The Lucios: Building a restaurant brand on quality, innovation and community

When he was growing up, Blake Lucio didn’t want to be part of his parents’, Brenda and Richard Lucio, restaurant company. He went to college at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley with dreams of becoming a sports writer. But after working at PF Chang’s for over two years while finishing his degree, he fell in love with the food industry.

It could be the business of food is in his blood.

The younger Lucio’s grandfather, Joseph — or Joe, as many knew him — started the Armadillo in 1971 in LaSalle. Before that, Joe was a barber.