Catherine Sue Barbo is the president and owner of Bon Ton’s Café, an American eatery based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, offering celebrated cocktails, early bird breakfast specials, lunch, a broad selection of entrées, delectable desserts, domestic and imported beers, and more. Ms. Barbo is dedicated to providing a stellar experience to each person who comes into her restaurant while serving high-quality, comforting, and delicious food.
Mindful of customers’ specific requests, Ms. Barbo also offers a gluten-free menu for individuals with intolerance, sensitivity, or celiac disease. Serving a variety of favorites – omelets, oatmeal, eggs benedict, pancakes, scrambled eggs, biscuits, tamales, hash browns, and fresh fruit – she caters to everyone and works to ensure that all customers who come in hungry leave satisfied. Ms. Barbo’s unceasing efforts have led to Bon Ton’s Café earning six awards from Tripadvisor.
Ms. Barbo ascribes her success as a restaurateur to her personal drive to succeed. Yet, known as an exceptional leader, she considers motivating her staff to strive for excellence to be her most notable accomplishment. Desiring to encourage and support her team daily, Ms. Barbo helps them reach their in-house goals. In this vein, alongside her commitment to great customer service, Ms. Barbo hopes to be a role model, inspiring others to pursue their dreams with passion and determination. Above all, she knows that success in the restaurant industry requires consistent work every day. She learned everything about the business of running Bon Ton’s Café from experience, as she did not have a family business or prior restaurant experience to guide her decisions. Earlier, Ms. Barbo worked as a school counselor, which instilled in her a deep love and understanding of mentorship, but she realized she needed more monetarily to support and raise her family. With this mindset, she bet on herself, struck out on her own, and launched her own restaurant. Her entrepreneurial success now also provides livelihoods for the dozens of employees at Bon Ton’s Café.
Before embarking on her career as a school counselor, Ms. Barbo focused on building a strong academic foundation. She graduated from Southwest Texas State University, now Texas State University, with a master’s degree in psychology. Her background in understanding the mind and human experience helped her excel in her career and continues to benefit her to this day. Ms. Barbo notes that through her own invaluable life experiences, she has grown more empathetic and understanding of others and enjoys spending time with like-minded people.
To stay active and relevant in her industry and community, Ms. Barbo is a member of Old Colorado City Associates, the National Restaurant Association, and Tri Delta, a women’s organization that empowers its members to serve others, achieve their goals, and continue growing throughout their lives and careers. Remaining devoted to excellence and development in all her endeavors, Ms. Barbo takes pride in and is grateful for her problem-solving skills. Using her ability to figure out a dilemma and create or find a solution, she maintains tenacity and clarity in the face of inevitable obstacles such as rising taxes and other challenges common to the restaurant business.
Ms. Barbo grew up cooking on her own, which fostered an early and lifelong love of food and cuisine. With plans to continue working as long as possible, she cites her favorite parts of running her business are still interacting with people and creating new dishes. Outside of Bon Ton’s Café, she enjoys family and fun activities. Some of her favorite pastimes include participating in rodeo-themed events and driving a stagecoach. Most important, Ms. Barbo cherishes time with her children and grandchildren and hopes to someday pass on her business to one of her family members.