Caroline Joe
The Whole Enchilada Norberto Sanchez's empire stretches from restaurants to suppliers
N
orberto Sanchez took to heart the two things his father told him were most important in life — education and entrepreneurship. Sanchez, MS ME 81, MS IE 84, is now chairman and CEO of Norsan Group, operator of 14 restaurants, three specialty supermarkets, a meat processing company and a food distribution company in metro Atlanta. Sanchez has opened 10 Frontera Mex-Mex Grill locations, three Don Taco taquerias and Pampas, an Argentinean-style steakhouse in Alpharetta, Ga. He has also opened three La Mexicana supermarkets, specializing in Hispanic food items, and owns a small consolidation company in Mexico for importation of items for his stores and restaurants. He also started Prime Meats and Norsan Foods, a meat processing company and a food service distributorship that supply many restaurants and grocery stores in metro Atlanta. "We are always trying to be on the edge of new things in our industry and in management. As a group we are committed to the goals of the company and to being the best in what we do," he says. In 2000, Hispanic Business magazine ranked Norsan 129th among the 500 largest Hispanic-owned businesses in the country and, in 2002, The Atlanta Business Chronicle put the company on its list of the top 25 minority-owned firms in the city. Sanchez arrived in Atlanta from Monterrey, Mexico, in 1980 with a mechanical engineering degree from Monterrey Tech and a two-year graduate scholarship from the Mexican government. A group of friends from Monterrey Tech were attending Georgia Tech and he joined them. His friends were studying industrial engineering and Sanchez says it was "contagious." "I became very interested in industrial engineering and decided to use the second year of my scholarship to study IE courses," he says. Sanchez frequented a Mexican restaurant near campus, became friends with the owner and believed the restaurant business would be a successful enterprise. After graduation, he went to work for Trinity Industries, a propane company in Cedartown, Ga., and was soon transferred to Dallas, Texas, as manager of engineering of the company's liquefied petroleum division. "I had always had it in my mind during that time that I wanted to open a restaurant. When I decided to do it, I went to the vice president of engineering and told him I was going to quit. He asked if I was going to work for the competition and I told him I was going to open a restaurant," Sanchez recalls. "He said, 'Are you crazy? You're an engineer.'"
50 GEORGIA TECH • Spring 2003
Sanchez returned to Norcross, Ga., where he, fellow Monterrey Tech graduate Luis Carlos Rodriguez and a third partner opened La Cazueia Mexican restaurant in 1987. "We all wanted to own our own businesses, so we put our resources together," says Sanchez. Two years later, only Sanchez and Rodriguez remained in the partnership and the men opened a second La Cazueia in Liiburn, Ga. In 1990, the men split the business, Sanchez keeping the Norcross location and Rodriguez taking the Liiburn store. Sanchez opened a third La Cazueia in Snellville later that year. As his business grew, necessity led to a new endeavor. "I was having problems with the quality of the meats and the pricing and delivery, so I decided to do the research on opening a small processing facility to supply the restaurants," he says. Sanchez started Prime Meats in 1992 and soon other restaurateurs began seeking out his services. He expanded the facility, becoming a USDA-inspected plant and supplying other businesses. "Now it's the largest business we have," he says, figuring Prime Meats is responsible for $20 million of the approximately $50 million in business Norsan Group does annually. By 1995, Sanchez had opened two quick-service Don Taco restaurants and changed the name of his four La Cazueia restaurants to Frontera Mex-Mex Grill to avoid confusion with Rodriguez's restaurants. — Maria M. Lameiras