Aqui Cal-Mex, in strategic move, will close one San Jose restaurant, open another

The South Bay’s popular Aqui Cal-Mex group — known for its affordable organic fare and icy cocktails — plans to close one San Jose location while opening another San Jose restaurant.

The ownership team explained the strategy to employees in a memo shared with the Bay Area News Group. In essence, the idea is to broaden Aqui’s customer base geographically.

The decision is rooted in Aqui’s most recent expansion, in 2019.

“We opened Waterford Plaza believing we would lose our Blossom Valleylocation,” the owners wrote. “As fate would have it, right when Waterford opened, we secured a long-term extension for Blossom Valley. This created an interesting challenge — our locations in Willow Glen, Waterford and Blossom Valley ended up being too close together, essentially sharing customers rather than reaching new communities.”

Waterford is located on West Capitol Expressway about midway between Highway 87 and Snell Avenue.

So Aqui will shutter the Waterford Plaza restaurant “once we find a qualified tenant to take over our lease,” and pursue a new location — and new customers — in the vicinity of East Capitol Expressway and Tully Road, about six miles northeast.

“This isn’t just about closing a location — it’s about smart growth.”

Meantime, “every single person working at Waterford Plaza will have a position at either Blossom Valley, Willow Glen, Cupertino or Campbell,” the owners promised in the note.

The final day of service at Waterford will be June 29.

Prior to Waterford’s opening in 2019, Aqui hadn’t opened a new restaurant since 2010. That was the Cupertino one, the company’s fourth after two San Jose eateries and one in Campbell.

Founded in 1994 in Willow Glen by entrepreneur David O’Mara and executive chef Rob Francis, Aqui Cal-Mex was one of the first in the valley to embrace the fast-casual counter-service model.

Recent menu innovations have included low-proof alcoholic Swirls in response to customer requests and small plates at lower price points.

Details: www.aquicalmex.com