May 25, 2024
Welcome to thelatest episode of the Spun Today podcast, where we dive into theentrepreneurial journey of Steven, a driven and passionaterestaurateur. Join host Tony as he delves into Steven's inspiringstory of hard work, resilience, and dedication to pursuing hisdreams in the restaurant industry. From discussing the challengesof starting new ventures to the importance of family and financialpreparedness, this episode is a testament to the power of chasingyour passions and embracing entrepreneurship. Get ready to bemotivated and inspired by Steven's journey of overcoming obstaclesand building a successful business from the ground up.
*Original ReleaseDate:December 26th, 2019*
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EpisodeTranscript
[00:00:00] Allright, so we are recording the second ever in a car, in a vehicle,in route podcast, Spontane podcast, with another, a second Amantefamily member. Elaine was the first one, now Steven, you arethe
second. Amante, yeah, thank you for havingme.
Always, always bro. So obviously like, usuallylike with these podcasts I always do like my own intro and stufflike that, so.
Introduce everything, but what I wanted to jumpinto as we are on our way to Aura. Which is located where?
In East Williamsburg. What's the address? 315Mesereau, Brooklyn, New York, 11206.
And that, for the folks listening, is a newrestaurant, a second establishment that Stephen is in the processof opening up.
And I wanted to have him on. To speak generallyabout like entrepreneurship and his whole experience [00:01:00] and how it's been with, with thisspecifically, you know, literally buying a second location andhaving to like build it up and construct it off from like thevisions that he has in the set for it. And, you know, everythingthat he has gone through from like interior design and having to,you know, just like everything A to Z, like having to getbartenders and chefs and managers and like, how, how does that, allthat should work?
You know what I mean? Like, plan it out or breakit down.
Well, I love the restaurant business. I've alwayssince a young kid, that was my first job. I love hospitality. Asyou know, I always like to host in my house and, you know, makepeople feel good. And I have a personality for that. I alwaysstarted from the bottom.
As a busboy, then moving on to a waiter, to ahead server, to bartending, to managing. So I went through all theroutes, you know, on the floor.
And you did that in Bruce's on the Bay, right? Iremember. I think that was like your first restaurant job in, inhigh, 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 didit 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 headserver everywhere I went with the highest sales.
And that's why I always got promoted quick and Ialways said I wanted one. So thankfully I was able to land a goodjob when in the local 46 union. I ain't working. I was able to bein different sites. One of the big biggest ones was the world tradecenter and I'm happy about that.
Every time I pass by and I was there five, sixfloors 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 renaissanceman, like somebody that's had like a thousand different jobs andI'm sure all of them, like you, you gain knowledge and experiencefrom each and every one of them that are, you probably still carrywith you to this day [00:03:00]and like, like everybody's lives, like sh*t that you go through,like informs like who you are, who you become and stuff likethat.
And I want to get into all that, but real quickbefore we get off from Bruce's on the bank didn't you see likeRobin De Niro or Al Pacino there?
Yeah, I served there, yeah. It was an Italianfunction. Yeah. And I was able to serve him. I was like Robert, canI 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 andthe other kids. It was good. Joe Pesci.
That's dope.
Yeah.
And that comes full circle with the, the latestmovie that we were talking about the other day, which we're goingto 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 worldtrade? Like that was another connection you had to like hospitalityand stuff? No, I just In terms of like working for the
iron workers? No, like you stated before, I'vehad like a thousand jobs. I've done literally everything. But tosum it all up, I just do it [00:04:00] for the money.
I just chase the money because I just I alwayswanted 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 dothat job. Even if I've never had no knowledge of it and I've neverdone 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 rightthere.
Yeah, I just I always went where the money wasmore. Construction, I don't even have a screwdriver in my houseright now. Like, I don't know anything about construction, but, youknow, they offered me. 40 an hour starting and I was like, f*ck it.I dropped my job at a Santa Fe steakhouse and also she, and I wentover there.
And,
and the reason why at least I think like specificto this, to this episode and like your purpose behind like chasingthe money and stuff like that was because you had, or what I'masking, was it because you had like this, um, like end goal of likeopening up your own spot?
Yeah. I had my vision and I knew I had to savemoney.
I know my parents weren't going to give it to me.You know, we, we faced a lot of hard hardship through our highschool years when my father had a [00:05:00] bodega in in uptown and it didreally bad. He lost everything. And I just, you know, we were justcoming from the bottom and I knew I wasn't going to get help frommy parents.
So I was just like always like saving money,saving money because I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Mydad's side of the family, everybody's an entrepreneur. Everybodyworks for themselves and that's exactly what I wanted.
And do you know, do you know why? Like the, thebodega When he had hard times, he had like some, like a partner orsome sh*t that screwed him?
No, no, he had a partner. The partner actuallysaw what was happening soon, so he was able to bail out and cashall his money in. But But was it
like just business going down? Yeah,
it was just that like when they were buying thebusiness, they were supposedly selling, you know, whatever it was aweek, 20, whatever it was.
But basically the guy that was selling it washaving his family go, you know, for three weeks straight when myfather was, you know, testing the register, see how the sales were.And, you know, the sales were great. Obviously when he's when theysold those, those customers weren't coming back. And it's just likeso the sales weren't there.
It's a lot of competition. I'm talking aboutlike, there's like four bodegas on each block in uptown. It's likelittle Dominican, little Dominican Republic up there, as everybodyknows in the Heights. And it's [00:06:00] just like, if one bodega has itfor platanos for eight per dollar, the other one throws it for nineper dollar.
And it gets ridiculous at a point where it's likea platinum. How do you make money off of that? So it was just acompetition thing. People would literally walk 3 or 4 blocks justto get something 50 cents cheaper.
That's insane. And yo, not for nothing, that's areally good and important point, I think, for folks to take in asfar as When you want to get into purchasing a business, cause Iknow just from like doing real estate and mortgages and stuff likethat, and, and I, I've worked for small businesses in the past aswell, like restaurants and you know, real estate offices, mortgageoffices.
And one thing that's different with purchasing abusiness versus that I, that I, the little that I know of it justfrom that side of it then purchasing a house is that you, like oneof the prerequisites is that that you get to like shadow the ownerof the establishment. You get like two to three years is like ruleof rule of thumb of their business income tax and their, and theirpersonal income [00:07:00] taxesas well to like, see how the business has done, you know, causethey could say, Oh yeah, this does a million a week.
And you, you know, obviously not just going totake somebody's word for it. Cause they're selling you something.They're going to paint the picture as pretty as possible. Youdefinitely
have to go by the court of sales by that. Youcan't, you can't lie about that.
Okay. Yeah.
So once you get that report and you see whatyou're paying a sales tax.
The cash you could always play around with hereand there, and there's like a rule of thumb for it. But quarterlytaxes is, you know, it's money that you're paying to the IRS, whichis like, nobody gives money to the IRS for no reason. True.
And but the point that, that I definitely want toget at is how, how that dude, like, to show your pops, Oh, look howgood the registers are doing.
And he had, you know, he, he like orchestratedf*cking three weeks worth of people just coming through, buyingsh*t, and he was probably just giving them back like the money atthe end of the day. And, you know, so your pops even, Diligence of,you know, shadowing the guy for three weeks and checking theregisters and sh*t like that.
You know what I mean, like people It's alwaysscams,
it's New York City. As soon as you land in the[00:08:00] airport, you getscammed. You know, I currently, I'm a Port Authority police officerat JFK and you gotta see these people that come to, you know, tothe, to the, To New York from like different countries never beenhere before and they'll jump on a cab and literally go from oneterminal to the next terminal and get robbed for 200 and they payit because they have no idea.
They're like, Oh, they always hear it. Oh, NewYork, very expensive. It's the highest, the biggest city of theworld. 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 TimesSquare where a regular yellow cab will charge you 68 bucks, butthey pay it because they don't know.
But then the next, when they do find out theycome the next day, they give the complaint to the police departmentand 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, youknow.
So yeah, so you had that vision from a young ageand you knew that if you were gonna establish something Yeah. Andeventually bring your vision into fruition, you had to grind and doit 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 alot that goes into it, to try to like, save this money.
Like, I've always told you like, I bought myfirst house in 2008. Just because I knew, if I would, I wascalculating how much money I was making a week, how much I wasmaking a month, and then yearly. I was like, and then I calculatedthe money that I was paying in rent, yearly. So I was like, wow, ifI'm spending 12, 000 to 15, 000 in rent every year, that's takenaway 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 ofhidden money that if you think about it, if you, if you, if youtake 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, Iwas, I'm not from Brooklyn, I'm from Queens, Richmond Hill.
But I was able to get it, 'cause it was a newconstruction house of four apartments and I knew with twoapartments I was gonna pay the mortgage. So not only was, was Inot. Paying rent, but I was also making money off my house. Sothere, 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 thecash rent.
Yeah, the savings plus like the assets of themoney actually coming
in. Correct. Correct. And also building equityafter 10 years. You know what I'm saying? It's
like a long term game. You know, the value isalways going to go up, historically speaking.
So that's actually a tremendous game. That'shonestly how I was able to, you know, I was always able to do it. Iwas always and then I have a restaurant, so I wasn't spending moneyin food. So the way people see my stuff, they see me with, with twohouses, two restaurants at 35 years old, but it's not, I've neversold any drugs in my life.
I've always, you know, I'm a military to a ironworker to a police officer. If nobody's ever given me anything,blue collar jobs, exactly. Everybody, I've paid my taxes everysingle year. Everybody knows it. It's just that I have these, youknow, these knickknacks where I could. And I, and I, and I justsee, and I, and I see what, what, what, where I could producemore.
And You could add like optimizing.
Correct. And that's how, that's how I was able tosave money. Once I had my house [00:11:00] in Brooklyn, I didn't want to getinto another house. I hate being the handyman of the house. So Ihad some extra money and I was able to buy a house with therestaurant with your cousin Elvis in in East New York.
We started off great and then, you know, so Ifound out a couple of things and then just the relationship wasn'tthere anymore. Everything happens for a reason. He was, he, hefaces the hard, he faced the hardship that he just needed to getout. He needed money quick and I took the opportunity and paid offhis half and I, I stood him with, with my business.
After that, the business just boomed. You know, Ihad a vision of, You know, what the restaurant is, you know, inthis age and the future, the guy Elvis was just, you know, he wasused to restaurants in the 70s and 80s and he thought it stillworked that way. So
Yeah, because I was going to ask you about thatspecifically because I know there was a Mm look when the, therestaurant wa was ade before and you took it over and it's nowknown as Gawa, located at a hundred Jamaica, Jamaica, JamaicaAvenue.
Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn. And it's a poppingspot 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 fromobviously 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, itwas like, like you know, it was a, it was a nice restaurant. It wascool. But like, like you said, it like definitely like blew up.Like after, after switching it to go and you kind of switch likethe 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 atthree o'clock, we start off with the happy hour and we open up thekitchen and I just basically run two businesses. I run therestaurant three to 12, and then I do the lounge part 12 to four. Imean, I'm paying rent, you know, for the 30 days, whatever time itdoesn't matter, you know, so I was basically producing four hoursmore a day where, you know, where my ex partner at Makuri didn'twant to do it.
So that's when I started seeing profit. And thenI just started renovating the place, making it more hip. Okay.[00:13:00] And
that's interesting. You see it that way. Like twobusinesses like running it as two businesses, like two separatebusinesses.
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 justfrom hearing that, like, just that hour wise, like from this timeto this time it's a restaurant and then from this time to thistime, it's a, a club. Correct.
That's pretty dope. So I was able to optimize inthat and
and it draws.
Sorry to cut you off, it draws like differentcrowds like for that reason like me personally like I'm not intoLike the clubbing scene DJs and and whatever But I'm more into likethe you know Fine dining experience that you do get from like theearly times when you know nice music in the background It'scrazy
The transition is crazy, like you could beliterally eating, formal dinner, nice music in the background.
I was there, I
was there for that. Literally, I literallyenvisioned it.
You go to the bathroom or go outside to smoke acigarette, you come back inside and you be like, what the f*ck justhappened? Everyone's like, mm, mm, mm. I'm talking about the sofasare away, you got stand up tables, the hookah's [00:14:00] going, the DJ's going, you got themoving heads going with the lights, and it's just like, what thehell 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'clockand they're the ones who set up the floor and they just transitioneverything.
That's dope, that's awesome. And
then we transition again at 4 in the morning toget 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 youseeing a vision for it that wasn't being implemented when it wasMacquarie. And you're saying, you know, I had this opportunity nowto 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, andmaybe it's not a good idea, maybe you should just focus on the copthing, cause I'm not sure if you were like already a cop at thatpoint.
Or not. I was
no, I had the restaurant first and then a yearinto it was when I got called from the Port [00:15:00] Authority and it's a job that youcan't refuse.
And I'm sure you had like a mix of like supportfrom people and, you know, people like being like cautiouslyoptimistic, which is like the camp I would put like myself in.
Like, but you followed through with the visionthat you had implemented it. And now that business flourished basedon the vision that you had. And to the point that you are now ableto 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 rightnow being built up and I'm going to see it for the first time. SoI'm definitely going to like take some pictures and stuff likethat. And we're going to speak about it more when we're actually atthe location. So if folks want to put some visuals together with,with this audio.
Okay. Check it out at Sponsoreday. com forwardslash podcast forward slash 142, which I think this will be episode142 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 isthis? On Cypress Avenue. Cypress Avenue in Hanco*ck.
And one of Steven's waitresses from, from Galoajust walked by.
You gotta respect the hustle. So we left there at515 this morning. Like, in this business, it's good. You know, youflourish a lot, you know, if you do it the right way. But it is alot of sacrifice, a lot of you know, sleeping, a lot of time awayfrom 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 themorning, and I just see her coming out of bodega, you know, withfood, with a bag full of food, you know what I'm saying? So she'sgonna go cook now for her family. Meanwhile, she has to come backto work late in a couple of hours.
That, that's, that's insane. And not just, notjust Lazo from the employees, But I just want to highlight the factthat, like, Steve is running this business, opening up the secondbusiness. 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'msure like, you walk into McDonald's right now, you're not gonna seethe owner, and he probably has like five of them, and these things[00:17:00] make millions ofdollars a year. So that's my mentality. One of, one of the thingsthat, that most pushes me, dude, is my mom.
With my last restaurant, you know, it was a lotof time away from the family. I was, it was, I was a first timeentrepreneur. You know, I let things go to my head. I wasdedicating more time to, to, to the restaurant and to my actualfamily at home, you know, and I did things I shouldn't have and itcost me my first marriage.
You know, that's a failure. I gotta, I gotta suckit up and take it. But one of the thing that biggest pushes me ismy mom. When I first, when I got divorced, my mom was like, Steven,you know, get the f*ck out that bed. You know what I'm saying?Don't be depressed. Don't do this or whatever. I know you betterthan this.
And listen, your ex and her family, they justwant to see you fail, they want to see you lose your business, theywant to see you lose your house, they want to see the worst in you.f*ckin I'm sick, I have diabetes, but you know, if I ever leavethis 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 sh*t motivates methe f*ck out of me every single day. And, you know, that's why I dowhat I do. So I [00:18:00] go tosleep a couple of hours. But I have people that I put in play towork for me, that manage for me. Like, I have my brother in oneplace.
I got my sister, Elaine, which helps me outtremendously. I got my compadre radi that also runs on my hookahand my liquor, you know, so I put, if you put people in play in allthe businesses, you don't have to be there because honestly, ifyou're, if you're in a business that you have, you actually have towork, 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. Ifyou have to like be, be at a, at a spot 24 seven.
Exactly. I mean, you know, I'm always, I'm notconstantly looking at the cameras. I'm not going to live a lifewhere I'm But then, you know, the numbers are good.
It's exactly what I expect. So obviously my teamis doing what they gotta do. And I know, you know, by thatoperation, all you gotta do is set a good team, a good operation,and you could open up 3, more. I'm actually looking at anotherlocation right now. We're negotiating a lease. Over here also inBushwick, in Broadway.
I think I'm going to sign that and start thatproject in June. No, that was a surprise for you.
Damn! Yeah. That would be like anotherrestaurant?
Yeah, the reason is that Kyle, I have two moreyears [00:19:00] left in my leaseand the landlord, I haven't seen the landlord in three years. Idon't know if he's dead or what the hell happened.
You serious? Yeah, but his wife actually has aproperty. She runs it, so I pay her the rent, but she has no sayin, you know, on the lease or if they're renewing the lease orwhatever. So God was a very good business, I don't know what'sgonna happen, but I can't just like wait till the day before mylease to hand in the keys and not have no business.
So that's why I'm setting this up now, because Iwant to keep it out as a very formal dining, you know,sophisticated Destination place, but I also want to have the samelike out a crowd. I mean cow a crowd where it's just you know Goodfood, and then it's in the transition into the the nightlife, andyou know with the whole hook and the music Yeah, so yeah, Idefinitely I'm not winning.
I don't want to lose that right now, and I'm notthese guarantees So that's why I'm gonna start this new project inJune God willing
that's open that actually leads me to something Iwanted to ask you about Like you have that vision. That's alreadysomething that you're thinking about. That's two years out.
And I always remember something that stayed withme from you that I learned from you growing up is something evenfrom, 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 wasthat 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 planningout 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 oryour gadgets or your, you know what I'm saying, everythingready.
And this is actually what I'm doing. You know, ittakes time to open up a business. I've been here for eight monthsnow on this construction site. And, you know, I come here everyday. If I wouldn't have come here every day, I would have took likea year. You know, cause guys, you know, doodly dally and f*ckaround 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 theorchestra, you know, all day. And
is that something that you learned also fromdoing construction? Correct. Yeah. But it's true, that's like,that's like the work contractors and construction workers are knownfor, 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 thenwhen you get out of the way, it's like 15, 20, 25 days that ittakes.
Exactly. But I got a good team here. I got[00:21:00] two teams here. One isexcellent, the other one I gotta keep watching. But I'm actually onmy way here now to drop off some furniture. We're getting ready tohopefully open up to 26 right after Christmas. And so time is moneyright now. It's every day is just long hours now for these nexteight days of construction.
Cause we're missing on Christmas Eve andChristmas day next week. And I just got to make this happen.
And I think that, that's one that large amountsfor, 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'vebeen, so you signed the lease for this place 8 months ago.
So you've had the place for 8 months, you'repaying like, right? No,
I signed the lease in January, February. But Ididn'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 geta good contractor.
You know, with all his licensing. And I was ableto get it. So you had to like
try out different contractors?
No, no. I had one, I had one contractor that Iwas definitely working with, but he doesn't have all [00:22:00] his licensing. And this is a DOBjob where the plumbing has to be signed off, electric and all thatstuff.
So you have to get one of those. Yeah, so I hadto get one of those. That took some time. It took like 30 days andit actually cost me now a whole month of rent. But, you know, it iswhat it is. You learn from it. And where was I? Oh yeah, so westarted in June, so since June here, it's been like 7 monthsalready.
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 January1st now. Definitely.
So, so what like ups and downs have youexperienced, like, because this is a little different from when youopened up Gawa. 'cause Gawa was already did Elvis have it, have italready or No?
No, no. Boom. But, but it was an operatingrestaurant. You guys took it over it?
No, it was already closed down. It, that corner'sbeen there for, since like the seventies. But when we got it, itwas already closed down. The guy had, the guy before us had toclose it down. I don't know what he did. I think he, he startedputting domino tables in the restaurant and just made it like ash*t 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 andit was [00:23:00] starting fromthe beginning exactly what I'm doing here in outer. I feel kind ofconfident because I did it once already over there. I feel I coulddo it again here. I hired an excellent PR person.
We're actually going to be in good day America onthe fifth, right before three Kings. We have a session forTelemundo. At the end of January, and we have NBC, I believe, onthe 8th of January. Wow, that's dope.
How does that work?
Oh, no, you got a PR, public relations, and hehas connections with all these networks, you know, you pay him afee.
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 getrecognition, we were featured in the Bushwick Daily already. Weplan on the grand opening to have the hold a press conference withthe Times and the Post.
So we're
doing everything the right way. And a sponsoredpodcast, of course.
Of course. We got a, we got a great manager. Shejust came off a, a one star Michelin restaurant. She's great greatresume, great personality I feel we're gonna do really good by her.Basically, I have all my puppets in play, like, how are yousupposed 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 thatpeople come here. You know, something could be beautiful on fifthAvenue, but if, you know, the service is not there, the charisma isnot there, you know, you don't have anything. So,
yeah. And by that, I don't want people tomisconstrue 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, beingthe conductor of an orchestra, like, You guys go, you guys do this,now you're on, your turn, you know? Yeah. Like the perfect piecesin place that you know that you have the confidence in certainpeople 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 ina 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 likemicromanage.
Yeah, I don't like to micromanage. I don't liketo talk behind anybody's back. Or, or scold somebody in front ofanother coworker. Like, I'm very professional with that because it,I think about it this way. I'm hardly ever there. If, if they hateme, they're gonna like f*cking rob me when I'm not [00:25:00] there. So I'd rather, I build likethis friendship, like this family.
And it just like, it hurts them, like, if theytry to do something like that to me. I've had the same staff foryears and, you know, they work great. I love them. I shout out tomy, 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 Iused to work in my first job in high school. When I was 16, it wasa restaurant. And then I worked in two ever. I went from that oneto another one in Mineola and which we actually used to cut, cutto, and,
Go
play ping pong and pool and sh*t in thebasem*nt.
Shout out to Labs, but there was a starkdifference between the owner of it and the manager of it. Themanager, which I'm still friends with to this day that went on toopen 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 tothe office and, you know, speak to them, you know, calm, cool,collected and, you know, teach, teach them like how to do somethingright that he thought that they were doing wrong.
And whereas literally the owner, like he wouldliterally like in front of customers, like somebody was holding aplate in their left hand, they should have been holding it like inthe right hand, whatever. Like he would yell at them, put them onthe spot. Make nervous in front of the customer like no, no, youdid that wrong.
Come back. Come back over here Like grab him bythe shoulder. Look look pick it pick that up that goes on that sideYou know, he was he was like he's like an old school likePortuguese, dude They you know kind of like rough around the edgeskind of yeah, but he didn't have like that type of important to melike leadership skill of You know You have to look beyond a mistakeand if you want them to not if you want an employee Not to committhat mistake again, you know, putting them on the spot and puttingthem on blast and make them feel like sh*t is not the way toachieve that.
Definitely. That's definitely old school. Thatwas 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 haveyour dream, like, my best friend Tony has always wanted to open alaundromat, like, Jesus one day got to do it.
If you fail, you fail, but the worst thing tolive with is, is, was regret. Like, I, I love what, I, I standbehind 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 inGod. I, I do, I do the right thing. I just know that whatever I putmy hands into, it's gonna, it's gonna be good and it has foreverything else in the past.
So I just feel like it's gonna be good here. Andif you have a strong passion for something, you know, start savingyour money, get good credit, take a lot, take a take a load out andjust follow your dreams. But you don't want to like be 70, 80 andbe 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 issomething that has motivated me more towards like the wholelaundromat idea and like dream, like you said, that, that I've hadfor, for some time. And like I wanted to do but was like gun shyand hesitant [00:28:00] about andyou know, I've went from like the restaurant jobs and stuff to, tonow 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, youknow 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 putmyself in a position where, you know, I'm, I'm like.
Selling every single thing I own or whatever toaccomplish 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 industrywith 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 forlike a whole year if like nobody comes into my restaurant, I'mprepared to pay a whole year of rent that way I don't lose myplace. A lot of people fill in the restaurants because they puteverything they have into it.[00:29:00]
Business is bad a couple months and you go rightin 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 backfrom that, you know? So you got to be prepared to have that rentbecause it's going to take time, you know, and I ain't got whattook me two years to start seeing money and, and I'm.
Made all my money back and was able to invest inmore 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 aregoing to be that bad, and the pool's going to be that bad, thennobody's going to enter. But, again, I have that military mentalitywhere, like, I'm preparing for the worst.
Correct. So, as long as you do that, you have abackup plan I think you'll be fine.
That's dope, man. And we are pulling up right nowon the outside of it. It looks dope from the outside. Can't wait totake 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'regoing to hear some navigation in the background, but please don'tmind 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 histhis 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, theaesthetics is what I've always wanted. More formal dining, youknow, more like to celebrate birthdays, romantic dinners,anniversaries, stuff like that.
And it's something I know definitely that it hasalways 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 werejust getting into a story about the name I cut you off, so you canrepeat 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 TheBreeze.
It's it's an industrial it was an old pillowfactory. And now it became like a warehouse for businesses. So it'sall corporate offices. You have Ethos Club. You have you have amarketing agency. You have people that make skate ramps. It'spretty cool. So it's all commercial. And then there's a retaillevel that's attached to it.
There's a corridor called the Breezeway that youhave to go through to come to my place. [00:31:00] And so the whole thing is calledthe Breeze, the whole complex. And I initially wanted to do a Latinrestaurant. So I googled the Breeze in Latin and Aura came out. A UR A. Aura. I like the name also because it reminds me of mygrandmother, 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 youportray? Like people were like, my aura is more like, likepersonality and Steven's always in a good time. And Steven alwayswants to turn up and you know, make everyone happy. So I love, youknow, I love people's aura.
I love that name, I love the meaning behind thatname. So that's how Aura came about. And then we named it Cochinaand Bar. Which means Kitchen and Bar.
That's so sick. And the you're gonna, you'regonna, Like the type of cuisine that you picked was Cuban,Asian?
Yes. Basically they, a lot of people wanted thisspace.
Cause it's gonna be the feature restaurant forthe whole complex. And they just wanted to go with the moves, withthe person that would move it. more innovative. It's a very hipneighborhood. A lot of hippies a lot of hipsters, freelancers,[00:32:00] and they wantsomething innovative. They want something new.
They don't want your typical Mexican restaurantor Dominican restaurant or anything, you know, regular. So I waslike, you know what? My favorite Spanish food is Cuban andeverything. I love Chinese food. I can eat Chinese food every dayof 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 verypopular, 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, MarkAnthony's personal chef the official chef of Edgewater, New Jersey.He's awesome. He teamed up with another Asian chef from L. A., whowas featured on a two page article in the L. A. Times. So theycombined the menu.
It's amazing. I just got the menu. I haven'ttasted it yet. We have the tasting next week sometime. But it'sjust like all the ingredients and everything that you need. It'samazing. Can't wait to try it and I can't wait for you guys to tryit.
So how does that work? So, so these likecelebrity chefs and stuff like that, they, they like put together amenu, [00:33:00] like you said,and the flavors and like how to cook it type of thing, or how tocook certain dishes.
And then like the, the chef on like whatever chefyou have like working there, they get like taught those, like howto cook, execute those dishes.
Well, yes, well, obviously they went to chefschool and the good thing about Ricardo Cardona is that he. He'sliterally gone like everywhere in the, in the, in the world becausehe likes it.
He wants to cook Mexican food. He'll go to Mexicoand learn the authentic way of making it. Same thing with likeArgentina and Spain. He's been to Asia. He's been to Thailand. Likehe'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 haslike a special feel to all these, to all these cuisines, you know,it's not, for example, Mexican food, it's just not putting salsaand chips and guacamole in a plate, you know, there's a lot thatgoes, that goes into it.
So it's the same thing with.
That's dope. I just didn't know that it workedthat way. I thought it was like, let's say Ricardo Cajona orwhatever. I thought, like, he was physically, like, in the kitchenmaking it. You know what I mean? But, it's like, it's like adifferent level of, like, that whole chef world.[00:34:00]
Yes.
Yes, yes. That's exactly how it is. And he's veryexpensive 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'swhat builds a place, you know, it
must be like a lot of like cloud, like attachedto 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'slike like all of the like heavy lifting is out of the way. It'slike, now it's like more like decorations and aesthetics and stufflike that being done. And it already, I've never been to Cuba.
You went a couple of times. I should have gonewhen you told me to go with you. And I didn't probably for A reasonthat I don't even remember. So it obviously wasn't a good reasonprobably like, oh no, I gotta work. Or like, some dumb sh*t. Butit, 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 visualizelike those elements like coming together, those, especiallylike
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 basicallytransform yourself from like 2019 to like the 1950s. It's a wholetransformation with everything, with the people, with the decor,what car you get in, what restaurant you go to. So it's like beingtrapped in a different era,
you know, it's like time traveling.
Yeah,
exactly.
That's awesome. All right. And the, I took somevideo for, for folks that want to check it out, some videos, somepictures and stuff. And you guys can check it out where I mentionedbefore 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 shippingcompany 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 madlong ago, I was like, what the f*ck are you talking about?
It's literally, it was like in the middle of likethe [00:36:00] whole Macquarietransition and stuff like that. You're like, Oh, I'm going to openup 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 theright people in play, there's no reason why you can't do it.
So, like, a business like that made Mahino thatyou're obviously not involved, like, day to day, you just, like,collect your, your, like, money from it. Yeah, that's it. When thetime comes. Yeah. Nice. But you, like, established it, you startedit.
Yeah, it's called the Dominicana Cargo Express.I'm actually very good now with the next president elect. We've meta couple times. I'm helping run his campaign here in New York. I'mthe secretary of Mil Amigos Abinadel. He's like 90 percent of thetolls that he's gonna win the election, so
In DR?
Yeah.
What's his name?
Luis Abinadel. Nice. Yeah. He's a disciple toPeña Gomez. Gotcha.
And for folks that don't know, like, like, it'slike 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, herpops 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 andstuff like clothes, food, like stuff like that to the relativesthat you have over there. So it's
pretty dope. Yeah man, it's cool. And dudehonestly my dream is, like I want to be a restauranteur.
This is like my, the one I'm opening now is likemy dream restaurant. If that pops off, I really literally want todo like, I want to keep the same, I want to branch out franchiseout Aura, but like, I want to like, I'm going to change the nameand like in the aesthetic of whatever culinary I decide.
Like, let's say, for example, I want to do aMexican restaurant, I'd probably name it Aura Cantina and AgaveBar, you know, something like that along those lines.
So like the tagline to it would be like morespecific to correct of what culinary it is. Gotcha. Yeah. But youstill maintain like the outer, the staple of it.
I just I have 11 years left in the port authorityto retire, like 10 and a half. [00:38:00] It's a good job, but I honestly, Ilove 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 notlike I'm dragging my feet and like, f*ck, I got to wake up and dothis.
Like I love getting up and coming over here andseeing what's going on. I like the, like the motion. I like theenergy. I like the, the, the busy and, and the craziness that goesbehind, 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 passthat.
Which
is important to like, love what you do, right? Ofcourse it is. It doesn't feel like you're working.
If people loved work, you know, they would befree, you know?
Yeah, exactly. That's why a lot, that's advicethat a lot of people give people that I follow and listen to. Whichis, 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 thatdown to my kids, you know. I want it to be like a Peter Luger'sthat, you know, it just goes down from generation to generation.Honestly, the way college is going now, I feel like people are justgoing to keep dropping out, [00:39:00] dropping out because, honestly,these guys, like, you go, you go out there, it's expensive, youspend four years and you can't even get a job getting out, youknow, and everything's so competitive and all this computers, youknow, it's eliminating so many jobs.
I honestly feel like social media is like, it'skilling 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 tothat extent and, you know, like, either with, like podcasting andwriting and, like, my personal goals, like, in that field, andpeople 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 arealternatives, there are different lanes that if you're willing tolike put in the work for it, you can like follow and pursue. Likethey're like unorthodox, like different things. You know, it's notjust like go to high school, go to college, do four years, get amaster's and then get this job.
And then work at this job until you're 65, thenretire and collect social security and then die. Like [00:40:00] it's not just that path alone. Youknow, there's an unlimited amount of different paths that peoplecan go from investing in, in businesses. And I think that'simportant for our generation, which is like in the middle of itnow, and for future generations to factor in and put into play.
That's a fact. But yeah, bro. Thank you very muchfor doing the episode. I appreciate it. Anytime. I know folks aregoing to get a lot from it. And anything else? Remind folks againwhere Caoba is, where Outta is.
Yeah, Caoba is located in East New York, 100Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. Outta is in EastWilliamsburg.
That's on 315 Mesero Street. Estamos ahi a laorden We're there to serve you. I hope you guys come. Try out theamazing food. And the ambiance. And the The The The shift into thenightlife it's, you could get a little bit of everything. You gofor dinner, then casual drinks, then end up dancing, you know, thenight away with your wife or significant other, whoever, but it'sdefinitely 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 andAura underscore bistro. Aura is Aura Cochina.
Nice. All right, folks, I'm out.
Bye.
