The grain elevator and twin silos have been a fixture of the Fort Lupton skyline for a century. Now the restaurant inside the historic building is celebrating its own landmark year.

    La Familia de Don Roberto, at 815 Seventh St., is commemorating 25 years in business in the mill, which is a state and federal historic site.

    Restaurant owner Robert Vigil, a Colorado native from Brush, opened the restaurant with his wife, Mary, in 1985, 10 years after the mill closed.

    “We came in and it was kind of a hard decision to take what was here and make it into a restaurant. But I just knew it would be something different than what was in the area,” Robert said.  “The restaurant has been very successful.  We’ve had a lot of family and relatives work here.”

    Vigil estimated at least 18 to 20 extended family members have worked in the restaurant at some point.

    Currently, the Vigils work with a daughter, Lisa Calderon, and two grandchildren, Marco and Ruby Calderon.

    “We have our own family recipes, and we like to treat our customers right, the way we like to be treated,” Robert said.  “We make our own food from scratch.  We don’t buy it from the can.  We make our own chili, or own enchilada sauce, our rice, our beans, homemade chili relleno, our own sopapillas — anything that can possibly be made by hand, or from scratch, we make.”

    He said the restaurant is on its third generation of customers. He credits their loyalty with the business’s success.

    Robert, who ran a beauty school and a beauty shop in the 1960s and 1970s before running La Familia, said the transition to restaurant work wasn’t difficult for him.

    “I’ve always loved food, to cook and to bake,” Robert said “When I was 9 years old, I got started cooking with my mother’s help.”

    By switching over to the restaurant, Robert said it was easier to spend time with his family.

    “The thing about the beauty shop, is that it ties you up quite a bit if you want to make money,” he said. “With the beauty school – since I’m training the students – I was always expected to be there. I enjoyed it and I really didn’t want to stop. But I figured this (La Familia) would give me more time to get out and do the things I wanted to do. And it has.”

    Regular customer John McFarland doesn’t have to pick up a menu or place an order when he comes into the restaurant.

    As soon as the staff spots him, they set to work on preparing McFarland’s usual, a number one with one beef taco, one bean burrito, and one cheese enchilada with a Pepsi.

    McFarland, the dental director at Salud, was amazed at how quickly the time has passed.

    “Wow, has it really been 25 years?” McFarland asks. “I’ve been coming here ever since they opened. Bob turned what was an un-used granary into a really nice restaurant.  I like the food here, I love the buffet, and I’m glad to see Bob do well.”

    Mary Madrigal, another loyal customer for 25 years, said she liked the number one but her favorite items were on the Sunday brunch menu.

    “I’ve known Robert since he was cutting hair,” Madrigal said.  “They’re good people who serve excellent food.  Everyone is always very courteous with old-fashioned customer service.  I can’t say enough about the place.”

    Fort Lupton Mayor Tommy Holton said he remembered the location back when it was the feed mill where he used to buy the feed for his 4-H cows.

    “When you first walked in the door, there’s a scale we used to weigh on,” Holton said.  “I used to back my pickup truck there when I was 16, into the building where that front door is. And they’d come out the side door and they’d throw the bags of feed in my pickup and then I would pay for them and then go off down the road.”

    Holton said, after the mill went out of business, it was good to see the restaurant come in and the good job the Vigils did with the atmosphere of the building.  

    “They did a good job with the construction to keep the aesthetic of the feed mill, everything looks rustic,” Holton said. “So it’s fun for me to go in there for that reason.  Having any business in town is a plus to the whole community, and that’s the big thing for me, is to keep all of our buildings full and keep people in town as much as we can.”

    Jay Gross, the new car sales manager of Purifoy Chevrolet in Fort Lupton, said he’s referred customers to the restaurant for 18 years.

    “When someone comes into town to buy a Corvette and we’re going to get their paperwork finished up, we send them over to La Familia,” Gross said. “They always come back happy with the food and the atmosphere.”

    When asked about his plans for the next 25 years, Roberts throws back his head and laughs.

    “Well, I hope to retire soon, but I don’t know when,” he said.

    He said that his children probably won’t take over because they have other plans. He hopes another owner keeps the restaurant theme.

    “Someone could turn this place into a great steakhouse, or a brewery, or an Italian restaurant,” Robert said.  “But I’ll tell you this, I don’t plan to be here when I’m 80, that’s for sure.”