 to 3 a. m. I was a waitress in another place.
Oh
Allan: my gosh. Yes. When did you sleep?
Virginia: Yeah, that was the hard part Sometimes I wake up in the morning at 6 a. m. and I was like crying because I say is this gonna be worth it? Like it's too much, but it was a three year plan. After three years, I started to relax. Okay,
Allan: so you stuck to
Virginia: your plan. Yeah So
at the beginning the intention was to be a restaurant that bring people from 23 years old to 40 to have a beer [00:09:00] and a burger. More like a bar thing, but like a gourmet burgers and that kind of stuff. So with the shakes, that turned around to be a very family driven concept. What's your name?
Peter: Peter. Peter, what do you do?
I'm the Chief Operating Officer. I run the Deerfoot location.
Allan: How long have you been working at Deerfoot?
Peter: Three years.
Allan: What's
Peter: your favorite part? I think my favorite part is actually making the milkshakes for the kids, bringing them to the tables, watching them freak out. It's a lot of fun watching their expressions.
A lot of good memories from either that.
Allan: So, how do you create a new milkshake? What's your creative process?
Peter: It's kind of just as inspiration hits me. Sometimes I'm looking for a specific result. Other times I come across something I think is interesting. Hey, how can I apply this in my milkshakes or my burgers?
Like the Thule here, for example. That's Kind of, it's just, it's as an inspiration comes.
Allan: You made a shake and it went viral. Yeah.
Virginia: So Jonathan took a picture and it was like crazy because we were brainstorming like [00:10:00] the sales were not there. What's what we have to do. Um, so. We put like, uh, a donut on top and we have the picture outside and it was crazy at that point Instagram for restaurant, it was not a thing.
So anybody invest on having good pictures on their Instagram and anything, the logarithm and how to handle an Instagram at that point, it was very easy. You have a good picture, it's a good video and you're going to go viral, right?
Allan: If you haven't visited Regrub's Instagram, I highly recommend it. They've taken the art of foodtography, look it up, it's a thing, to a whole new level.
But it all started with that first viral photo.
Virginia: And it was crazy. We have crazy lines outside.
Allan: Because of this viral photo.
Virginia: Yeah, so everybody wants the shakes. It was raining and people still there and I was like, oh my god.
Allan: Regrub's sudden viral success was great at first, but it created unforeseen challenges for Virginia's team.
They had to figure out quicker ways to make their beautiful new shakes. Their ice cream making machines couldn't turn out shakes fast enough.
Virginia: We have our first line [00:11:00] and we crash. So we have to close. And the next day we were looking for new machines that has closed that gap for serving and being more efficient.
So we got these machines and we had still the crazy lines. I remember one day. I think that this is the biggest number, 700 shakes, in one day.
Allan: Did you have enough ice cream for one day? We did! They even had to abandon their idea of decorating mugs while the customers watched. Virginia saw each challenge as an opportunity to streamline the process, and she was up for it.
To her, this was the fun part, but it was taking its toll on the business.
Virginia: In that phase of regroup, every night we stay longer just to think how we're going to do the next day. We learn everything on the hard way. And I think having that learning curve, it was good, but it was damaging a little bit, the company as well.
Because the service is what's not there.
Allan: So your reputation is taking a hit.
Virginia: Yeah.[00:12:00]
Allan: When would you say you had things moving smoothly?
Virginia: Yeah.
Allan: 2018, 2019?
Virginia: Yeah, 2019.
Allan: At what point though, because I think this is an interesting part of your story that I didn't know when, when I first contacted you about this, but then I told somebody I was coming to interview you and they said, Oh, you're going to love that their story because they hired, you know, different people.
So when did you decide to do that?
Virginia: Well, that was when the milkshakes would go viral. So at that point, you have to. To pivot, like what you have is not selling properly. You have to have different plans. So it was the plan of creating the beef because we grind our beef. We, we actually do it from scratch.
It's hand press it and everything. So we wanted to do retail [00:13:00] of that beef. The other side, it was hiring people to help us to packaging that beef with different abilities. So we hired at that point, Alex.
Allan: Why was that important to you then? Does that go back to you wanted to give back somehow?
Virginia: There's two reasons.
One, my business partner and all that. When he had a kid with Down syndrome, and I had my nephew with autism, I didn't know how to deal with that kind of stuff. And I'm a person that I want to learn all the time. And I always think that I wanted to know more how to try to give the opportunity to somebody else.
We try to create an opportunity for Having people with different abilities, but we want to start with something simple, which it was just the packaging at that point. So we have that plan of going retail or the shakes or creating something different. So the shakes of course took over and we put the retail on the side.
So at that point we [00:14:00] already hired Alex. So Alex started working with us. So I took that as a personal development. So we had Alex, Jen, Lisa, like three or four people. And I used to spend the time with them to teaching everything. Since that we had the sales to have people around, I was able to spend the time with them.
And then at this point, I just do it. Like we say it and everything, but
Allan: It's not part of your identity, but it's, it's what you're doing. Okay.
Virginia: Yeah. Nowadays, when we do a hiring process to hire new people, I tell them the reason why is because if we grow up close tomorrow, I wanted them to have the skills and abilities to be able to find a job.
I just hope one day when my nephew tried to find a job or that somebody else treat them the way that we have done with.
Allan: So once you kind of got your operations [00:15:00] settled and your supply chain all worked out, I mean, how have you been embraced by the community?
Virginia: I feel that the first time that I felt that we grew up as a community, it was when COVID started, to be honest.
It was amazing how people were coming to the store. It was great. You felt that support. I think that before we were just the boom, right? So most of the restaurants, they look forward to have that boom and be popular and just have the picture, but they don't know what is behind it. So. It was hard to show who we are when everybody's just excited about just having a picture with a shake or the burger.
So, well, we're more than just milkshakes. Yeah, we have good
Allan: food here
Virginia: too. Exactly.
Allan: I never asked you this at the beginning, but where does the ReGrop.
Virginia: So ReGrop, it's, uh, It means burger backwards.
Allan: Oh jeez, I never said that.
Virginia: Yeah. So there is two meanings, it's basically burger backwards [00:16:00] or regarding grub.
Right.
Allan: I mean, that's what I thought it was.
Virginia: So. Yeah.
Allan: That's, that's clever. Okay.
Clever indeed. I'm never going to live that one down. Up next, Virginia's origin story already had plenty of struggle, but she was able to meet it head on and actually relish the opportunity for personal development. But we haven't even gotten to the pandemic yet. How did she manage that? Stay tuned to find out.
You're listening to Yes We Are Open. Virginia Borges moved to Calgary from Venezuela in 2014 with nothing more than a hard work ethic and a three year plan to start her own business. But she was only one year into that plan when she opened Regrub with very little restaurant experience. She was very successful early on, thanks to a [00:17:00] viral photo of one of their very photogenic milkshake creations.
That early success presented many challenges which Virginia was able to overcome. But what came next challenged even the most experienced restauranteurs all over the planet. How did she get through it? Let's find out. What would you say has been your biggest struggle since you've opened?
Virginia: I would say COVID, of course.
In my case, my family was not here. So I was literally alone the whole COVID. And it was like, I I'm not able to see my family and you feel that fear of you don't have any power to go and be with them because everything was closed, but also dealing with a business that you don't know what is going to happen as well.
I had a meeting. I remember the first week and we had a zoom meeting and I present the situation and say, Hey, This is what is happening. We don't [00:18:00] know more than what has been told to us. My options are, I can help you go through your ROE so you get your help from the government. Otherwise, who are not able to apply for that and need the income, please let us know.
What they did is it was very fulfilling. It was very nice that some of them say, Virginia, I live with my parents. I don't need the income. I give up my shift to the people who need it. So they were like that. And it was, wow, for me, I remember Alex, that's still working with us. People with different abilities, they do have.
And they have a routine,
Allan: which is very
Virginia: hard for them to go out. And that's when I understood that. Pool, activities, everything was closed. The only routine that he had to keep, it was re grab coming, to work three hours, two times a week.
The first two, three months, It was amazing. Honestly, it was a very good [00:19:00] time, even though that it was scary. My marketing manager, the mom and Derek, I remember having him and my manager at home, we were creating the online store. At that point we didn't have online store, so we created overnight in one day.
We have all the pictures put it on and selling everything online.
Allan: So ice cream is very perishable.
Virginia: Yeah, I know. It was the shakes, how we make them to go. Right. But yeah, we, we limited the menu, right? We choose one that we are able to, to do it on which ones were not. I didn't put, uh, the crazy shakes on delivery channels. We only have like the Vintage. But at that point you can.
You can do it for pickup. And I was doing the deliveries as well. So I do care. And then I was like being careful to chop it off. But we create the website in the moment, like overnight. After that, we create the do it yourself burgers so people [00:20:00] can create their own burgers at home. Oh, so they have
Allan: to deliver the ingredients.
Exactly.
Virginia: Yeah. So it was very nice. It was like, okay, let's go to do this and that. And we hold it for three months, open the two locations. Then it was to the point that this location became available. Because it wasn't a food court, everything was closed around, right? So it was not worth it to have it any more open.
So I decided to close this location and focus on the bedline location. So the good thing, it was since that we have a supply chain in that location and we have inventory for a month for two locations with a high level of sales,
Allan: right?
Virginia: It gave me an opportunity to be okay for a month. For four months.
Right. With a good inventory for one location. Mm-Hmm. . So we closed this one for two months and I focused myself in the bed line. I had two managers at that point. I told them, I know guys that you can get from the government, the payment. Very similar what I'm paying to you. Yeah. Without doing anything.[00:21:00]
Yeah. But it's your choice. You stay with me and then we go through this together or you just. Get your salary from them, right? They decide to stay. So we were opening from 12 to nine every day. So we were crazy busy, honestly.
The delivery channels, it was like outside waiting. We have huge line for burgers. So we create our own process inside. We were taking care of all each other at that point. I never had COVID here in Canada, actually.
Allan: No,
Virginia: I hadn't in, when I went to Spain to visit my family. Three years after I was like, this is crazy.
Yeah. So on that moment I realized what was my experience coming from Venezuela will teach me through my business and life. It was the resilience that you don't know what is coming back home. When I was working in the companies, every week. [00:22:00] It was a new adventure. We were have to deal with government, with rates, with so many things, uncertainly.
So it was the hard part that you go to the supermarkets over there back home and you don't find anything. You have to find another one or going on that way. So it was the same situation here. So I was able to deal with that. Without having that stress or,
Allan: yeah, because you've done it before. Yeah,
Virginia: but I didn't know.
I didn't know. So when I was dealing with him, so many people were close. No, I don't fight beef. I don't find that. But yes, you do. Every morning I was spending my time sometimes when I don't find the stuff to call five, six, seven suppliers and finding the way to get the stuff. I was not stressed out. It was fun for me because I do like to deal in with supply chain and stuff.
It was a good time.
Yeah. I remember that we used to have supply chain manager at the point and [00:23:00] I had to took over that. Yeah. So I had the chance to lean all the process somehow. And the time that you spend on the supermarket, buying some stuff, all that, it was amazing. Like, uh, we lean in to the point that we used to use one day completely from 7am to 6am.
to do purchasing and delivering everything. Nowadays we do in three hours. Sometimes you have to put yourself in the shoes of somebody else to understand what is happening and what you can fix. Or maybe you cannot fix it, but you can understand better.
Allan: This is your specialty. So you were able to,
Virginia: yeah. So otherwise you can understand what they've been going through as well.
When the business, you're not able to do anything. plan anything because you're not growing. There is nothing planned. You just have to go with the flow. I realized that, wow, humans, we're so worried about the future, what is coming or how to planning that we stopped living the present. And [00:24:00] that was the time that it was my favorite time because in the morning.
I was going to the mountains, see the sunrise, and then coming back to work at 12 and working until 9. And the next day was a new adventure for me because I knew that I have the morning for myself without thinking if I'm going to study something, if I need to learn something.
Allan: So as busy as you were, it also forced you to slow down.
Exactly.
Virginia: The fun part is all the team that we had, they came back.
Allan: Everyone.
Virginia: Everyone after COVID. Not with the same amount of pressure. But all of them, they were able to come back.
Allan: Coming up after the break, we find out what the future holds for regrub burger bar.
Cass: Success in business doesn't come without moments of struggle moments. When you had to face your challenges head on as the proud partner of Canadian business, Manaris plays a critical role.[00:25:00]
Allan: Welcome back to Yes, We Are Open. For almost a decade, Virginia and her team at Regra Burger Bar have been serving up memorable milkshakes, burgers, and experiences to hungry Calgarians and their visitors. Here's what's next! They've built quite the strong brand. You would think the next step would be franchising.
So is it? Let's find out. You've tried the expansion once to a different market. Yeah. Something you might look at again or franchising or what?
Virginia: Not anymore for me. I don't feel that would be our path. I wanted to create, we grew up more as a community brand. So how we want to do this, it's being able to create a mobile We grew up just to be able to be in all the communities and be in the South and the North and everything.
It's going to be like a shake [00:26:00] bar. We don't want to do a full with burgers and shakes. It's going to be a little bit different, but we want it to be more in the community. I don't want to be the brand that has multiple locations and lose that hard. Instead, we want to go back to basics and try to grow in a different way.
For me, this is part of my life already. And I love the lifestyle and I love my passion and everything, but I do want to do a seasonal business as well. I would love to have more time to spend and go to Spain to see my family and that kind of stuff. So if we run it the way that we're running and opening more locations, that means that you are more attached to the break and mortar business.
So at this point, I have the two locations. But I'm deeply thinking to get rid of one just to start focus in one location and being able to be more catering weddings. The full experience is going to be only on the location. What will [00:27:00] be a having that little mobile of free grub. Honestly, lately, This year, we have been seeing so many people that have been coming to Regrob so many years.
They have the same picture, for example, with the shakes over five, six, eight years. We already have eight years, right? Regrob has become the brand of the Calgarians that feel proud that something was built here. And when somebody comes to visit, they come to Regrob. And, and that's a huge thing for me and for our team.
Allan: Looking at what you've built in the last nine years, how do you feel?
Virginia: Proud. I feel proud and grateful. I never thought that I would be on the spot. position that I am right now. Sometimes I would doubt myself and say, yo, it's just a restaurant. And like, but for me, we grew up. It's like a peak of hope that I'm able to give it opportunity to minority and able to open the doors for [00:28:00] people that are just arriving as I was.
Somebody gave me the opportunity to work in the industry. And I know that might be the story, or it could be a cheesy story because most of us come from another country. But what I do like more, it's being able to have the opportunity to grow as a person, spiritually, professionally. And now I understand that having a business is, you can do it for money.
But it's not only about that. And that's when you realize, okay, I can do such more and then I can develop ourself in a different way. And not only me, it's the people who is around me, my business partner, my team, and everybody else. And I'm starting to go with the flow. I start to chill and then relax and see what life brings to me until we grow up as well.
So, yeah, I just feel grateful, honestly.
Allan: Is Regrub open for business?
Virginia: [00:29:00] Yes, we're open!
Allan: Perfect.
That's the story of Regrub Burger Bar. In the five and a half seasons of this podcast, I'm not sure I've met someone as driven and dedicated as Virginia. She's the ideal entrepreneur. Adaptable, hard working, resilient, and not easily rattled. These are no doubt traits she picked up growing up in Venezuela.
When facing obstacles that might make most others bristle, she relishes the opportunity to problem solve and improve the process. In fact, she actually referred to that part of her work as fun. Imagine that. Now, coming from a corporate training background, I really appreciate Virginia's thirst for constant development, and I can first hand see this rubbing off on the rest of her team.
During our interview, Peter, Regrub's COO, was busy in the kitchen working on creating a new chicken sandwich with all sorts of toppings on it, including tuile. It was a [00:30:00] beautiful looking sandwich. I knew I was staring at Regrub's latest Instagram post. Oh, and by the way, in case you're wondering if it's all style over substance, after our interview, I stayed for lunch.
I had the bison burger with the Asiago fries, and of course, I washed it all down with one of their milkshakes. The food here is legit. If you're ever visiting Calgary, you need to make regrub one of your stops. You'll be glad you did.
Yes, we were open as a Menares podcast production. I'd like to thank Peter and Virginia for taking the time to share their story. You can learn more about Regrub Burger Bar at regrub. ca. Follow them on Facebook, at Regrub, and on Instagram, they're at regrub underscore love. Please support this podcast by writing us a review on Apple Podcasts, or rate us on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you're a Canadian small business owner, or know of one with an interesting story, I'd love to help tell it. You can contact me at podcast at Maneras. com. [00:31:00] Tune in next week for another story of small business struggle and survival on the Yes We Are Open podcast. I'm Al Grego. Thank you for listening.