Business digest - May 15

Korean restaurant opens in Clovis

CLOVIS — A new Clovis restaurant is looking to provide airmen and others who have visited Korea with a local taste of Korean comfort food.

Owner Paul Park said Bokka — which means stir fry, good luck or blessings in Korean — opened May 3 with six employees.

Park told The News that he wanted to open the Korean barbecue restaurant, located at 1708 N. Prince in Clovis, because he thought there was considerable interest, especially among members of the military, for a restaurant that serves food like they experienced in Korea.

“They went to Korea a long time ago, they stayed on the base there and they missed Korean food so much,” Park said.

Portales hotel set to open

PORTALES — After close to a year of renovations, eastern New Mexico’s newest hotel is set to celebrate its grand opening on Saturday in Portales.

General Manager Latasha Padilla told The News the Best Western Plus Portales Inn, which has 50 rooms and 10 employees, kept the historic building’s original foundation but underwent about a year of renovations. That includes plumbing, electrical and expanding the room sizes before opening two weeks ago.

Padilla said the grand opening, scheduled for 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the hotel, 223 W. Second St., will include hors d’oeuvres and tours of the building.

“We’re just really excited to get the community involved and give everyone an opportunity to see it,” she said.

Karl Terry, executive director of the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce, said the influx of visitors the hotel is expected to bring to Portales will be a boon for other local businesses.

“It’s going to make a huge difference in the downtown. It’s going to help our businesses and our restaurants downtown, I think that’s the main thing that it does for us,” Terry said. “Overall it’s going to help with our lodgers tax revenue and gross receipts tax revenue and we certainly need that in our city.”

Business Digest is compiled by the staff of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact Kevin Wilson at 575-763-6991, or by e-mail:

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