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An introduction to Cabrio Structures

Cabrio® Architectural Structures is founded on the following math problem: More Seats + More Often = More Revenue™

One of the most attractive aspects of having a restaurant patio is to be able to enjoy the outdoors, at least that is what I think.

My name is Kent Forsland, founder of Cabrio {cab·rio: convertible, opening} Structures and outdoor enthusiast. A few years back my wife and I were in Arizona waiting for a table to open at a restaurant, pager in hand. The restaurant had a spacious patio but, because it was a cloudy, chilly day, no one was seated outside. And that’s when a little seed was planted.

If Sedona has 60 rainy days per year, how do other cities compare? The average number of precipitation days for the whole United States is 100 days per 365. That’s nearly thirty percent of every year a patio could be shut down because of rain!

And rain is only one reason patios tend to get shut down. What about extreme wind, intense sun, blowing snowdrifts, sleet or extreme humidity? What kind of weather shuts down your patio?

The joke that floats around my native Minnesota is that there are two seasons: winter and road construction. A northern restaurant owner might say the two seasons are “with patio” and “without patio.”

We believe restaurant owners want more “with patio” seasons, which is why we formed Cabrio Structures: to help restaurants, hotels, and others in the hospitality industry to use their outdoor patio in all types of weather, thus increasing the number of patrons they can serve. Because More Seats + More Often = More Revenue™!

We offer a aluminum or steel retractable roof system which can be either a hard top, Cabreeze, or soft top, Umbrel, and then further separated into Single-Stack (opens less than 50%) or Multi-Stack (opens more than 50%).

We have a selection of opening walls including Clear FramelessSliding, and Folding. The Clear Frameless walls offer the greatest visibility and can have curved or sharp corners, the Sliding walls span the longest distance with the Folding walls a close second.

There are many companies that aim to extend your patio season, but often their solutions fall over in the wind (umbrellas), are unable to open fully (wooden structures), or are simply unappealing (plastic tents).

Our “convertible” roof moves separately from the opening wall systems, which means on a sunny, yet windy day the walls can be closed with sunlight beaming in overhead. Or during the summer, the roof can be closed to protect patrons from an overwhelming sun and providing UV protection while allowing a cool breeze to drift through the open walls.

We hope you can take part in enjoying and utilizing the outdoors as much as we do.

Cabrio Structures also caters to residential or other commercial projects.

There are many benefits of using a patio enclosure for restaurant applications. We’ll discuss these benefits in two weeks, so stay tuned!

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