Lara's Soft Spoken Restaurant opened on September 9, 1981, on Alamosa's South Side. Mark Lara went to culinary school at Indian Hills Culinary Art School in Ottumwa, Iowa. He and his wife, Marian, moved back home to the San Luis Valley a year after he graduated to open Lara's Soft Spoken. 

 

Mark has been in the food business for 41 years. 

 

Mark and Marian are San Luis Valley natives and have four children and four grandchildren.