Tucson's El Güero Canelo for sale

Owner Daniel Contreras has his properties on the city’s south, north and east sides for sale with broker Kidder Mathews, according to an offering memorandum.

The three properties are at 5802 E. 22nd St., 2480 N. Oracle Road and the original location, opened in 1993, at 5201 S. 12th Ave.

The sale also includes the office building adjacent to the Oracle Road store. No sale price is listed in the memorandum.

In confirming the sale to the Star, Contreras said the time has come to retire and pass on the “blessings” he’s had with the stores to a new owner.

Last year he remodeled the original store on 12th Avenue and added a terrace, which was his wife’s idea, to offer something new on the city’s south side.

Finishing that project before retirement was important for him to leave his customers, he said.

Contreras, who got his nickname for his cinnamon blond hair, began his business in Tucson with a food cart in 1993.

The cart is on display at the Oracle Road location, noting that’s where it all started.

Contreras, 65, began working as a tortilla maker at the age of 13 in Sonora, Mexico.

He has continued to use bread and tortillas from his bakery in Magdalena, Sonora, over the past 30-plus years in his stores.

Contreras came to Tucson in 1979 and worked as a dishwasher at motels along the freeway frontage roads and rose to head bus boy, he told the Star last year as he was contemplating retirement.

He was a waiter at Micha’s restaurant on South Fourth Avenue from 1983-93 and said he always told coworkers that one day they’d be eating at one of his restaurants.

After marrying his wife Blanca in 1987, Contreras bought his first food cart in 1993, selling Sonoran hot dogs before opening a brick-and-mortar shop.

Following the original location on 12th Avenue, Contreras opened the Oracle Road restaurant in 2005 and the 22nd Street one in 2011.

In 2018, El Güero Canelo won the coveted James Beard Award given to pioneers in the gourmet food world.

Contreras told the Star at the time that when he got the call, he had never heard of such an award.

“They asked me for information, and they asked me for this and that, and I said, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t even know who you are and you want my Social Security number. No way, man,’” he told the Star at the time.

The sales memorandum for the properties cites the stores’ locations in high-traffic areas, featuring solar power systems and a staff of 90 experienced employees.

Growth opportunities, the memorandum states, include adding beer and liquor sales and possible franchising opportunities.

“The success I’ve had,” Contreras said, “is to be loved by so many people.”