Mazatlán, Mexico-based Totem has gone international, and it’s landed in Colorado Springs.

Totem, founded six years ago, has expanded into its second location and its first in the U.S. at 315 E. Pikes Peak Ave., transforming the space that was previously the home of The Well food hall downtown.

It officially opens at 7:30 a.m. on Friday.

Blending Mexican flavors with “fresh, local Colorado ingredients,” the restaurant “(creates) a unique comfort food experience in a warm, art-filled space that celebrates cultural fusion, creativity and community,” a news release from the nonprofit Downtown Partnership states.

“We hope to create something new here, something fresh we can share with the community. We didn’t come here to compete; we came here to grow,” co-owner Ivan Gleason told The Gazette.

Totem will serve international comfort food inspired by Latin and Mexican cuisines, specialty coffee, signature craft drinks and house-made pastries.

Visitors are welcomed with vibrant wall art of plants and florals coupled with neutral touches including woven chandeliers, padded booth seating and wooden furniture in warm tones.

Even the restaurant’s name and logo celebrate the idea of connection and community, according to Totem’s social media pages.

The word “totem” resonates across languages and totems represent a community’s origins, one Instagram post said.

With the brand’s identity “deeply inspired by specialty coffee,” Totem’s owl logo emphasizes “wakefulness and dreaming while awake,” according to the post. Its body is an abstraction of a Chemex coffeemaker, the restaurant’s preferred method of manually brewing its coffee. A deer’s antlers rise beneath the owl, decorated with coffee leaves and cherries as a nod to Totem’s Mexican roots. Mazatlán means “land of deer,” the company explained.

“We want to create an experience where you feel, as our food (demonstrates), comfort. Our expectation is that you will feel like you’re at home. We want not just to provide you food and drink, we also want to create an experience for you,” Gleason said.

Colorado Springs’ rapid growth and tight-knit feel specifically stood out to Totem’s owners as the perfect place to expand their concept.

“When we came to visit, the vibe it gave us, we knew we wanted to be here,” Gleason said of downtown Colorado Springs.

Renovations at Totem’s downtown location were supported partially by a building enhancement grant from the Downtown Partnership, the release said. The grant helps businesses invest in and revitalize downtown Colorado Springs.

Like Mazatlán, a resort town on the Pacific coast in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, Colorado Springs welcomes many tourists every year, Gleason added. And Totem’s menu appeals to broad swaths of people in this area of the U.S.

“The food we have, we know that people from this part of the country really like and enjoy it. We have a product that is different from other cuisines in the U.S.,” he said.

As well as its menu of international comfort food, Totem’s sister bakery, Bake Bake, will make bread, sweet pastries, desserts and sourdough boules in different flavors in-house every day.

Totem’s Colorado Springs location is just the beginning of what the restaurant’s owners hope will grow into a nationwide concept, Gleason said.

“We think if we can make this a grand success here, we can make it a grand success elsewhere and expand this brand to the rest of America,” he said. “So we hope that this will be the first of many (U.S. locations).”