Ramzi Budayr is the owner of Dolores Deluxe, a historic neighborhood market featuring made to order sandwiches, homemade baked goods, fresh bread, prepared food, and 200+ wines in San Francisco’s Mission District. Prior to that, Budayr held several hospitality leadership positions, including managing partner at Marlena, general manager of the NoMad Hotel in Los Angeles and head maître d’ at Eleven Madison Park in New York.
On an episode of his Forever Neighbor podcast, Ramzi interviewed the chef/owner of Alimentari Aurora Dario Barbone. In November of 2024, Dario opened Studio Aurora at the corner of 14th & Valencia, a unique concept that is equal parts wine bar, restaurant, sandwich shop, art gallery, retail store, and radio station in partnership with Fault Radio manager Mohit Kohli. n this exclusive interview brought to you by Square, Budayr shares what he learned from Barbone’s journey and how fellow business owners can partner with their communities to achieve stable, authentic growth.
How does Dario describe his community, and how did that vision influence Studio Aurora?
Ramzi Budayr: It was really cool to hear from Dario about his authentic approach to community and business. Prior to becoming a chef and business owner, Dario spent most of his life in scientific research, and you can really tell that he carries that academic rigor into his pursuit of excellence, whether it’s finding the best baguette for a tuna melt, or self-importing the best butter in the world no matter the complexity, or partnering with the best photographer for his next community art show. Dario is a genuinely curious guy – someone who obsesses over products, people, art, wine, entertaining– and that passion for discovery attracts curious people!
Whether at Alimentari or Studio, he’s less interested in selling you something than he is about sharing an experience. As business owners, it’s important to remember, the more you can include people in the process, the less transactional it will feel when customers interact with you and your brand. Being curious about the people who come in and the community around you is a great way to do that.
The thing I love most about Dario is that he’s uncompromisingly himself. He isn’t interested in what’s of the moment, or trending. He’s grounded and real, and when it’s time to decompress, he’s checking sales data on Square instead of scrolling on TikTok (I’m guilty of overindulging in both, I’m afraid).
Dario is also a dreamer, and it’s no surprise that he couldn’t fit all of his ideas into Alimentari’s 250 square feet, so when he was approached by the city with an opportunity to open a space downtown, he saw it as a chance to bring more collaborators into the fold. The space in Downtown San Francisco was always meant to be temporary, so it served as the staging area for a new business model, with new equipment, and a larger team. When it came time to move to a permanent home, it was just a matter of finding the right location. Dario was smart to focus on the Mission for Studio Aurora, since it is already home to so many talented artists, DJs, fashion designers, chefs, and activists.
What advice would you give someone thinking about introducing multiple concepts into a single food or retail business, based on what you learned from Dario?
Ramzi Budayr: In short, say yes to each other! Establishing Studio Aurora in the Mission allowed Dario to do what he had always wanted to do — make great food on property, and build community through music, art, wine, and special events. It’s a lot of work, and you can’t do it alone! To quote Dario: “It takes a village – that village better collaborate!” With the help of countless creatives, Studio Aurora layers all these different communities and visions to create a sort of magical Venn diagram in the space. It’s a place that spans generations, rich and poor, locals and visitors — the great equalizer.
It’s also clear that Dario and his team are especially good at leading with humility. He lets people host events at the space and share new ideas with him. People really connect with Dario, because he leads with action and lets his actions speak for themselves. Being a person of action is a common thread among all the successful entrepreneurs that I’m interviewing on the podcast
How do you think Studio Aurora can maintain authenticity and community focus as it grows?
Ramzi Budayr: I really appreciate that Dario is taking a deliberate, organic, patient approach to growth, and trying to do so in a way that is true to his community, his neighborhood, and the ecosystem of businesses that he’s a part of. We’re similar in that way, and that’s true about everyone I’m interviewing. We consider the impact on our vendors, our farmers, and most importantly, our employees.
I’ve also learned that the key to maintaining authenticity and community focus as your business grows is just being really authentic. As a business owner you need to be true to yourself and check in with yourself. Dario wanted to build an organic culture that reflects his neighborhood. Now at Studio Aurora, he hosts Fault Radio, he’s doing all of these pop-ups with different creators, and he’s letting the space and the programming reflect his friends and his network. That’s his community. I don’t think that’s ever going to stop. And for that reason, Studio Aurora is now my favorite place to hang out in the city.
