If you’ve driven past the corner of Bonanza and Kearns, chances are you’ve seen or been a part of the lunch rush at Alberto’s. The fast-food restaurant has been a community staple since opening in 2014, as evidenced by the daily lines of cars for the drive-through.
Alberto’s origins trace back to the 1960s and a successful Mexican fast-food restaurant in San Diego. The concept has since spread across the U.S., often under similar names, but with no remaining affiliation to the original.
The concept became popular for speedy homemade style foods and affordability, two things that the Park City’s Alberto’s owner, Parker Birkeland, emphasizes.
“We try really hard to keep prices low. Because, I mean, that’s one of the things that we’re known for, that you can go in and get a lot of food and not go broke just having lunch,” he said. “I like having construction guys in here who just need a big lunch so they can get back to work and not have to spend 30 or 40 bucks just to eat every day.”
Birkeland said Alberto’s will pay for higher-quality ingredients and has at times turned down cost-saving suggestions from suppliers to maintain food standards. Earlier this year, when egg prices surged due to a bird flu outbreak, they found themselves spending an extra $10,000 a month on eggs alone.
“We try really hard to keep prices down. Usually, if we do a price increase, it’s because we’re absolutely forced to,” said Birkeland. “We did one six months ago, but we re-evaluated everything, and were able to even drop the price on a few things.”
This stems from a desire not to just be a business, but serve and be part of the community, he said.
Birkeland’s family has deep ties to Utah history and Park City. He’s a descendant of Parley P. Pratt, an early Mormon leader after whom Parleys Canyon and the original settlement name for Park City — Parley’s Park — were named. He too was named after Pratt.
“My great, great grandfather was the first doctor around here. He lived at the very bottom of Main Street, and that’s where my grandmother grew up,” Birkeland said. “He delivered all the babies up here, and would sew up all of the miners when they’d get hurt and stuff. He was kind of the only doctor in this area for, I think, quite a while.”
Park City’s Alberto’s is part of a family-run operation linked to the Salt Lake City location, which his older brother, Carl, has run for nearly three decades.
About 12 years ago, the owner of the building in Park City often went to Carl’s location for breakfast before flights out of Salt Lake City. He suggested opening an Alberto’s up here.
Taco Maker, the building’s previous tenant, was looking to exit, and the building owner thought the Birkelands might be the right fit to take over.
Recognizing Park City as its own community, the Birkelands knew they couldn’t simply copy and paste what had worked in Salt Lake City.
“We realized that this location would kind of have to take on its own personality compared to downtown because it’s just a different environment and different town and different people,” said Birkeland.
The restaurant space was gutted in preparation for the transition, leaving only two Coca-Cola lights, which still shine above the soda dispenser today.
Although this was his first time running a restaurant, Birkeland leaned on years of experience in the food industry to shape his approach. He said his own experience with difficult jobs influenced how he runs Alberto’s.
“Throughout my life, I’ve had about 20-plus different jobs, and at most of them, I didn’t feel I was treated very well. I would dread going to work, and it was demoralizing,” he said. “I try to make everybody feel comfortable and happy that they can go to work every day.”
He admitted he’s not a traditional manager but prioritizes creating a relaxed, positive environment in which employees enjoy coming to work, keeping things light, and making room for fun.
“I know everybody’s lives are stressful and difficult, so it’s nice to be able to go to work and not have that be another addition to your stress and difficulties in life,” he said. “Employees are always cooking homemade specialty food in the back and having a good time. We just try to make it a really good environment.”
This approach seems to be working. Step into the kitchen, and there’s an undeniable sense of community, simply a good vibe. The results speak for themselves in the team’s longevity: Many on the 14-member staff have been around for years.
“We’ve got four employees that have been here for over 10 years. Most of the crew has been here for probably over five or six, and I’ve only hired one new person in the last year,” Birkeland said. “We have very little turnover, which is kind of unheard of in fast food. We just try to make a good work environment so that people want to stay.”
One of those employees is Noemi Santana, who has been with Alberto’s since day one.
“I’ve been here since they opened, and I love working, I love what I do,” she said. “As a prepper, I prepare pico de gallo, adobada, chicken. I always enjoy preparing and making things, and I want people to be happy with them.”
Assistant Manager Esbeyde Cortez, who has worked at Alberto’s for five years, said the restaurant feels like a big family.
“I just love this job very much,” she said. “I love the employees. We get along really well and work as a team to get the job done.”
Large burrito orders for events are common, often coming in three to four times a week, Birkeland said. Recently the team completed its largest-ever order for 500 people.
“People can contact us for pretty big orders — 200 or 300 people — and we can usually pull that off, no problem,” he said. “ The whole staff is so efficient now, and the way we’ve got the kitchen lined up just gives us so much ability to work quickly.”
Birkeland said that with these types of orders, they typically work with schools, real estate companies, races and community events, which he sees as an opportunity to further their connection to the community.
The fast pace needed to fulfill large orders is matched daily in the restaurant serving a steady stream of regulars from all walks of life.
“If you sit down here during lunch and look around, I wonder if there’s another place in Park City with more variety — high school kids, soccer moms, business guys, construction workers — just kind of the whole spectrum of the community comes here to eat,” said Birkeland. “It’s really nice that we can appeal to a big spectrum of the people who live up here.”
The proximity of Alberto’s to The Park Record office has drawn in everyone who works at the paper at one point or another, but it’s the service and quality of the food that keep those who choose it coming back, they said.
Sports reporter Jack Singer has made the lunch spot something of a ritual.
“I really enjoy being able to sit down, relax and have a Monterey quesadilla, bean and cheese burrito, or any of the other staples of their menu — don’t forget the side of guac. It’s excellent,” said Singer. “The staff is friendly, the service is great and you leave feeling like you received a quality meal time in, time out.”
At this point, the staff doesn’t have to ask, they already knows his order — a level of familiarity common among the restaurant’s loyal customer base.
Birkeland said he loves seeing those kinds of connections between staff and patrons.
“I like when customers walk up and the cashier is like, ‘Oh, the usual?’ and kind of knows their whole order, and the cooks know how they like it prepared. It’s a good feeling, I think, when customers can connect a little bit with the workers here,” said Birkeland.
“We’ve really just got the best crew I could ever ask for,” he said. “They make everything so easy.”
For Birkeland, that crew and the customers make Alberto’s more than just a place to eat.
Alberto’s is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and closed on Sundays.