Meet THE FOUNDERS OF ¡BOMBA!
DoMINIC “Nic” IhNat
Director of Operations & Marketing
Hi, I’m Nic — and I’ve spent nearly two decades in hospitality making restaurants run smoother, teams feel empowered, and guests walk away feeling like they just experienced something special. I’ve worn every hat in this industry: bartender, server, manager, bar-program architect, staff trainer, emergency problem-solver, and the person leadership calls when a system needs fixing yesterday. If it happens in a restaurant, I’ve handled it — probably during the dinner rush, while cracking a joke to keep everyone from combusting.
But the real foundation of who I am goes back to my childhood and my family. My mom didn’t believe in the standard “one week in a hotel on a beach” version of travel. Instead, she took me to extraordinary places — Mexico, Italy, Spain — not for quick vacations, but for long, immersive stretches where we truly lived inside the culture. I grew up walking old cobblestone streets, listening to languages I didn’t yet speak, and watching how people ate, gathered, celebrated, and expressed themselves. Those experiences made me fall in love with culture, food, community — and the feeling of being surrounded by something bigger than yourself. She also taught me the fundamentals of running a small business with integrity long before I ever stepped behind a bar.
In my twenties, those lessons became real when I became a leading partner in Backstage Bakery, a tucked-away gem in historic downtown Cottage Grove that I ran with my two brothers, guided by my mom — the heart of our operation. That bakery was more than a business; it was a crash course in consistency, accountability, and community. I learned how powerful it is to know your regulars by name, how far genuine hospitality can carry a small business, and how the right idea becomes something magical when paired with heart, grit, and a loyal clientele. That’s where I first understood what it truly means to create a space where people feel something the moment they walk through the door.
Fast forward to Portland. I’ve spent the past three years watching the city slowly return to life post-pandemic — restaurants reopening, sidewalks filling again, the rhythm coming back. In that recovery, I felt the pull to build something immersive, original, and intentional. Not just somewhere to eat, but a full experience people actively look forward to. That idea lived in the back of my mind constantly.
And then I met Frank.
In one of our early conversations, he mentioned — almost casually — his long-held dream of opening a Puerto Rican restaurant. Something rooted in the flavors he grew up with. Something that honored the island’s culture. Something Portland had never seen. And that’s when it hit me: I had never tried Puerto Rican food. I had never been to a Puerto Rican restaurant. Because… there aren’t any in Portland.
That realization lit the fuse. I dove in — researching, learning, tasting, cooking, absorbing the history and traditions behind Puerto Rican cuisine. The more I learned, the clearer it became that everything I’d experienced — my childhood immersed in global cultures, my career building and fixing restaurants, my entrepreneurial background, my obsession with atmosphere and flow — was pointing directly to this.
That spark became ¡Bomba! A vibrant, modern, rhythmic concept built around sabor y ritmo — flavor and rhythm — in every sense of the phrase. A place where food, cocktails, music, movement, color, and culture collide, rooted in Puerto Rican tradition and brought to life with intention, craft, and energy.
This project is the culmination of a lifetime of learning — from traveling with my mom, to running a family business, to two decades in hospitality, to meeting Frank and being inspired by his roots and his dream. Portland is ready for something new. I’m ready to build it. And I’d love your help bringing ¡Bomba Sabor y Ritmo! to life.
Frank brings the flavors, traditions, and lived history of Puerto Rico to ¡Bomba!. Through his passion for storytelling and food, he has reclaimed vivid memories from his youth—transforming them into an experience that is loud, colorful, and alive. The message ¡Bomba! sends is unmistakable: this is a celebration of culture, rhythm, and flavor that invites the community into something deeply personal and joyfully immersive.
Nic brings the systems, experience, and craft of building spaces where people feel truly welcomed. With hands-on hospitality and restaurant management expertise, paired with a natural love for graphic design and marketing, he has poured countless hours into building the ¡Bomba! brand digitally. It has been an intense and time-consuming process—one he has loved every minute of—driven by the belief that turning passion and creativity into a livelihood is not only possible, but powerful.
TOGETHER, WE BRING DIFFERENT paths, SHARED VALUES, AND a SINGLE VISION…
What connects us is a shared belief that food is more than nourishment—it’s memory, movement, conversation, and community.
¡Bomba! Sabor y Ritmo is where those elements meet. A place built with intention, respect, and joy—rooted in culture, powered by hospitality, and created for connection.
We’re not just opening a restaurant.
We’re creating a home for rhythm, flavor, and belonging.
And we can’t wait to share it with you.