We recently connected with Amberle Kurkowski and have shared our conversation below.
Amberle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The Palomino is a family friendly pub and beer garden in Georgetown, TX. As a mom of two kids, I have taken my kids to many different restaurants and food establishments in the area, but I always felt they were not very kid or family friendly. So I wanted to bring a place to the market that is kid friendly, relaxed and welcoming. I wanted somewhere I can meet with my fellow moms, bring our kids and let our kids play while we enjoy an adult beverage and good food and talk. I also wanted to be able to have live music and allow families to enjoy it. Many places with live music are not kid friendly, and it is difficult to find a sitter when you want to go out and have lunch or dinner, have a drink and enjoy some live music. We also built a fun tractor tire play area for the kids and we are walking distance to the playscape in San Gabriel Park. Family is important to me and I felt offering a restaurant that is family friendly with a play area would do well in the area.
As far as our menu, I also felt we were lacking a good solid burger house in the area. There are good burger places in the outlying areas but nowhere in town with a good burger. We developed a collection of 1/2lb Angus Steak burgers and they are juicy, thick patties and absolutely delicious. My two favorites are the BBB Burger, which has bacon, beer cheese and our Moonshine BBQ sauce, or the Armadillo Burger which has cream cheese, bacon, roasted jalapenos, and is reminiscent of a jalapeno popper but on a burger.
One other thing I really wanted to do was to support local non-profits in our area. I feel like not enough businesses give back to the local community. The community supports the business so in the same instance, I feel the business should also support the community. We have an event every month for a local non profit and we donate 10% of our sales for that event to the non-profit.
The name for my business, The Palomino, came from something near and dear to my heart. I have a small horse sanctuary on my local ranch and we mainly take in horses from neglect and starvation situations, I rehabilitate them and try and adopt back out the ones I can, but for ones with long term medical needs or that are old and non-rideable, they live with me for the remainder of their lives. One of the most horrific starvation cases I was involved in was during Hurricane Harvey, my husband, Chuck, and I were down in the Houston area helping swim horses out of areas that were heavily flooded. We had been down there for a week and were getting ready to head back to Georgetown, when a horse rescue I volunteer for reached out to me and asked of we could meet the local sheriff to pick up a horse being seized for neglect. When we arrived we found this severely emaciated Palomino mare. She was so sweet but in awful condition from standing in water for a week. She was very weak from both the starvation and standing in the flood waters. We loaded her in my trailer and took her to be evaluated by the local vet. The prognosis was not good and he did not give her a high chance of survival. We ended up naming her Zinnia and fully rehabilitating her and she lived the remainder of her life out in our sanctuary. Zinnia had the most wonderful disposition, was very gentle, and was forgiving of people for what had been done to her. She truly left an imprint on my heart and so when it was time to name my restaurant I picked The Palomino in her honor. Also, the restaurant does give back a portion of proceeds to my sanctuary to continue to help horses like Zinnia.
Amberle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Amber Kurkowski, I am a 2007 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, I served 5 years in the Army in 1st Cavalry Division and served two combat tours in Iraq. After completing my military service, I started my own engineering firm with my husband and we have built that together over the past 10 years. I have always enjoyed cooking and running a business, and I decided to open my own pub when I was presented the opportunity by one of our engineering firm clients to lease a building they had recently acquired in the local park. I opened The Palomino in July 2023. The Palomino is a pub and beer garden that features 1/2lb Angus Steak burgers. It is family friendly and we have a kids play area. We have a relaxed and inviting atmosphere and what sets us apart from others is that we have an amazing tap wall with 26 beers, 4 wines and 4 ciders on tap, we welcome families, we have a great menu and also feature live music.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
The most effective strategy for growing The Palomino clientele has been partnerships with local community organizations and local charities. I have always felt supporting local non-profits is incredibly important, so I have collaborated with a different non-profit every month since opening and have hosted mini-fundraisers. We donate 10% of our sales for the day and the local non-profit brings in items they want to raffle or auction. This is a win-win for both The Palomino and the non-profit because the organization brings in their followers and donors to our establishment and we get the opportunity to serve our food and beverage selection to a large number of people that otherwise might not have come into the restaurant.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
I have found social marketing though Facebook and Instagram to be the best tool for us to keep in touch with our clients and also to foster brand loyalty. I like to meet as many of our customers as I can and I like to share the story about why we started the restaurant and what we use our profits for. When clients know how important supporting the community is to you they are more willing to continue to support you and your business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.palominogtx.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/palominogtx/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PalominoGTX
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/amberle-kurkowski-11396031
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-palomino-georgetown-2
Image Credits
All images by Ron Parks Photography