From certain angles, El Sancho Taco Shop’s colorful exterior on NE Dekalb Street in Bend still seems as though it’s ready to greet customers.

Inside, however, are shattered windows, melted electrical sockets and charred walls.

But the framework of the popular eatery still stands strong — and so does the spirit of its owners.

The beloved taco shop sustained severe damage in a fire on June 20.

Jon Barvels, co-owner of El Sancho, received a call at 1 a.m. and rushed over.

“I could just see the giant plumes of smoke,” Barvels said. “It was just raging; they’re cutting open the roof with chain saws … it was definitely just a shock.”

The fire was extinguished within 30 minutes by Bend Fire & Rescue, but the blaze caused more than $250,000 in losses, according to preliminary estimates. The location has been closed since, and is undergoing demolition. It is set to rebuild this year with the same soul as before.

“The community outreach has kind of solidified that decision, even pushed us,” said co-owner Joel Cordes. “It really makes you see how many people are behind us.”

El Sancho’s start

El Sancho Taco Shop East opened in 2015, but its beginnings came long before the brick-and-mortar restaurant.

Cordes started it all when he opened his own food cart after finishing culinary school. Though he doesn’t have Mexican roots, he’s always been fascinated by the cuisine.

After culinary school, Cordes worked at the same bagel shop as Barvels and they immediately hit it off. Soon after, Cordes opened up the El Sancho food truck one day a week at Crux Fermentation Project.

“They’re really just so good, like, perfect partners,” said Yayoi Moylan, general manager of El Sancho and staff member since 2015. “Jon is so good at numbers and visions in things, and Joel is just so capable with fun ideas.”

One evening at the truck, Cordes cut his finger while cooking and considered who to call. He landed on Barvels.

“I called Jon to see if he could come help and he came through,” Cordes said. “We had a good time working together and worked that summer at the cart and then we decided that we should make a go of the business.”

They opened the food truck full time at Crux Fermentation Project for one summer before they decided to open their east Bend location that July.

“We needed a space where we could cook more food,” Barvels said. “We kind of maxed out where we were at.”

Searching on Craigslist through the advertisements, the two found what was previously El Burrito, a Mexican restaurant. The listing included all the booths, tables and chairs and they bought it all.

“We got a bunch of credit cards, no interest, for one year and financed ourselves,” Cordes said.

Bethany Barvels, Barvels’ wife, painted and decorated El Sancho with reds, greens, blues and yellows that brought the restaurant to life.

“The concept of the Sancho was to create a restaurant that is not typical,” Moylan said. “They wanted to make it more happy, enjoyable work.”

The following year, El Sancho started opening for lunch in addition to its dinner service. It was a full year before El Sancho’s business truly bloomed.

“It was like the spring, early summer of 2016, and it was off to the races from then,” Barvels said. “It was a crazy ascension.”

Loyal customers

With the large number of customers and orders, the floors of the kitchen started buckling in on them, which prompted a three-month remodel.

During the remodel, Cordes and Barvels didn’t shut down. Instead, they drove food and dishes back and forth across town from their catering location in 17 inches of snow.

“The whole process has been a lot of fun,” Barvels said, “too many good memories to count.”

One Cinco de Mayo, during the COVID-19 pandemic, marked a record day for business at the time just from takeout dining.

“They just never gave up and just tried to find a way, and always involved (the staff),” Moylan said. “They always cared about how we feel, and they just never left anybody behind.”

The staff is faring well after the fire for the most part, said Cordes and Barvels. During the summer, the staff is normally spread thin between all the locations.

El Sancho Taco Shop West, their second brick-and-mortar restaurant on Galveston Avenue, is even busier now the east Bend location is temporarily closed.

Max and Cheryl LaBar have been customers at El Sancho for years now. They previously discovered El Sancho when they lived in Bend. Now they live in Terrebonne and still visit.

“Whenever we come to Bend, we have to come to El Sancho,” Max LaBar said.

El Sancho is well-insured and will reopen next year, according to Barvels.

Gina Stock of Bend visits El Sancho for the chilaquiles and has visited both brick-and-mortar locations.

“I love it; El Sancho is great,” Stock said. “It’s a bummer to have a small business, like a local business suffer like that.”

Stock hopes the fire doesn’t impact El Sancho’s overall business too much.

Barvels credited the public with helping to boost the spirits of the restaurant’s owners and staff.

“Especially those first couple weeks when it was such an emotional roller coaster … to have so many positive encouraging words from the community was really, really helpful,” Barvels said.

A demolition group is already preparing the east Bend location for a rebuild, clearing out charred parts and ripping off the roof to remove melted insulation.

Barvels said the framework was barely damaged so El Sancho will be rebuilt with the same integrity.

“Everything’s gonna be OK,” Barvels said. “We feel good about putting this place back together and putting a lot of love and energy back into it.”

The owners plan to change their outdoor wood-fired ovens to industrial gas cookers in the kitchen. The ash from wood-fired ovens was suspected of causing the fire.

“(We’re) just trying to run this business efficiently and, you know, keep the fun atmosphere that we’ve had both for the staff and the customers,” Cordes said.

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