#261 – Steven Almonte: From Busboy to Business Owner! Entrepreneurial Insights from a Journey of Passion and Persistence Through the Restaurant Industry

Spun Today with Tony Ortiz

Welcome to the latest episode of the Spun Today podcast, where we dive into the entrepreneurial journey of Steven, a driven and passionate restauranteur. Join host Tony as he delves into Steven's inspiring story of hard work, resilience, and dedication to pursuing his dreams in the restaurant industry. From discussing the challenges of starting new ventures to the importance of family and financial preparedness, this episode is a testament to the power of chasing your passions and embracing entrepreneurship. Get ready to be motivated and inspired by Steven's journey of overcoming obstacles and building a successful business from the ground up.

*Original Release Date: December 26th, 2019*

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] All right, so we are recording the second ever in a car, in a vehicle, in route podcast, Spontane podcast, with another, a second Amante family member. Elaine was the first one, now Steven, you are the

second. Amante, yeah, thank you for having me.

Always, always bro. So obviously like, usually like with these podcasts I always do like my own intro and stuff like that, so.

Introduce everything, but what I wanted to jump into as we are on our way to Aura. Which is located where?

In East Williamsburg. What's the address? 315 Mesereau, Brooklyn, New York, 11206.

And that, for the folks listening, is a new restaurant, a second establishment that Stephen is in the process of opening up.

And I wanted to have him on. To speak generally about like entrepreneurship and his whole experience [00:01:00] and how it's been with, with this specifically, you know, literally buying a second location and having to like build it up and construct it off from like the visions that he has in the set for it. And, you know, everything that he has gone through from like interior design and having to, you know, just like everything A to Z, like having to get bartenders and chefs and managers and like, how, how does that, all that should work?

You know what I mean? Like, plan it out or break it down.

Well, I love the restaurant business. I've always since a young kid, that was my first job. I love hospitality. As you know, I always like to host in my house and, you know, make people feel good. And I have a personality for that. I always started from the bottom.

As a busboy, then moving on to a waiter, to a head server, to bartending, to managing. So I went through all the routes, you know, on the floor.

And you did that in Bruce's on the Bay, right? I remember. I think that was like your first restaurant job in, in high, back in high school when we were in high [00:02:00] school.

Yeah. I did that in,

Bruce was on the bay in Howard Beach. I also did it in Lenny Clam Bar and Oh, you serious? Yeah, I did it cla Yeah. And I also did it in Santa Fe State House and Austin Street.

Oh yeah. Yeah. I forgot about that.

Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I was always like the head server everywhere I went with the highest sales.

And that's why I always got promoted quick and I always said I wanted one. So thankfully I was able to land a good job when in the local 46 union. I ain't working. I was able to be in different sites. One of the big biggest ones was the world trade center and I'm happy about that.

Every time I pass by and I was there five, six floors before the building doing the foundation of the building. So, you know, that was great to be part of it.

And I definitely want to get into all that. You, you've had, like, I always consider you like a, like a renaissance man, like somebody that's had like a thousand different jobs and I'm sure all of them, like you, you gain knowledge and experience from each and every one of them that are, you probably still carry with you to this day [00:03:00] and like, like everybody's lives, like shit that you go through, like informs like who you are, who you become and stuff like that.

And I want to get into all that, but real quick before we get off from Bruce's on the bank didn't you see like Robin De Niro or Al Pacino there?

Yeah, I served there, yeah. It was an Italian function. Yeah. And I was able to serve him. I was like Robert, can I take your place? I said, sure. That was our long conversation, but it was pretty cool.

I served the Gaudi's as well. Gaudi's wife and the other kids. It was good. Joe Pesci.

That's dope.

Yeah.

And that comes full circle with the, the latest movie that we were talking about the other day, which we're going to finish, finish speaking about

Irishman. Yeah. I saw it twice actually.

Yeah. Yeah. I want to watch it again.

Wait, so you went from working in the world trade? Like that was another connection you had to like hospitality and stuff? No, I just In terms of like working for the

iron workers? No, like you stated before, I've had like a thousand jobs. I've done literally everything. But to sum it all up, I just do it [00:04:00] for the money.

I just chase the money because I just I always wanted to become an entrepreneur ever since a kid. And, you know, I'd rather get If I get paid 800, I'd rather 600. You know, I'll do that job. Even if I've never had no knowledge of it and I've never done it. But I'm always, I was always chasing the paper. You know, I well, you know that, you know me my whole life growing up.

It's like the hustler's mentality right there.

Yeah, I just I always went where the money was more. Construction, I don't even have a screwdriver in my house right now. Like, I don't know anything about construction, but, you know, they offered me. 40 an hour starting and I was like, fuck it. I dropped my job at a Santa Fe steakhouse and also she, and I went over there.

And,

and the reason why at least I think like specific to this, to this episode and like your purpose behind like chasing the money and stuff like that was because you had, or what I'm asking, was it because you had like this, um, like end goal of like opening up your own spot?

Yeah. I had my vision and I knew I had to save money.

I know my parents weren't going to give it to me. You know, we, we faced a lot of hard hardship through our high school years when my father had a [00:05:00] bodega in in uptown and it did really bad. He lost everything. And I just, you know, we were just coming from the bottom and I knew I wasn't going to get help from my parents.

So I was just like always like saving money, saving money because I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. My dad's side of the family, everybody's an entrepreneur. Everybody works for themselves and that's exactly what I wanted.

And do you know, do you know why? Like the, the bodega When he had hard times, he had like some, like a partner or some shit that screwed him?

No, no, he had a partner. The partner actually saw what was happening soon, so he was able to bail out and cash all his money in. But But was it

like just business going down? Yeah,

it was just that like when they were buying the business, they were supposedly selling, you know, whatever it was a week, 20, whatever it was.

But basically the guy that was selling it was having his family go, you know, for three weeks straight when my father was, you know, testing the register, see how the sales were. And, you know, the sales were great. Obviously when he's when they sold those, those customers weren't coming back. And it's just like so the sales weren't there.

It's a lot of competition. I'm talking about like, there's like four bodegas on each block in uptown. It's like little Dominican, little Dominican Republic up there, as everybody knows in the Heights. And it's [00:06:00] just like, if one bodega has it for platanos for eight per dollar, the other one throws it for nine per dollar.

And it gets ridiculous at a point where it's like a platinum. How do you make money off of that? So it was just a competition thing. People would literally walk 3 or 4 blocks just to get something 50 cents cheaper.

That's insane. And yo, not for nothing, that's a really good and important point, I think, for folks to take in as far as When you want to get into purchasing a business, cause I know just from like doing real estate and mortgages and stuff like that, and, and I, I've worked for small businesses in the past as well, like restaurants and you know, real estate offices, mortgage offices.

And one thing that's different with purchasing a business versus that I, that I, the little that I know of it just from that side of it then purchasing a house is that you, like one of the prerequisites is that that you get to like shadow the owner of the establishment. You get like two to three years is like rule of rule of thumb of their business income tax and their, and their personal income [00:07:00] taxes as well to like, see how the business has done, you know, cause they could say, Oh yeah, this does a million a week.

And you, you know, obviously not just going to take somebody's word for it. Cause they're selling you something. They're going to paint the picture as pretty as possible. You definitely

have to go by the court of sales by that. You can't, you can't lie about that.

Okay. Yeah.

So once you get that report and you see what you're paying a sales tax.

The cash you could always play around with here and there, and there's like a rule of thumb for it. But quarterly taxes is, you know, it's money that you're paying to the IRS, which is like, nobody gives money to the IRS for no reason. True.

And but the point that, that I definitely want to get at is how, how that dude, like, to show your pops, Oh, look how good the registers are doing.

And he had, you know, he, he like orchestrated fucking three weeks worth of people just coming through, buying shit, and he was probably just giving them back like the money at the end of the day. And, you know, so your pops even, Diligence of, you know, shadowing the guy for three weeks and checking the registers and shit like that.

You know what I mean, like people It's always scams,

it's New York City. As soon as you land in the [00:08:00] airport, you get scammed. You know, I currently, I'm a Port Authority police officer at JFK and you gotta see these people that come to, you know, to the, to the, To New York from like different countries never been here before and they'll jump on a cab and literally go from one terminal to the next terminal and get robbed for 200 and they pay it because they have no idea.

They're like, Oh, they always hear it. Oh, New York, very expensive. It's the highest, the biggest city of the world. It's probably 200 to go from terminal one to terminal eight. And it's not, you know, these guys also charge 300 to go to Times Square where a regular yellow cab will charge you 68 bucks, but they pay it because they don't know.

But then the next, when they do find out they come the next day, they give the complaint to the police department and that's when we have to enforce. So we're constantly, you know, shooing away the hustlers at the arrivals area. But it's just like, it's just New York, it's just shady, you know.

Yeah, it's like the nature of the beast, you know.

So yeah, so you had that vision from a young age and you knew that if you were gonna establish something Yeah. And eventually bring your vision into fruition, you had to grind and do it yourself. You had to work [00:09:00] hard, save money.

Exactly.

To, to like, reach that point.

Exactly. That's exactly it. And you know, it's a lot that goes into it, to try to like, save this money.

Like, I've always told you like, I bought my first house in 2008. Just because I knew, if I would, I was calculating how much money I was making a week, how much I was making a month, and then yearly. I was like, and then I calculated the money that I was paying in rent, yearly. So I was like, wow, if I'm spending 12, 000 to 15, 000 in rent every year, that's taken away from 75, 000 to 58, 000.

I'm sorry 52, 000. I had this up Four years, that's 60 grand. You know what I'm saying? So there's a lot of hidden money that if you think about it, if you, if you, if you take it away, you, you're actually making more money in the future. So I was able to get an investment in East New York, which I, I was, I'm not from Brooklyn, I'm from Queens, Richmond Hill.

But I was able to get it, 'cause it was a new construction house of four apartments and I knew with two apartments I was gonna pay the mortgage. So not only was, was I not. Paying rent, but I was also making money off my house. So there, there alone, I [00:10:00] was making basically double equity. You know what I'm saying?

I was making money and not having to pay rent. And I was making money off, you know, what was left over of the cash rent.

Yeah, the savings plus like the assets of the money actually coming

in. Correct. Correct. And also building equity after 10 years. You know what I'm saying? It's

like a long term game. You know, the value is always going to go up, historically speaking.

So that's actually a tremendous game. That's honestly how I was able to, you know, I was always able to do it. I was always and then I have a restaurant, so I wasn't spending money in food. So the way people see my stuff, they see me with, with two houses, two restaurants at 35 years old, but it's not, I've never sold any drugs in my life.

I've always, you know, I'm a military to a iron worker to a police officer. If nobody's ever given me anything, blue collar jobs, exactly. Everybody, I've paid my taxes every single year. Everybody knows it. It's just that I have these, you know, these knickknacks where I could. And I, and I, and I just see, and I, and I see what, what, what, where I could produce more.

And You could add like optimizing.

Correct. And that's how, that's how I was able to save money. Once I had my house [00:11:00] in Brooklyn, I didn't want to get into another house. I hate being the handyman of the house. So I had some extra money and I was able to buy a house with the restaurant with your cousin Elvis in in East New York.

We started off great and then, you know, so I found out a couple of things and then just the relationship wasn't there anymore. Everything happens for a reason. He was, he, he faces the hard, he faced the hardship that he just needed to get out. He needed money quick and I took the opportunity and paid off his half and I, I stood him with, with my business.

After that, the business just boomed. You know, I had a vision of, You know, what the restaurant is, you know, in this age and the future, the guy Elvis was just, you know, he was used to restaurants in the 70s and 80s and he thought it still worked that way. So

Yeah, because I was going to ask you about that specifically because I know there was a Mm look when the, the restaurant wa was ade before and you took it over and it's now known as Gawa, located at a hundred Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica Avenue.

Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn. And it's a popping spot people can follow on Instagram at gawa nyc n yc.

And also the food [00:12:00] page is Guba underscore Bistro

Bistro. The head chef is Chef bfi, correct? Right. There's I noticed from the outside looking in and from obviously knowing you personally, but like a complete like one, what is it?

180. What's happened? 360. A complete one. Yeah.

From, I need

more coffee from when it was my Cody took, oh, it was like, like you know, it was a, it was a nice restaurant. It was cool. But like, like you said, it like definitely like blew up. Like after, after switching it to go and you kind of switch like the business model a little bit.

a little bit, like it wasn't just restaurant, like you have,

yeah, I added a variety, you know, we open up at three o'clock, we start off with the happy hour and we open up the kitchen and I just basically run two businesses. I run the restaurant three to 12, and then I do the lounge part 12 to four. I mean, I'm paying rent, you know, for the 30 days, whatever time it doesn't matter, you know, so I was basically producing four hours more a day where, you know, where my ex partner at Makuri didn't want to do it.

So that's when I started seeing profit. And then I just started renovating the place, making it more hip. Okay. [00:13:00] And

that's interesting. You see it that way. Like two businesses like running it as two businesses, like two separate businesses.

One is a club, one is a restaurant

that's dope, and it's literally like

location and one rent.

One rent. And you, you just like, you like, you're splitting it up in your mind that I'm, I'm guessing just from hearing that, like, just that hour wise, like from this time to this time it's a restaurant and then from this time to this time, it's a, a club. Correct.

That's pretty dope. So I was able to optimize in that and

and it draws.

Sorry to cut you off, it draws like different crowds like for that reason like me personally like I'm not into Like the clubbing scene DJs and and whatever But I'm more into like the you know Fine dining experience that you do get from like the early times when you know nice music in the background It's crazy

The transition is crazy, like you could be literally eating, formal dinner, nice music in the background.

I was there, I

was there for that. Literally, I literally envisioned it.

You go to the bathroom or go outside to smoke a cigarette, you come back inside and you be like, what the fuck just happened? Everyone's like, mm, mm, mm. I'm talking about the sofas are away, you got stand up tables, the hookah's [00:14:00] going, the DJ's going, you got the moving heads going with the lights, and it's just like, what the hell just happened?

It's like it's like a twilight.

It's insane, and that transition happens in, in, with like, it's like, yeah, like military style precision.

I got another staff that comes in at 11 o'clock and they're the ones who set up the floor and they just transition everything.

That's dope, that's awesome. And

then we transition again at 4 in the morning to get ready for dinner service the next day.

And then, that's a pretty good segue in that, that you seizing that opportunity with the restaurant and you seeing a vision for it that wasn't being implemented when it was Macquarie. And you're saying, you know, I had this opportunity now to buy out my partner, you took it, and it, and I'm sure you had, including myself, like at that time you know, focused on you, and maybe it's not a good idea, maybe you should just focus on the cop thing, cause I'm not sure if you were like already a cop at that point.

Or not. I was

no, I had the restaurant first and then a year into it was when I got called from the Port [00:15:00] Authority and it's a job that you can't refuse.

And I'm sure you had like a mix of like support from people and, you know, people like being like cautiously optimistic, which is like the camp I would put like myself in.

Like, but you followed through with the vision that you had implemented it. And now that business flourished based on the vision that you had. And to the point that you are now able to invest in a second restaurant like your, your dream restaurant, which is out of the location that we're headed to now.

Then, you know, it's like mid construction right now being built up and I'm going to see it for the first time. So I'm definitely going to like take some pictures and stuff like that. And we're going to speak about it more when we're actually at the location. So if folks want to put some visuals together with, with this audio.

Okay. Check it out at Sponsoreday. com forward slash podcast forward slash 142, which I think this will be episode 142 and check it out.

Actually, it's one of my waitresses right here. Hey Desiree. And

we're just, we're literally [00:16:00] driving by right now on, what is this? On Cypress Avenue. Cypress Avenue in Hancock.

And one of Steven's waitresses from, from Galoa just walked by.

You gotta respect the hustle. So we left there at 515 this morning. Like, in this business, it's good. You know, you flourish a lot, you know, if you do it the right way. But it is a lot of sacrifice, a lot of you know, sleeping, a lot of time away from the family.

And it's just like, I respect this girl's hustle. She has a kid, you know, she was out there till five in the morning, and I just see her coming out of bodega, you know, with food, with a bag full of food, you know what I'm saying? So she's gonna go cook now for her family. Meanwhile, she has to come back to work late in a couple of hours.

That, that's, that's insane. And not just, not just Lazo from the employees, But I just want to highlight the fact that, like, Steve is running this business, opening up the second business. And he's a full time Port Authority police officer. Yes. At the same time.

And a two year old baby.

And has a two year old.

Which is awesome. My godson.

Dude, it's just like, I'm driven, man, and I, I'm sure like, you walk into McDonald's right now, you're not gonna see the owner, and he probably has like five of them, and these things [00:17:00] make millions of dollars a year. So that's my mentality. One of, one of the things that, that most pushes me, dude, is my mom.

With my last restaurant, you know, it was a lot of time away from the family. I was, it was, I was a first time entrepreneur. You know, I let things go to my head. I was dedicating more time to, to, to the restaurant and to my actual family at home, you know, and I did things I shouldn't have and it cost me my first marriage.

You know, that's a failure. I gotta, I gotta suck it up and take it. But one of the thing that biggest pushes me is my mom. When I first, when I got divorced, my mom was like, Steven, you know, get the fuck out that bed. You know what I'm saying? Don't be depressed. Don't do this or whatever. I know you better than this.

And listen, your ex and her family, they just want to see you fail, they want to see you lose your business, they want to see you lose your house, they want to see the worst in you. Fuckin I'm sick, I have diabetes, but you know, if I ever leave this earth, I want you to have, if you can, buy three more houses, if you can, buy five more restaurants, buy five more.

But, like, don't let those people shut you down. And I've taken that like a grain of salt. That shit motivates me the fuck out of me every single day. And, you know, that's why I do what I do. So I [00:18:00] go to sleep a couple of hours. But I have people that I put in play to work for me, that manage for me. Like, I have my brother in one place.

I got my sister, Elaine, which helps me out tremendously. I got my compadre radi that also runs on my hookah and my liquor, you know, so I put, if you put people in play in all the businesses, you don't have to be there because honestly, if you're, if you're in a business that you have, you actually have to work, why the hell are you paying a manager?

Why the hell are you paying a head bartender, head server? Why do you have a team? There's no team there.

Yeah, you're, you're, you're doing it wrong. If you have to like be, be at a, at a spot 24 seven.

Exactly. I mean, you know, I'm always, I'm not constantly looking at the cameras. I'm not going to live a life where I'm But then, you know, the numbers are good.

It's exactly what I expect. So obviously my team is doing what they gotta do. And I know, you know, by that operation, all you gotta do is set a good team, a good operation, and you could open up 3, more. I'm actually looking at another location right now. We're negotiating a lease. Over here also in Bushwick, in Broadway.

I think I'm going to sign that and start that project in June. No, that was a surprise for you.

Damn! Yeah. That would be like another restaurant?

Yeah, the reason is that Kyle, I have two more years [00:19:00] left in my lease and the landlord, I haven't seen the landlord in three years. I don't know if he's dead or what the hell happened.

You serious? Yeah, but his wife actually has a property. She runs it, so I pay her the rent, but she has no say in, you know, on the lease or if they're renewing the lease or whatever. So God was a very good business, I don't know what's gonna happen, but I can't just like wait till the day before my lease to hand in the keys and not have no business.

So that's why I'm setting this up now, because I want to keep it out as a very formal dining, you know, sophisticated Destination place, but I also want to have the same like out a crowd. I mean cow a crowd where it's just you know Good food, and then it's in the transition into the the nightlife, and you know with the whole hook and the music Yeah, so yeah, I definitely I'm not winning.

I don't want to lose that right now, and I'm not these guarantees So that's why I'm gonna start this new project in June God willing

that's open that actually leads me to something I wanted to ask you about Like you have that vision. That's already something that you're thinking about. That's two years out.

And I always remember something that stayed with me from you that I learned from you growing up is something even from, I think it came about like with your time in the [00:20:00] army. But maybe even before then, I think before then, the first time you ever told me about it was that you always like break things down into five year chunks.

Like you have five year plans, five year vision. So I'm guessing something like this that you're already planning out two years ahead.

You know, I gotta prepare for it. I'm a soldier. You know, you always gotta go to the war with all your weapons or your gadgets or your, you know what I'm saying, everything ready.

And this is actually what I'm doing. You know, it takes time to open up a business. I've been here for eight months now on this construction site. And, you know, I come here every day. If I wouldn't have come here every day, I would have took like a year. You know, cause guys, you know, doodly dally and fuck around and I'm paying these guys by day.

So they actually want the job to be longer cause, you know, they're getting paid regardless. So I'm here guiding the orchestra, you know, all day. And

is that something that you learned also from doing construction? Correct. Yeah. But it's true, that's like, that's like the work contractors and construction workers are known for, like, they'll tell you a job takes 10 days, but the, you know, just sign it, sign the dotted line, start getting paid, and then when you get out of the way, it's like 15, 20, 25 days that it takes.

Exactly. But I got a good team here. I got [00:21:00] two teams here. One is excellent, the other one I gotta keep watching. But I'm actually on my way here now to drop off some furniture. We're getting ready to hopefully open up to 26 right after Christmas. And so time is money right now. It's every day is just long hours now for these next eight days of construction.

Cause we're missing on Christmas Eve and Christmas day next week. And I just got to make this happen.

And I think that, that's one that large amounts for, so I think that's what that large amount I think is for some, I think I've seen no What was I about to ask you? The, so you've been, so you signed the lease for this place 8 months ago.

So you've had the place for 8 months, you're paying like, right? No,

I signed the lease in January, February. But I didn't have TCO until May 1st. So May 1st is when I started the

What is that TCO?

Temporary

CBO certificate? Yeah, correct, yeah.

That's what it is. It took me like 30 days to get a good contractor.

You know, with all his licensing. And I was able to get it. So you had to like

try out different contractors?

No, no. I had one, I had one contractor that I was definitely working with, but he doesn't have all [00:22:00] his licensing. And this is a DOB job where the plumbing has to be signed off, electric and all that stuff.

So you have to get one of those. Yeah, so I had to get one of those. That took some time. It took like 30 days and it actually cost me now a whole month of rent. But, you know, it is what it is. You learn from it. And where was I? Oh yeah, so we started in June, so since June here, it's been like 7 months already.

Damn. Wait, you started paying rent when? A

month ago? The first of this month.

Okay.

Yeah, so I got this month and I gotta pay January 1st now. Definitely.

So, so what like ups and downs have you experienced, like, because this is a little different from when you opened up Gawa. 'cause Gawa was already did Elvis have it, have it already or No?

No, no. Boom. But, but it was an operating restaurant. You guys took it over it?

No, it was already closed down. It, that corner's been there for, since like the seventies. But when we got it, it was already closed down. The guy had, the guy before us had to close it down. I don't know what he did. I think he, he started putting domino tables in the restaurant and just made it like a shit show.

And so the landlord took it. And when we got it, we got it with the gates down and you know, we put the gates up and it was [00:23:00] starting from the beginning exactly what I'm doing here in outer. I feel kind of confident because I did it once already over there. I feel I could do it again here. I hired an excellent PR person.

We're actually going to be in good day America on the fifth, right before three Kings. We have a session for Telemundo. At the end of January, and we have NBC, I believe, on the 8th of January. Wow, that's dope.

How does that work?

Oh, no, you got a PR, public relations, and he has connections with all these networks, you know, you pay him a fee.

Each time I

want you to promote my business type of thing? Yeah,

you pay him, obviously not for free. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You pay him a fee, and he does his thing. And you get recognition, we were featured in the Bushwick Daily already. We plan on the grand opening to have the hold a press conference with the Times and the Post.

So we're

doing everything the right way. And a sponsored podcast, of course.

Of course. We got a, we got a great manager. She just came off a, a one star Michelin restaurant. She's great great resume, great personality I feel we're gonna do really good by her. Basically, I have all my puppets in play, like, how are you supposed to do it?

I'm not [00:24:00] just like going to cheap bra, like, Oh, I'm letting me make a beautiful place and just hope that people come here. You know, something could be beautiful on fifth Avenue, but if, you know, the service is not there, the charisma is not there, you know, you don't have anything. So,

yeah. And by that, I don't want people to misconstrue that either.

Like, like, are you just like puppets in a play? It's not like you're like like like with a negative connotation, it's like with the connotation of, like you mentioned before, being the conductor of an orchestra, like, You guys go, you guys do this, now you're on, your turn, you know? Yeah. Like the perfect pieces in place that you know that you have the confidence in certain people to like execute at the jobs that you put them in.

I also believe a lot in team building. You know, you see how I run my restaurant in Cowabunga. Like I'm very like, everybody says I'm the best boss because I basically, I believe in a team. Everybody knows what they got to do. And I don't, you know, I don't, I don't press them, I don't, you know. You don't like micromanage.

Yeah, I don't like to micromanage. I don't like to talk behind anybody's back. Or, or scold somebody in front of another coworker. Like, I'm very professional with that because it, I think about it this way. I'm hardly ever there. If, if they hate me, they're gonna like fucking rob me when I'm not [00:25:00] there. So I'd rather, I build like this friendship, like this family.

And it just like, it hurts them, like, if they try to do something like that to me. I've had the same staff for years and, you know, they work great. I love them. I shout out to my, to my Galba family in East New York. And I just, I just, like, I like building an establishment that's family orientated.

That's awesome. That's something good to hear. When I used to, there was like a, a stark difference between when I used to work in my first job in high school. When I was 16, it was a restaurant. And then I worked in two ever. I went from that one to another one in Mineola and which we actually used to cut, cut to, and,

Go

play ping pong and pool and shit in the basement.

Shout out to Labs, but there was a stark difference between the owner of it and the manager of it. The manager, which I'm still friends with to this day that went on to open up his own, his own spot called Sangria in Jamaica was Joey. And he had that. Look that you just mentioned, like if he ever, ever had like an issue with a staff member, he'll call them [00:26:00] aside, call them up to the office and, you know, speak to them, you know, calm, cool, collected and, you know, teach, teach them like how to do something right that he thought that they were doing wrong.

And whereas literally the owner, like he would literally like in front of customers, like somebody was holding a plate in their left hand, they should have been holding it like in the right hand, whatever. Like he would yell at them, put them on the spot. Make nervous in front of the customer like no, no, you did that wrong.

Come back. Come back over here Like grab him by the shoulder. Look look pick it pick that up that goes on that side You know, he was he was like he's like an old school like Portuguese, dude They you know kind of like rough around the edges kind of yeah, but he didn't have like that type of important to me like leadership skill of You know You have to look beyond a mistake and if you want them to not if you want an employee Not to commit that mistake again, you know, putting them on the spot and putting them on blast and make them feel like shit is not the way to achieve that.

Definitely. That's definitely old school. That was actually like my ex partner. That's how he like managed it. But, [00:27:00] man, honestly, waste of talent is the worst you could do. Honestly, if you have your dream, like, my best friend Tony has always wanted to open a laundromat, like, Jesus one day got to do it.

If you fail, you fail, but the worst thing to live with is, is, was regret. Like, I, I love what, I, I stand behind my brand. I guarantee it. You know what I'm saying? I love, I, I know I'm gonna do good. You know, I, I have a lot of faith in God. I, I do, I do the right thing. I just know that whatever I put my hands into, it's gonna, it's gonna be good and it has for everything else in the past.

So I just feel like it's gonna be good here. And if you have a strong passion for something, you know, start saving your money, get good credit, take a lot, take a take a load out and just follow your dreams. But you don't want to like be 70, 80 and be like, wow, I wish I would have done this before, you know, because regret, you can't buy time again, you know.

Absolutely. And that, that, That honestly is something that has motivated me more towards like the whole laundromat idea and like dream, like you said, that, that I've had for, for some time. And like I wanted to do but was like gun shy and hesitant [00:28:00] about and you know, I've went from like the restaurant jobs and stuff to, to now corporate America for like 10 years.

And You know, seeing you and your success with, with the, the restaurant and just the entrepreneurship in general, it like made me see that, you know what, it is possible. Like, you know what I mean? And I should like save up, like you said, and, and actually, you know, give it a shot, go for it. And not, not put myself in a position where, you know, I'm, I'm like.

Selling every single thing I own or whatever to accomplish a goal, but like hedge my bets and do it, do it smartly. And if God forbid, something fails, you know, I'm not out industry with a, with a can of man.

Yeah, definitely. If you have a hundred dollars, don't invest a hundred dollars. Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like. Yeah, I would say if you have 20 invest 12, you know, you always gotta be, you know, right now I'm prepared for like a whole year if like nobody comes into my restaurant, I'm prepared to pay a whole year of rent that way I don't lose my place. A lot of people fill in the restaurants because they put everything they have into it.[00:29:00]

Business is bad a couple months and you go right in the hole, you know, you're talking about five, 6, 000 of rent, you owe four months, you owe 25, 000, like how do you come back from that, you know? So you got to be prepared to have that rent because it's going to take time, you know, and I ain't got what took me two years to start seeing money and, and I'm.

Made all my money back and was able to invest in more and other stuff. Same thing, we're out of here. I'm prepared. Like, if nobody comes in, which I don't think the Russians are going to be that bad, and the pool's going to be that bad, then nobody's going to enter. But, again, I have that military mentality where, like, I'm preparing for the worst.

Correct. So, as long as you do that, you have a backup plan I think you'll be fine.

That's dope, man. And we are pulling up right now on the outside of it. It looks dope from the outside. Can't wait to take a couple pictures. We're going to pause the podcast for now, take a look around, and get back.

Alrighty folks, we are back in the car. You're going to hear some navigation in the background, but please don't mind it. And the restaurant is dope. I was telling Steven inside, I'll repeat it here that I'm like super proud of him, like [00:30:00] seeing his success. And this restaurant, which I know has been a long time goal of his this one specifically like the what did you call it before?

Like a fine dining experience type of thing.

It's going to be a fine dining. You know, the aesthetics is what I've always wanted. More formal dining, you know, more like to celebrate birthdays, romantic dinners, anniversaries, stuff like that.

And it's something I know definitely that it has always been a goal of his, so congratulations.

Thank you so much, I appreciate that brother. Can't wait, can't wait to see it open. Tell me the name. You were just getting into a story about the name I cut you off, so you can repeat it here on the podcast, because I think it's, it's, like, just a dope, like, origin story.

Well, the name of the complex is called The Breeze.

It's it's an industrial it was an old pillow factory. And now it became like a warehouse for businesses. So it's all corporate offices. You have Ethos Club. You have you have a marketing agency. You have people that make skate ramps. It's pretty cool. So it's all commercial. And then there's a retail level that's attached to it.

There's a corridor called the Breezeway that you have to go through to come to my place. [00:31:00] And so the whole thing is called the Breeze, the whole complex. And I initially wanted to do a Latin restaurant. So I googled the Breeze in Latin and Aura came out. A U R A. Aura. I like the name also because it reminds me of my grandmother, my father's mother.

That's her first name, Aura. And third of all, like it's just like your energy, like your aura. Like what do you portray? Like people were like, my aura is more like, like personality and Steven's always in a good time. And Steven always wants to turn up and you know, make everyone happy. So I love, you know, I love people's aura.

I love that name, I love the meaning behind that name. So that's how Aura came about. And then we named it Cochina and Bar. Which means Kitchen and Bar.

That's so sick. And the you're gonna, you're gonna, Like the type of cuisine that you picked was Cuban, Asian?

Yes. Basically they, a lot of people wanted this space.

Cause it's gonna be the feature restaurant for the whole complex. And they just wanted to go with the moves, with the person that would move it. more innovative. It's a very hip neighborhood. A lot of hippies a lot of hipsters, freelancers, [00:32:00] and they want something innovative. They want something new.

They don't want your typical Mexican restaurant or Dominican restaurant or anything, you know, regular. So I was like, you know what? My favorite Spanish food is Cuban and everything. I love Chinese food. I can eat Chinese food every day of the week. So I was like, let me just combine these two cuisines. I think there's like two or three in the city, but they're not very popular, you know, and you really have to match.

And I was able to get this celebrity chef, Ricardo Cardona, who's like the official chef of the Yankees, Mark Anthony's personal chef the official chef of Edgewater, New Jersey. He's awesome. He teamed up with another Asian chef from L. A., who was featured on a two page article in the L. A. Times. So they combined the menu.

It's amazing. I just got the menu. I haven't tasted it yet. We have the tasting next week sometime. But it's just like all the ingredients and everything that you need. It's amazing. Can't wait to try it and I can't wait for you guys to try it.

So how does that work? So, so these like celebrity chefs and stuff like that, they, they like put together a menu, [00:33:00] like you said, and the flavors and like how to cook it type of thing, or how to cook certain dishes.

And then like the, the chef on like whatever chef you have like working there, they get like taught those, like how to cook, execute those dishes.

Well, yes, well, obviously they went to chef school and the good thing about Ricardo Cardona is that he. He's literally gone like everywhere in the, in the, in the world because he likes it.

He wants to cook Mexican food. He'll go to Mexico and learn the authentic way of making it. Same thing with like Argentina and Spain. He's been to Asia. He's been to Thailand. Like he's gone to all these countries besides being a chef and learning, you know, the basics, but he's gone to all these countries and has like a special feel to all these, to all these cuisines, you know, it's not, for example, Mexican food, it's just not putting salsa and chips and guacamole in a plate, you know, there's a lot that goes, that goes into it.

So it's the same thing with.

That's dope. I just didn't know that it worked that way. I thought it was like, let's say Ricardo Cajona or whatever. I thought, like, he was physically, like, in the kitchen making it. You know what I mean? But, it's like, it's like a different level of, like, that whole chef world.[00:34:00]

Yes.

Yes, yes. That's exactly how it is. And he's very expensive as well, so. Somebody has a lot to do with it.

That's crazy. That's awesome. But

he has a good resume. He has a big following. Like he'll bring baseball players to your establishment. Celebrities singers. There's you know, the whole nine and that's what builds a place, you know, it

must be like a lot of like cloud, like attached to this thing.

Correct.

And what's dope is we, we just saw the places, obviously like still in the construction, but like you said, it's like like all of the like heavy lifting is out of the way. It's like, now it's like more like decorations and aesthetics and stuff like that being done. And it already, I've never been to Cuba.

You went a couple of times. I should have gone when you told me to go with you. And I didn't probably for A reason that I don't even remember. So it obviously wasn't a good reason probably like, oh no, I gotta work. Or like, some dumb shit. But it, like from pictures that I've seen of Cuba and stuff like that, like it, it has, like, I'm starting to, like, I could visualize like those elements like coming together, those, especially like

buildings, those, those rusted cars, [00:35:00] you know, it's, it is like,

like pastel colors and stuff like that.

What I love about Cuba is like you basically transform yourself from like 2019 to like the 1950s. It's a whole transformation with everything, with the people, with the decor, what car you get in, what restaurant you go to. So it's like being trapped in a different era,

you know, it's like time traveling.

Yeah,

exactly.

That's awesome. All right. And the, I took some video for, for folks that want to check it out, some videos, some pictures and stuff. And you guys can check it out where I mentioned before sponsored. com for slash podcast forward slash one, four, two. So you could definitely get the visuals.

Come along with this episode. So

yeah entrepreneurship. I also have a shipping company where I import Items to Dominican Republic and tanks boxes, refrigerators, TVs sofas, and that type of furniture.

I remember when you told me about that, like mad long ago, I was like, what the fuck are you talking about?

It's literally, it was like in the middle of like the [00:36:00] whole Macquarie transition and stuff like that. You're like, Oh, I'm going to open up another business. I was like, yo, this guy. You're doing, like, way too much. You're biting off, like, more than you could chew, and then that business you still have, like, going.

Exactly. Again, like I told you, if you have the right people in play, there's no reason why you can't do it.

So, like, a business like that made Mahino that you're obviously not involved, like, day to day, you just, like, collect your, your, like, money from it. Yeah, that's it. When the time comes. Yeah. Nice. But you, like, established it, you started it.

Yeah, it's called the Dominicana Cargo Express. I'm actually very good now with the next president elect. We've met a couple times. I'm helping run his campaign here in New York. I'm the secretary of Mil Amigos Abinadel. He's like 90 percent of the tolls that he's gonna win the election, so

In DR?

Yeah.

What's his name?

Luis Abinadel. Nice. Yeah. He's a disciple to Peña Gomez. Gotcha.

And for folks that don't know, like, like, it's like a big, like, popular thing, especially for Dominicans. Like, my parents, like, ship stuff. My, my, [00:37:00] you know, my wife to, like, her pops and, like, family members that you have over there.

It's like, you ship, like, containers. And boxes, and like, literally like these big like jug tanks of liquids and stuff like clothes, food, like stuff like that to the relatives that you have over there. So it's

pretty dope. Yeah man, it's cool. And dude honestly my dream is, like I want to be a restauranteur.

This is like my, the one I'm opening now is like my dream restaurant. If that pops off, I really literally want to do like, I want to keep the same, I want to branch out franchise out Aura, but like, I want to like, I'm going to change the name and like in the aesthetic of whatever culinary I decide.

Like, let's say, for example, I want to do a Mexican restaurant, I'd probably name it Aura Cantina and Agave Bar, you know, something like that along those lines.

So like the tagline to it would be like more specific to correct of what culinary it is. Gotcha. Yeah. But you still maintain like the outer, the staple of it.

I just I have 11 years left in the port authority to retire, like 10 and a half. [00:38:00] It's a good job, but I honestly, I love working for myself. You know, I love what I do. Like it's, it's fun when I come to, to the restaurants, you know, it's not like I'm dragging my feet and like, fuck, I got to wake up and do this.

Like I love getting up and coming over here and seeing what's going on. I like the, like the motion. I like the energy. I like the, the, the busy and, and the craziness that goes behind, behind the scenes in the kitchen. I love all that stuff. And I just want to keep doing it, you know, and I want to pass that.

Which

is important to like, love what you do, right? Of course it is. It doesn't feel like you're working.

If people loved work, you know, they would be free, you know?

Yeah, exactly. That's why a lot, that's advice that a lot of people give people that I follow and listen to. Which is, like, find what you love, and are passionate about, and do it, and then figure out a way to get paid from it later.

Correct. Correct. And I just want to pass that down to my kids, you know. I want it to be like a Peter Luger's that, you know, it just goes down from generation to generation. Honestly, the way college is going now, I feel like people are just going to keep dropping out, [00:39:00] dropping out because, honestly, these guys, like, you go, you go out there, it's expensive, you spend four years and you can't even get a job getting out, you know, and everything's so competitive and all this computers, you know, it's eliminating so many jobs.

I honestly feel like social media is like, it's killing the game. I just, I don't, I don't see college, like, like, Obviously, you know, but for the major professions, like, you know, being a lawyer and doctors, that's always going to exist.

Yeah, for very specific professions.

Correct. Yeah, but I definitely,

like, I think entrepreneurship is important to that extent and, you know, like, either with, like podcasting and writing and, like, my personal goals, like, in that field, and people that I read and listen to on other podcasts, like, that, like, that's a very, very important element.

To me, which is establishing that there are alternatives, there are different lanes that if you're willing to like put in the work for it, you can like follow and pursue. Like they're like unorthodox, like different things. You know, it's not just like go to high school, go to college, do four years, get a master's and then get this job.

And then work at this job until you're 65, then retire and collect social security and then die. Like [00:40:00] it's not just that path alone. You know, there's an unlimited amount of different paths that people can go from investing in, in businesses. And I think that's important for our generation, which is like in the middle of it now, and for future generations to factor in and put into play.

That's a fact. But yeah, bro. Thank you very much for doing the episode. I appreciate it. Anytime. I know folks are going to get a lot from it. And anything else? Remind folks again where Caoba is, where Outta is.

Yeah, Caoba is located in East New York, 100 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. Outta is in East Williamsburg.

That's on 315 Mesero Street. Estamos ahi a la orden We're there to serve you. I hope you guys come. Try out the amazing food. And the ambiance. And the The The The shift into the nightlife it's, you could get a little bit of everything. You go for dinner, then casual drinks, then end up dancing, you know, the night away with your wife or significant other, whoever, but it's definitely to bring joy to your heart.[00:41:00]

And the social media is for Caoba and Aura.

Caoba and Aura is underscore NYC and Caoba and Aura underscore bistro. Aura is Aura Cochina.

Nice. All right, folks, I'm out.

Bye.