Efren Flores, owner of the Holder’s Country Inn that opened in downtown Los Altos May 27, began working at one of the restaurant’s South Bay locations as a busser 17 years ago, when he was still in high school.
Although he’s held every position – from host to server to behind-the-scenes duties – owning a location wasn’t something he had planned until the opportunity presented itself.
Flores overheard a conversation about how the Holder family, who founded Holder’s Country Inn in the 1950s, wanted to retire, and that’s when the idea to take over hit him. At the time, Flores said he and his wife were saving up to leave the Bay Area for Sacramento, but the chance to own the restaurant changed their plans.
“As soon as I heard, ‘I’m selling,’ I just turned around and was, like, ‘I’ll buy it.’ Without even consulting with anyone or sleeping on it, I was, like, I’ll take it,” Flores said. “That wasn’t in my plans at all. It just happened to work out.”
Flores became owner of the San Jose location on De Anza Boulevard in 2019 and kept the business afloat during the pandemic; when restaurants were ordered to shutter, the business went from a staff of 22 to three: the chef, the cook and himself.
The chef prepared ingredients, the cook cooked the orders and Flores managed the takeout orders.
“We have so many loyal customers that kept coming back and showing support,” he said. “And that’s how we survived COVID.”
The business was doing so well that he thought about expanding; but last July, a kitchen fire destroyed the restaurant.
With his expansion plans scrapped, Flores instead focused on finding a new location and keeping his staff paid; many of the wait staff, he said, have worked for Holder’s for decades. Instead of waiting on insurance to cover the cost of moving – which he said still hasn’t been resolved – he set about finding a new space, and the restaurant reopened in November nearby at 10088 N. Wolfe Road in Cupertino.
A few months after reopening, Flores’ expansion idea had new life.
He said the move into Los Altos – taking over the space previously occupied by Morsey’s Farmhouse at 134 Main St. – and the new restaurant’s opening progressed quicker than imagined. Paperwork for the new location was done and filed within 24 hours, he said, and the coffee shop’s opening came months before he expected.
Soft opening
Kristin and Ken Flax of Mountain View visited Holder’s in Los Altos on its opening day; while it was quiet, which Flores expected because the restaurant hadn’t advertised its opening, they said they were blown away by the dishes they ordered and returned three days later.
“The reason I love (the restaurant) is I like a nice, traditional-type breakfast, and the servings were huge, and the prices are very reasonable,” Ken said as he and Kristin sat at a booth with a window view of Main.
Kristin noted that the servers are courteous, adding that the server who took their order on opening day remembered her name when they returned.
According to Flores, he kept the opening low-key because he wanted the staff to get accustomed to the new space; many of the employees are from the Cupertino location, which he said was overstaffed for a while, and he wanted everyone to settle in and the workflow to be smooth as possible before customers filled the space.
“I think we’re pretty much ready as far as taking in higher demand because we’re all staffed now,” he said.
In addition to hanging new artwork from the Los Altos Art Club on the restaurant’s bare gray walls every two months, Flores expects to hold an official grand opening soon. In the meantime, the restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
For more information, call (650) 209-5929.
