Cabrio Structures Rainy Patio

…an unused, rainy restaurant patio in Arizona sparked a revolutionary napkin-drawn idea to create a convertible patio system.

Cabrio Structures was founded in 2009 at the close of a venture called Designer Doors, Inc., whose office and manufacturing facility is still located in River Falls, WI. Kent Forsland, nicknamed Father of the Modern Carriage Door, founded Designer Doors, Inc. in 1986 and grew the company to nearly a 20 million dollar success by the time he sold it to the employees in 2006.

In 2008, Kent officially retired so that he could spend more time in the sky with his airplane and traveling with his wife, Diane. A few months later, Kent and Diane were waiting for the buzz of the restaurant pager on a cool winter day in Sedona, Arizona. Kent noticed two things: groups of hopeful patrons left the restaurant instead of waiting for a table, and the restaurant’s spacious outdoor patio was empty and rendered unusable because of the weather.

Kent kept noticing more unusable outdoor patios connected to restaurants. Some patios were abandoned, like the one in Arizona. Some patios were covered with unappealing plastic tarps crudely designed and heated inside to keep seating customers. If only there was an architecturally appealing structure with retractable roofs and walls for flexible weather division designed to lengthen the patio season.

Thus, the idea of a convertible patio structure came into life as Cabrio {cab·rio: convertible, opening} Structures.

What does Cabrio mean?

The name Cabrio is a shortened form of the French word cabriolet, referring to a vehicle with a retracting roof that can convert from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle. Cabrio® Architectural Solutions, retractable roofs and opening walls!

Sunroom, patio cover, pergola, awning, pool cover, Florida room, sun porch: we’ve been called all of these, but we aren’t any one of them. We’re all of them! Cabrio Structures designs and manufactures retractable roofs and opening walls to enable restaurants, homeowners, and the hospitality industry to spend more time in the outdoors.

Cabrio Retractable Roof Ciminos