Cristiana Franco, a native of the Dominican Republic, has a background in hospitality management and harbored dreams of opening her own restaurant. In 2016, she got the opportunity to realize that dream and started Sabor Restaurant and Bakery, with her husband, Luis, serving as head chef.

Sabor Restaurant has operated since 2016 in Queens’ College Point neighborhood. Ms. Franco and her husband created a menu of food and baked goods based on their heritage, with recipes from Luis’s family having particular influence on the restaurant’s menu. Popular Sabor offerings include the Colombian bread pandebono, Dominican breakfast staple mangu, and the classic Colombian dish bandeja paisa.

Ms. Franco has been a Renaissance client since 2017, when her restaurant was still in its start-up phase. That year, Renaissance provided the restaurant with $25,000 in financing for equipment purchases to help her build up the business. She returned to Renaissance and received a second loan in 2019, when she got the opportunity to expand Sabor into the Brooklyn Navy Yard. While the pandemic then interrupted operations in 2020, Renaissance provided Sabor with $15,000 in emergency financing that year, and most recently provided the business with an additional $90,000 loan in 2023.

‍

Visit Sabor Restaurant