Community

Apparently, the Gilroy High field hockey team just needed to

Sunday night, my friend Don O'Dell lost his battle with

The kid ran out of the crowd holding a shred of paper high, like he was displaying a number during an auction.

Gilroy

When Terry and Brit Ratto purchased Santa Clara County franchise rights for Texas-based custom burger joint MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes, the local couple was determined to open their first location in Morgan Hill.However, convincing the lone star state big wigs at corporate headquarters that South County’s quaint, up-and-coming hamlet was the right spot was no easy task.“I thought it was absolutely perfect for the community because there’s a real need for it,” said Terry, sitting at a table alongside his wife inside the nearly completed MOOYAH restaurant located at 255 Vineyard Town Center. “Morgan Hill has some really nice restaurants and then fast food chains, but there’s not a lot of options in between.”The Rattos—who fell in love with Morgan Hill after moving south from Los Altos more than three years ago—will open the doors to their very first MOOYAH locale with a July 14 grand opening. The restaurant hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.“We love this community,” said Brit, a self-proclaimed gym rat who was turned on by MOOYAH’s healthier options of turkey and black-bean veggie burgers along with a variety of salads. “This is a great community. We love it, so we were adamant about opening our first one here.”The Rattos were so “bound and determined” that they put together a presentation—which included a Google image aerial view of Morgan Hill and the surrounding area—and then flew to Dallas, Texas to convince their corporate partners.They were given the go-ahead in August 2013 and signed their lease four months later at the 2,100-square-foot site located next door to Starbucks Coffee Company. Terry—who worked the previous 25 years as a commercial general contractor—acquired the proper building and health permits, and they started “Mooooooving in,” as the sign on their storefront reads.“We’re starting to get more excited each day,” said Terry, an horse-lover who owns nine competition cutting horses at his home that includes a small acreage off Watsonville Road. “Two weeks ago, we were more nervous than excited. But people keep stopping by asking when we’re going to open.”After opening the Morgan Hill store—where they have employed a local crew of 35 workers—the Rattos plan to open a second MOOYAH restaurant in Los Gatos by December and then a third location in South San Jose.“We really wanted to hire locally. We’ve got a great crew of young adults,” said Brit, who first had to eat at MOOYAH before allowing her family, which includes four children and six grandchildren, to be part of the franchise. “It had to be a restaurant that I would eat at.”Brit’s favorite is the veggie burger on a wheat bun (freshly baked daily) with lettuce, tomato and MOOYAH sauce, while Terry’s preference lies in a MOOYAH burger with Pepperjack Applewood Bacon, MOOYAH sauce, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos and fried onion strings as well as a side of sweet potato fries.“Nothing is pre-made. Everything is made to order,” said Terry, describing MOOYAH as a custom-burger place that provides a fast-casual, family-friendly experience. “Even the french fries, nothing stays more than two minutes.”MOOYAH, which has its own satellite radio station and short-circuit television channel inside all its locations, welcomes its younger patrons to draw with colored chalk on a “Moodle Doodle Board” while parents wait for their meals. There is a MOOYAH smart phone app and customers can place orders online for pick-up.The franchise, which opened in Plano, Texas in 2007 and now has close to 60 restaurants, is also known for its 100 percent real ice cream shakes that come in a variety of flavors, including Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms, Cookie Dough and Strawberry Banana.“We strive that this is going to be a great experience for you as a guest and for the people who work here,” said Terry, who also invested in a five-star San Francisco restaurant called Spruce. “We researched different businesses and about a dozen franchises before we visited a MOOYAH in Texas and decided that it was the business for us.”

Gilroy is growing and to keep the pace the city needs more jobs for locals, says Tammy Brownlow, the CEO of Gilroy Economic Development Corporation. The past year has brought some success.