irazu
Irazu is a family-owned Costa Rican restaurant in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood, founded in 1990 by the Cerdas-Salazar Family. It offers dine-in, pickup, delivery, full-service catering, private dining for 20–75 guests, and gift certificates across the Chicago metropolitan area.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1990
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What irazu does
Irazu is a single-location, family-owned Costa Rican restaurant operating at 1865 N Milwaukee Ave in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood since 1990. The business, legally designated "Irazu Costa Rican Restaurant & Catering" and dba "Irazu," is owned and operated by the Cerdas-Salazar Family, who describe the venture as the realization of an American dream built around sharing traditional homecooked Costa Rican cuisine with the Chicago metropolitan area. The restaurant does not use proprietary technology; its operational backbone consists of a traditional dine-in dining room, third-party SaaS platforms (SevenRooms for reservations, Hngr.co for direct online ordering, Spoonfed for catering ordering), and a Wix-hosted marketing site.
The company's product portfolio spans six offerings: dine-in service (Tuesday–Saturday 11am–9pm), pickup and delivery (Tuesday–Saturday 10:30am–9pm) via a direct website ordering channel, full-service catering (Monday–Saturday 8am–9pm) including suburban deliveries outside the standard zone and a specialized boating catering menu, private dining experiences for parties of 20–75 guests, and gift certificates purchased by phone or text. The core product is the in-restaurant dining experience, with catering, private dining, and direct digital ordering functioning as incremental revenue layers around the central kitchen and dining-room asset.
Irazu's business model is direct-to-consumer with episodic event-catering revenue. Pricing is not publicly disclosed on the website (the menu is presented as image-only without text pricing). Marketing channels include organic social (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp, TripAdvisor) for top-of-funnel awareness and a SevenRooms-powered reservation flow plus direct e-commerce ordering for bottom-of-funnel conversion. The company has earned media recognition from Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, WTTW's Check Please!, Chicago's Best, Hispanic Executive, and Travel Lemming. The customer base is segmented horizontally: individual diners and families for dine-in/takeout/delivery, event hosts for catering (corporate, private, boating), and gift purchasers — with no disclosed enterprise contracts and no select customer logos.
irazu firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- irazu
- Legal name
- Irazu Costa Rican Restaurant & Catering
- Website
- https://irazuchicago.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1990
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- Irazu is a family-owned Costa Rican restaurant in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood, founded in 1990 by the Cerdas-Salazar Family. It offers dine-in, pickup, delivery, full-service catering, private dining for 20–75 guests, and gift certificates across the Chicago metropolitan area.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
irazu industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Costa Rican Restaurant & Catering
- NAICS
- Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Special Food Services (7223), Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251)
- SIC
- Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Ethnic & Regional Cuisine Restaurants (THAFACAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Family-Style Restaurants (THAFACAC)
Keywords
Where irazu is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
irazu business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Dine-In Service: In-restaurant dining experience with full menu of Costa Rican cuisine. Operating hours Tuesday-Saturday 11am-9pm for dine-in.
- Online Ordering (Pickup & Delivery): Direct online ordering through their website (irazu.hngr.co) for customer pickup and local delivery. Hours Tuesday-Saturday 10:30am-9pm.
- Catering Services: Full-service catering for events from small gatherings to large parties. Includes regular catering (Mon-Sat 8am-9pm) and specialized boating catering. Covers Chicago-land area including distant suburbs.
- Private Dining: Private dining experiences for parties of 20-75 guests, offered as an enhanced service option.
- Gift Certificates: Sale of gift certificates for customer gifting occasions.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels7 records
irazu product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Irazu is a family-owned Costa Rican restaurant in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood that has served traditional homecooked Costa Rican cuisine since 1990. Its core offering includes dine-in restaurant service at its single physical location, complemented by direct online ordering for pickup and delivery, full-service event catering (including suburban and boating catering), private dining experiences for groups of 20–75 guests, and gift certificates for purchase.
Product overview
Irazu Costa Rican Restaurant & Catering is a single-location family-owned restaurant offering a portfolio of dining and food service products. The core offering is dine-in service at their Chicago location, complemented by direct online ordering, pickup and delivery services, full catering for events, private dining for groups of 20-75, and gift certificates. The restaurant has served Costa Rican cuisine to the Chicago-land area since 1990, operated by the Cerdas-Salazar Family.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Companies that use irazu
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
irazu technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
irazu partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
irazu competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Café Ba-Ba-Reeba!: Spanish tapas restaurant in Chicago's Lincoln Park operated by Lettuce Entertain You. Like Irazu, it is a full-service, sit-down ethnic cuisine concept with catering, private events, and a strong community following in a Chicago neighborhood setting.
- Big Star: Casual Mexican/Latin street-food concept in Chicago's Wicker Park. Comparable to Irazu in its single-location, full-service ethnic format with high neighborhood traffic, takeout/delivery, and a focus on approachable regional cuisine.
- La Sirena Clandestina: Pan-Latin small-plates restaurant in Chicago's West Loop. Directly comparable to Irazu as an independent, full-service Latin American concept in Chicago with a neighborhood-driven identity and chef-driven menu.
- Sushi-San: Japanese restaurant in Chicago's River North operated by Lettuce Entertain You. Similar full-service, urban ethnic single-location format to Irazu, with direct online ordering and a focus on approachable regional cuisine.
- Honey Butter Fried Chicken: Independent Chicago restaurant in the Avondale/Logan Square area. Comparable in scale and ethos as a Chicago-based, chef/family-driven independent concept serving a defined niche cuisine with strong neighborhood loyalty.
Broad incumbents
- Frontera Grill / Topolobampo: Iconic Chicago Mexican restaurants from chef Rick Bayless. Larger and far more established than Irazu, but representative of the same archetype — a Chicago-based, full-service, authentic Latin American regional cuisine destination with national brand recognition.
- Jaleo: Multi-location Spanish tapas concept by José Andrés Group. Comparable to Irazu in offering authentic Spanish-language regional cuisine with catering and group dining, but operates at a much larger, multi-city, brand-portfolio scale.
- Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises: Chicago-based multi-concept restaurant group that operates many of Irazu's comparable ethnic single-location peers. Provides a useful benchmark for what scaled Chicago ethnic restaurant operations look like and the operational capabilities Irazu could develop.
- Boka Restaurant Group: Chicago-based restaurant group operating multiple acclaimed full-service concepts (e.g., Boka, Girl & the Goat, Au Cheval). Provides a benchmark for what scaled Chicago independent-to-mid-size restaurant operations look like, relevant for understanding Irazu's potential growth trajectory.
Others
- Blue Plate: Established Chicago-based catering company serving corporate, social, and event clients across the metro area. Comparable to Irazu's catering arm as a competitor and pricing benchmark in the Chicago off-premise dining market.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
irazu social profiles
Digital presenceirazu financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
irazu leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
irazu funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
irazu M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about irazu
What does irazu do?
Irazu is a family-owned Costa Rican restaurant in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood that has served traditional homecooked Costa Rican cuisine since 1990. Its core offering includes dine-in restaurant service at its single physical location, complemented by direct online ordering for pickup and delivery, full-service event catering (including suburban and boating catering), private dining experiences for groups of 20–75 guests, and gift certificates for purchase.
Is irazu a public or private company?
irazu is a private company. It is classified as family owned and is currently operating.
When was irazu founded?
irazu was founded in 1990.
Where is irazu based?
irazu is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does irazu make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Dine-In Service is the primary driver. The others are online Ordering (Pickup & Delivery), catering Services, private Dining and gift Certificates.
Who are irazu's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Café Ba-Ba-Reeba!, Big Star, La Sirena Clandestina, Sushi-San and Honey Butter Fried Chicken. Broad incumbents are Frontera Grill / Topolobampo, Jaleo, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and Boka Restaurant Group. Blue Plate is listed as an others.
Does irazu have an API?
No public API is recorded for irazu.
What industry is irazu in?
irazu's product category is Costa Rican Restaurant & Catering. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAFACAD, Ethnic & Regional Cuisine Restaurants, with a secondary code of THAFACAC, Family-Style Restaurants. Its NAICS code is 722511 and its SIC code is 5810.