Costa Vida, a favorite local restaurant, was recently recognized for their culinary excellence. The coveted award was presented to the local restaurant by a personal visit from Executive Chef Dave Prows. Jacki Lee and Greg Erwin from the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce participated in the award ceremony at the restaurant. Bryan Collins (General Manager), Laura Gonzales (Assistant Manager) and Victor Gonzales (Lead Cook) each received individual awards as part of the presentation.
The Yuba City restaurant competed with 40 other restaurants for the honor, with a single restaurant being awarded the culinary recognition. Bryan Collins said “Given the scope of restaurants evaluated, this is a real honor. We’ve worked hard for it.” The culinary award was based on the taste and quality of the food and the overall customer experience over a one-year evaluation period. A very detailed criterion was tracked throughout the entire year to determine a culinary award recipient. Laura Gonzales and Victor Gonzales received team culinary awards as part of the presentation.
During the 12 month evaluation period, over 1,000 customers provided anonymous input about their experience as a guest in the Yuba City restaurant. “Our customer is the best critic, and we received very high scores, which makes us want to continue earning their loyalty” said Laura Gonzales.” Not only were patrons of Costa Vida the judge, but Executive Chef Prows randomly showed up and required the cooks to showcase their recipe build prowess by making a variety of menu items on the line while attending to normal business. This element of the contest was to measure getting food quality right, every time, even during the stress of peak hours. Executive Chef Prows said “this element illustrates a high level of passion and dedication to only serving the highest quality meals possible, all the time! When you make everything the old fashioned way; from scratch, every day, you have to be on the top of your game.”
Operational excellence in the kitchen and in the dining room was also a significant component of the evaluation. To measure this over time, quality assurance (QA) scores were judged every month, and randomly completed by staff of the Executive Chef every quarter. These random audits during the year were about food preparation, temperatures, cleaning procedures and general culinary knowledge. Again, these QA scores also included guest interaction standards, and the Yuba City restaurant has consistently been ranked at the top in each of these evaluations.
In addition to the great food, the community loves Costa Vida because they are also a frequent sponsor of the schools and community events. Over the past two years, the restaurant has donated a portion of its daily sales to over 25 organizations and 45 community causes. “We work with organized groups to create what we call benefit days” said owner Will Warren. “We want to do our part in the community.”
Costa Vida is one of the nation’s fastest growing fast casual dining concepts inspired by the fresh tasting foods and vibrant lifestyle of the Baja Peninsula. Costa Vida’s food is created every day from scratch using only hand-selected, quality ingredients. The menu offers a variety of made-to-order items such as tacos, burritos, enchiladas, salads and desserts. Costa Vida also has extensive gluten-free menu options. To order online or learn more about Costa Vida visit http://www.costavida.net. To become a true “Costa Vidan,” become a friend at the Costa Vida Facebook page and receive special discounts and offers.
Visit Costa Vida in the Yuba City Marketplace at 1074 Harter Rd. Suite 101 or place a catering order by calling (530) 673-WAVE (9283).
