Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Rigo Espinoza on 45-Year Family Legacy, Baja-Asian Fusion, and Adapting to Customer Demand

Transcript

Rigo Espinoza on 45-Year Family Legacy, Baja-Asian Fusion, and Adapting to Customer Demand · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. As you listen today, let one
0:16
idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:20
today's guest is Rigo Espinoza, founder and visionary behind Raw
0:25
Kitchen and Cantina, a modern food restaurant he launched in
0:28
2021. They bring the vibrant flavors
0:32
of Baja California together with fresh Asian touches, serving
0:36
everything from citrus sharp agua Chiles to creative sushi
0:41
style tacos, all paired with craft cocktails and a laid back
0:46
cantina vibe. Within its first year, they earn
0:50
glowing customer reviews, repeat features in local press like
0:53
Voyage LA, and a loyal following that lines up every weekend.
0:58
Rigo is a Mexican American restaurateur with more than 12
1:02
years in hospitality. He sharpened his skills at the
1:05
respected Culinary Art School Mexico and grew up in a family
1:09
that has run eateries for over 45 years.
1:12
His story makes his heritage hard work and fearless
1:15
creativity. Now, before we get into all that
1:18
good stuff, today's episode is brought to you by my company,
1:20
Add Back Benefits Agency. Listen, if you run a business,
1:24
you're likely stuck in the cycle of rising insurance premiums.
1:27
You're paying more, but your team is getting less, and many
1:30
people can't afford coverage at all.
1:32
We do things differently. We offer a solution that
1:35
provides your restaurant employees with unlimited access
1:38
to doctors, therapists and prescriptions.
1:41
That's always free for them to use.
1:43
But here's where you really need to pay attention.
1:45
Unlike every other employee benefit out there, our program
1:49
puts more money into your company's bank account.
1:53
As an example, we recently helped a client increase net
1:55
profits by $900 per employee per year.
1:59
Results vary, but the consultation is free.
2:02
See if you qualify today at AD back benefits.com.
2:04
All right, back to our guest today, the chef and owner of Raw
2:08
Kitchen and Cantina, Rigo Espinoza.
2:11
Thanks for making the time to be here.
2:14
Anthony, thank you so much for your time for the audience as as
2:17
well. Really appreciate that.
2:19
I've been very excited to be on your show today on your podcast
2:22
and can't wait how this is going to get developed.
2:25
All right, let's jump in. So we mentioned your proud
2:28
family heritage over 4 decades in the industry.
2:31
What were some of those early memories like of growing up in
2:34
the restaurant space? Definitely.
2:37
Well, I believe since I was a young kid, probably 7 to 8
2:40
years, that's when I started seeing the whole family.
2:42
I working in the food industry. They started as a little Taco
2:46
shop. But a funny thing is if I go 45
2:49
years or plus and I kind of remember the stories that I
2:52
would, I would, I would get told by the family members is that my
2:56
grandfather is the one that will come from Baja California and a
3:00
little bicycle motorcycle. And they'll bring whatever catch
3:04
they had back in the days. And this is 19, seventies, 76
3:08
around. And he'll bring the catch, the
3:11
fish taken out of the ocean in BA, California and Sanada to be
3:14
exact. He'll come over to La Puente, CA
3:18
and that's where he would just put his bike a little cart and
3:21
start cooking fish tacos. That's how everything started.
3:25
Eventually my both of my grandparents died, but they
3:28
continued the legacy from there. My sister started with her own
3:32
branding as well in 1998 and that's where I started working
3:36
for her when I was already 12 years old.
3:39
I remember I was the buzzer and just think of the customers,
3:43
right? And just whenever I get a dollar
3:46
for tips cuz they'll see me so young cleaning tables, I'll get
3:49
super excited. Just that's I believe that when
3:52
my family saw the pageant that I had before being in the customer
3:55
service field. So were you always in the
3:59
restaurant space then, or did you leave the family business
4:02
and come back at some point? I I did left on good.
4:05
Good thing you asked Anthony. During my teenage years, I
4:10
didn't know what to do. I would like, I don't want to
4:12
continue with this type of industry or business.
4:15
So I went off on my own and started doing the insurance.
4:20
I was in customer service. I didn't feel I was aggressive
4:22
on sales. So I started, I started as
4:24
customer service. I loved it.
4:26
I went to those cells as well. Then I opened up my own
4:30
insurance brokerage with a couple of friends.
4:34
That didn't last long and it was probably like less than a year
4:37
that when my sister fooled me again.
4:40
They're like, why don't we open a restaurant and you manage it?
4:43
This is in 2009 in the city of Riverside, CA.
4:47
And ever since I was like, alright, let's let's, let's try
4:50
it, let's do it. And so, yeah, I went back into
4:54
the restaurants in 2009 again, but now with a more of a, of a
5:00
role now management there. That's when I went back to
5:04
college as well. I felt there was a need in the
5:07
industry or in our restaurant chain by the, by the time they
5:12
were five, only 5 restaurants. And I wanted to ensure that
5:15
we're not following the traditional mom and pops balls
5:20
that we tend to have when we open up businesses.
5:23
And I went for business administration, accounting, HR
5:27
so I could be able to make it a corporation and not only a
5:31
restaurant where we could just feed the family.
5:34
And the family chain 5 locations is this La Bufadora Baja?
5:39
You got it right, La Bufada Baja girl, that was established in
5:42
1998 and the city of El Monte. I remember that's when I started
5:46
cleaning the tables. And it's still around, still 5
5:49
locations. Still around.
5:52
It's actually more than 5 now, thankfully.
5:54
It's a successful company. We have 13 locations all
5:57
combined. I'm part owner of one of them as
5:59
well. The one that we opened, it needs
6:01
2009. That's the one that I Co
6:04
partnered with them. And yeah, as 13 is growing,
6:08
they're gonna be opening another location in Manifee in the
6:11
following months already. So still thriving is still
6:14
really, really successful and the corporate field
6:17
administration now and not only a a restaurant from there, what
6:21
what, what we do, we distribute the food to all the locations.
6:24
So the same consistency. And I believe we got that from
6:28
partners like or not partners, but the big companies like in
6:32
and out McDonald's that they had their own food, food commissary
6:37
to continue the the consistency on the quality.
6:41
So the a lot of the food is prepped at a central location,
6:44
it's easier to do there. You don't need kitchens as big
6:48
at each of your locations too. And then you can distribute to
6:50
each of the locations. It's easier, more efficient, and
6:54
like you said, the the quality is more consistent.
6:56
Is that right? All of that, but not limiting
6:58
too as well that we don't need a lot of experts at the
7:03
restaurants anymore. So we could work with, we could
7:06
provide employment to to younger kids 1617 years old.
7:10
They, they know how to, how to do all the food now because the
7:14
season is already there. So you don't have to depend on a
7:17
chef. And if that chef quits or gets
7:19
injured, gets you know is is out for a couple of weeks or more,
7:24
your operations will not be heard because you already had
7:27
the recipe. No, it makes a lot of sense.
7:31
So you're still involved with the family business, but several
7:34
years ago you had an idea to do something on your own.
7:37
Rock Kitchen and Cantina. What was the inspiration here?
7:40
Oh, I got the goosebumps when you said, like you took me back
7:42
to 20/20/2020 actually during the pandemic, definitely.
7:47
So a little bit about that. I don't know how much time we
7:50
have to be able to just talk a little bit on it, but it's, it
7:53
was a great journey. After opening 12 locations with
8:00
Buffalo Baja Grill, I wanted to create something different.
8:03
And I mean, I'm, I was the head of kind of leading the, the
8:07
whole team opening restaurants here and there.
8:10
And there was a year that we opened up 3 restaurants.
8:12
So it was a lot of work. And my responsibility was maybe
8:17
the location, the whole aspect of the build that or the tenant
8:22
improvements from there. Be there for three months, train
8:25
everybody to ensure that they go through everything they have to
8:28
know. Once it's all set with
8:29
management and the whole staff, I'll take off.
8:33
My idea was like, I'm not learning something new.
8:36
And I'm always a guy that either I even go to school or
8:40
throughout the whole year, or I start doing something new.
8:46
And I feel like I was not getting that well.
8:47
Like I'm just doing a copy, copy and paste, copy and paste with
8:50
the restaurants and there was a location I wanted to be in
8:54
downtown Riverside. Are you familiar with the area?
8:56
I'm not. No, it's in downtown is in
8:59
downtown Riverside. There's a lot of restaurants,
9:02
sports, a lot of Mexican restaurants as well clubs and
9:05
for you have the City Hall and everything else great location.
9:09
I would be wanted to be there. We have currently we have three
9:11
locations in Riverside included the port commissary and this
9:15
place got was available. But when I talked to them, I
9:19
knew them. It was a ladder for another
9:21
company, another restaurant that we have in the Riverside as
9:24
well. And like Rigo I, I like you
9:26
guys. You guys are great tenants, but
9:29
Riverside, it's already too populated or there's a lot of
9:33
Mexican restaurants now. We want a variety.
9:36
We want a mix of different things.
9:38
I was like, wait a minute, we have a new concept.
9:42
I didn't have anything. I was like, I just didn't want
9:44
it to get turn around. But like Rigo, you know what, we
9:48
didn't gotta work with you guys. And he was like, alright, I
9:51
can't wait for the for the concept to see what type of, of
9:54
business is it. I was like, it's a bar.
9:56
It's gonna be mainly seafood featuring Ensenada chefs and the
10:01
cuisine and the Baja 1. You just made it up on the spot.
10:04
I just made it up on the spot, right?
10:05
I mean, I feel pretty confident trying to be all natural that I
10:08
can. I was like, I don't like to give
10:10
a no as an answer or get a no as an answer if I don't try.
10:14
And he's like, alright, I can't wait to see that.
10:16
Send me the menu. I was like, shoot a menu.
10:18
I can't do that within two hours, right?
10:21
I remember I drove to one of the locations to work in the office
10:25
and I got my marketing guy a shout out to Joaquin Gallegos.
10:30
Great guy. He's the one in design for
10:32
Bufalora and this new location that we have.
10:37
I started getting some pictures on Pinterest.
10:40
There was no Shout GBT back then yet.
10:42
I started getting some ideas, some Awachilis in there, some
10:45
towers and some of the the stuff that I had done with Bufura as
10:49
well saying we do definitely have about 40% seafood and, and
10:55
we we came out, I sent them the everything that I had.
10:58
I was like, can you make this happen right now?
11:00
This is the opportunity for us to go in.
11:02
Those are like two other locations that one that that
11:04
place or that location and we came up with it 24 hours after
11:10
we had the menu to show send that event.
11:13
One day later, you came up with the con.
11:15
Well, you came up with the concept on the spot and within
11:17
one day you sent him the menu. And same day I sent the menu.
11:21
The next day I had a business plan.
11:24
Oh my gosh, same day you sent the menu?
11:27
Yes, I was like, here you go. Sorry for the delay.
11:29
I got a little busy, you know, trying to make something up.
11:31
So like I said, I don't want to take a get a no from from from
11:35
from this landlord. And they're like, you know what
11:38
impressive. I like it.
11:40
I I'll get back to you because I got to, still got to reach out
11:42
to, to the other businesses that want that location.
11:46
Yeah, at the end, we, we're not accepted.
11:49
So like all this work, imagine how you feel.
11:52
All this work that we did, I got Joaquin, my, our marketing
11:56
manager working on it till like four or five in the morning that
12:00
same night. And we get denied.
12:02
They're like, you know what, we're going to go with the
12:04
brewery. I, I understand, but like, but
12:07
call me out. Let's stay in contact all right
12:09
perfect. I like had the idea already I
12:12
have the the the menu we can make it happen out of the team
12:16
at the point and I present it over to the family members and I
12:21
I called him you know like a week or two weeks after and I
12:24
was like all right. So Remember Remember about the
12:26
location that we were looking to go in is not gonna happen, but
12:30
we already have everything. So I wanna make sure that if you
12:32
guys are in with me to look for a location, I, we could put this
12:37
restaurant concept anywhere where there's, there's a
12:40
downtown prime location and people will look for that, for
12:43
that experience. So what we when, when we did
12:47
that meeting, a few of them, they were all in, a few of them
12:51
were not, They were like, you know what, I like the concerts.
12:54
I like everything you have, but you do it on your own.
12:57
It's your time for you to shine. It's for your time to create
13:01
something that you've been wanting to.
13:02
I've seen the product that you've done with Buffalo Baja
13:05
Grill. Now you could do it and we're
13:07
gonna be behind it supporting it.
13:09
And I was like, alright, let's, I'm gonna go for it, right?
13:13
So it took me like 3 weeks, almost a month to be scattered
13:16
locations all the way from Temecula, CA, Rancho on
13:20
Cucamonga, Ontario, Riverside and everywhere.
13:24
But it did not, it was not working till I find the location
13:28
in Rancho Cucamonga. I thought it was a great one
13:30
because it's a jewel of the Inland Empire.
13:32
We're in a prime location. He had everything just for us to
13:35
go in. And sorry, sorry for
13:38
interrupting Riga. What was the the timeline?
13:40
Now I want to know where we were in comparison to COVID.
13:43
Absolutely. So this is in 2021 already when
13:48
we put everything to work. By September, I was handshaking
13:53
the deal with the, with the landlord in Rancho Cucamonga.
13:59
So yes, September 2021 that we, we came in, we had so many
14:03
things going on as well with Buffalo Baja Grill.
14:05
I was training to management. We're opening another two
14:08
locations at the same time. So I couldn't get hands on with
14:11
this location. So I let it sit for a few like a
14:13
month or so. And three months after we had
14:16
our new cons at our location. I call it my baby because I
14:21
feels that that way, right? So you were having this idea and
14:26
you were chasing it down all, you know, while COVID is still
14:29
very much going on and California had, you know, some
14:32
pretty strict restrictions in terms of, you know, number of
14:37
people and masking and all that. How, how challenging was that at
14:42
the time that you opened? It was very concerning because
14:45
we didn't know what was going to happen.
14:47
And my thing was during the pandemic, I know that people
14:50
were drinking a lot more because of the stress that was causing.
14:54
And also that we needed a patio to be able to do all fresco like
14:57
they did. I would like if we go through
14:59
another shutdown, I need to have a patio so I could put tarps and
15:02
everything that we do with the other locations and doing the
15:05
protocols and monthly meetings with the staff.
15:08
So it was concerning. Well, like there's
15:10
opportunities. We don't take this opportunity
15:12
right now. It ain't gonna come.
15:14
And we always take risk. And that's the only way to to be
15:18
able to make it into your or putting the dream that you have
15:22
or the ideas into something that people could see.
15:25
Yeah, so tell me about the customer experience.
15:28
What's the menu? What's the decor?
15:31
What's it like when I walk in the door?
15:33
Absolutely. So 2022 we opened up the
15:36
location. It's it was in February 4th of
15:38
2022 and we named it Rawd Kitchen and Cantina.
15:43
Rawd Kitchen and Cantina has offered for four years now.
15:47
Oh yeah, going to four has offered the Baja cuisine, which
15:53
is gonna be a full bar now. So we have 14, about 14
15:56
cocktails that are signature cocktails.
16:00
And you come in there, survive and you see more of a beach, a
16:04
beach style restaurant. Even the decoration what I did
16:08
with the restaurant and make it seem like a boat.
16:12
So once you come in, you see all the sea life and see, just
16:18
checking out the, the logo that I have or the branding, it's a,
16:22
it's a, it's a, a raw fish bone. That's when you see it inside
16:31
close to it, because I do have that fishing with Japanese
16:33
cuisine as well. I mean, it would take it back to
16:36
Ensenada and its foods. We were we were a lot of
16:40
Japanese came over as well Asian like China took over Ensenada in
16:47
Baja California. So we have that fusion with
16:50
them. We have a lot of the rice.
16:51
We have Chinese food, which was one of the best ones of course
16:54
after China and we have that fusion and that what we try to
16:59
give to the customer care. I was a good vibe.
17:02
I was a bad great customer service.
17:04
Give them, give them a journey of Baja California, the
17:08
gastronomy and of course the, the wines, the wine route we
17:13
have over so far within the last three years, we have featured 5
17:19
different wine makers from Baja California and about 10 wine
17:25
pairings that we've done. And there's another one coming
17:28
up in February actually, that we're featuring now, Sonora Qua
17:34
Willa and Ensenada as in in Armenia and featuring their own
17:40
wine. So there's always something
17:41
happening. We have music happening on
17:44
Fridays, Friday nights, always a good one.
17:46
We do karaoke after, after album, like after 8:00 or 9:00,
17:50
we do karaoke. And sometimes they start, you
17:53
know, dancing here and there. It's there's a good vibe, a lot
17:58
of memories the the community. I was telling me, Ringo, there's
18:01
always something good to remember and something that we
18:03
want to forget. So is this combination of raw
18:10
fish and Mexican cuisine unusual, or are there other
18:16
folks that have done this before with success?
18:19
I, I don't see another company that does it this way.
18:23
That is from Bob California and he's doing the, the raw fish
18:26
like salmon and tuna. I just wanted to create
18:30
something different. It was easier for for for me to
18:34
buy a franchise that's it's already it's already as a
18:37
staple. We know for sure we're going to
18:39
get at least 20% of the customers that we want because
18:42
of their labels or their their, their name brands.
18:45
But just creating something new and not copying somebody, it's
18:49
always great. It's a good feeling and that's
18:52
what I try to do. Definitely there's a lot of
18:54
Mexican food. There's a lot of sushi places
18:56
out there, Japanese but as well as Mexican sushi, but I believe
19:03
we're a bit different and, and I do have two chefs.
19:07
I'm also continuing my, my, my, my school with in culinary arts,
19:12
but specifically in Mexico. So I'm trying to learn the pre
19:15
Hispanic way that they used to cook.
19:18
And that's something that I'm also adding to, to our quality
19:22
and the skills that we use in this restaurant.
19:25
Say more about that what it is that you're hoping to learn.
19:29
What I'm hoping to learn, one of the things that I do want to do
19:32
is doing the crossover with the chefs.
19:34
I want to do collaboration with them.
19:36
That's where I'm meeting all these people out there in
19:37
Tijuana because I go to school once a month and I have to
19:40
travel out of the country and be able to just meet with them and
19:45
and create a collaboration where you have someone from let's say
19:50
Oaxaca, which is they have a great, great food, gastronomy,
19:54
gastronomy as well, and be able to just collaborate with them.
19:58
The main thing it's to have no limits, no boundaries and
20:02
whatsoever in my industry, in the footage industry.
20:07
So when you first open your doors on Raw Kitchen and Cantina
20:10
Rigo, what was it like? Customers lining up at the door?
20:15
Was it crickets? Were people confused?
20:18
Like, did they need some education on the sort of the
20:21
fusion of these cuisines? A little bit of everything, but
20:25
I'll take and I'll start with what you said, a little bit of
20:27
confusion. So what's going on?
20:31
What is this place? It was brand new.
20:33
So there was, we started off very slowly because we did a
20:36
soft opening for the first month.
20:39
It was like, all right, so we got 5 customers today.
20:42
Let's keep on going for more, right?
20:44
And then we can, we can come came over or comes over and and
20:48
we'll get more clientele. Then from day one, we were
20:52
already with the training with the staff.
20:54
I did 2 ribbon cuttings or two grand openings with different
20:57
chambers and that's where everything exploded.
21:00
I went a little bit more seen by by the community.
21:06
We had a lot of people, influencers coming over, trying
21:08
to do a video, trying to collaborate and it started
21:13
happening. I believe the second month or
21:15
the third month. That's when kind of everything
21:19
exploded and people were talking about raw kitchen and cantina.
21:22
And so it exploded specifically because of these two different
21:25
ribbon coven cutting ceremonies that you did with two different
21:28
Chambers of Commerce. I would say a little of
21:31
everything because when I opened up the doors, I was nervous.
21:34
I was like, this is it, Let's turn on the sign, right, The
21:38
open sign and just trying to figure things out.
21:41
I think even my energy was bringing that.
21:43
OK, How can you say it like nervous at the same time and
21:50
people were not seeing it, seeing us, you know, like a
21:52
little ghost. I was like, what's going on?
21:54
You know, we have a prime location.
21:55
We're right in front of, of a, of a huge outlet mall.
22:00
We have a concert arena nearby and like what's going on?
22:05
But I think we added everything. We added the right marketing.
22:08
We added we were partnered up with with open table and started
22:14
getting it was we got the, we got oh, Valentine's.
22:17
That was a good one because we opened up two weeks before
22:18
Valentine's. So we did not know what we were
22:21
expecting and we got over 180 reservations.
22:26
I was like, oh man, how we're gonna do this, right?
22:29
So we're putting tables inside. And it was just those, those
22:34
things that little by little then the word of the mouth, it
22:37
started happening, which we got the the regular clients, people
22:41
were coming to check us from different places.
22:43
You're from LA. They're like, OK, I heard this
22:45
location, it's right here in Riverside.
22:47
There's nothing on this side. Whatever is a Rancho Camonga,
22:49
There's nothing on this side. We out people want to go to LA,
22:53
so they're like, all right, coming over here.
22:54
They love the flavors as well. I, I take that, I give that to
22:58
to the chef. That was at the time of that
23:00
week opened. Then I got very involved with
23:03
the Chambers of Commerce. I'm currently a board member but
23:08
I had to work a lot for people to like us, like the brand and
23:12
put a a face to the name basically.
23:16
Tell me about the work that you're doing to connect with the
23:18
community and specifically through the chambers.
23:22
OK. The main thing that I that I,
23:24
it's on my mind and that's that's why I was elected as one
23:28
of the board members with the Rancho Kamanga Chamber of
23:30
Commerce was because of the collaboration.
23:33
I was there supporting the other businesses because they've gone
23:35
through struggles just like we all do.
23:38
I mean, I've gone through a lot of struggles and, but still, we,
23:41
we network, we're out there, we're always providing for
23:45
marketing the brand. And that's what I started doing,
23:49
collaborating with them, helping them out with nothing in return
23:53
and knowing that they have someone to talk to, someone to
23:55
reach out to and having the city support.
24:00
So with everything that you said, everything that you offer,
24:03
it's always a great one for my personality and to be able to
24:08
just go to their business and help them out As a board member,
24:12
we create a lot of a lot of events within the city.
24:15
We do a lot of ribbon cuttings now.
24:17
We guide them to the to, to, to the resources that they they
24:21
don't have and things like they'd like podcast, including
24:25
TV interviews and other smaller gatherings.
24:31
It's it's always helpful for the community business owners as
24:35
well. Something that we started a year
24:38
ago and we're gonna be doing our one year anniversary.
24:41
It's a young professional network group that that's
24:45
growing within every event that we do.
24:47
We just did one last week and it was a successful event that we
24:52
have people from 2020 years old all the way to 40 that they're
24:56
in the industry, but they're not in that type of what's it
25:02
called? Yeah, it's in that environment.
25:06
Yeah, it, it would, I would say with the environment, basically,
25:09
you know, you have a lot of distractions.
25:11
I mean, it happened to me when I was 2022 years old.
25:15
I wanted to to man up, but I was not getting the whole courage to
25:19
do it. So that's what we had on me.
25:21
I'm already almost in into 40s and be able to help out someone
25:26
that wants to open up a business, especially if it's a
25:28
restaurant. I'll mentor them so they don't
25:31
they don't do the the mistakes that I did to save them some
25:36
time and. Money.
25:38
Thinking back, what is 1 mistake that you made that stuck with
25:42
you and like you learned from it going through it?
25:47
There has been a lot of mistakes and more than mistakes, it's
25:50
it's something is an experience, something that I could always
25:53
take on me and be like, what? This didn't work.
25:56
Let's scratch it off and not forget about it so we don't make
25:59
it again. But one of the mistakes that I
26:01
did with the restaurant is people were asking for stuff to
26:04
add to the many. I why don't you have the
26:06
traditional, I want to say chilaquiles.
26:09
Why don't you have the traditional tortas?
26:12
So little by little and I gave, I gave some opportunities for,
26:18
for our chefs to create something new on the menu.
26:23
And then I start get getting an extensive menu.
26:27
I will stick to what people like.
26:30
You know, they might like the chilakilas, but they will not be
26:33
in chilakilas every day. So have an extensive menu really
26:37
possibly cost me a lot of money, lot of waste in, in our in our
26:41
kitchen as or in our fridge. And that's something I will not
26:44
do another thing as well, something that that really kind
26:49
of marked a time frame or, or, or, or in, in my timeline of
26:54
life in, in this business, It's be open for pub, not for public,
27:03
basically, and stay open till later and just enjoying the time
27:08
with them. I would not do that again.
27:10
That was a mistake that I did, which it was.
27:12
I was trying to be too, a little bit too friendly or too kind, so
27:15
people could like me and like the brand and for them to
27:18
support it that I started bringing everything, you know,
27:23
just at no cost. I, I, I enjoyed those moments,
27:26
but it, it, it was for. Wasn't good for business.
27:30
It was not good for business. I got a little lost because I
27:34
was here to like two or three in the morning.
27:37
I was not. I had to be either be here at
27:39
8:00 or something. I was not at 8:00.
27:41
And those things are something. I mean lesson learned.
27:45
You, you, you, you improved from them.
27:47
It was good. At the moment, I think I
27:49
connected a lot, but I had to stop that.
27:52
I right now, I stopped drinking, even though I do own a full bar.
27:56
I stopped drinking and I'm trying to do everything for the
28:00
better of the business. As you think back over your
28:04
career, Rigo, who is someone in particular that has had a big
28:08
impact on you? Big impact.
28:12
There's a lot of them. I have received a lot of
28:14
mentorship and I always try to have big ears.
28:16
For a recent time, I was listening to those with the
28:19
experience. My the biggest impact or a role
28:22
model, I would say it's my sister.
28:25
My my oldest sister is the one that has taught me everything
28:28
about the business and how to negotiate and how disciplined
28:32
she is on taking everything, just not for granted.
28:36
And I was looking to give back to the to to family members,
28:39
friends and the community. How's the good one?
28:45
You have something more you want to say on that?
28:48
Definitely I, that's the I, I got all, all of my experience.
28:55
I, I got, I got from, from, from, from, from her.
28:58
She's the one that raced me as well.
29:00
So it was great to be able to just not work with her but also
29:04
live with her and kind respect her as a as a mother.
29:08
And yeah, after that I got married, had my kids and
29:12
everything, and I still see her as my mother.
29:15
That's fantastic. That's really touching.
29:17
I appreciate you sharing that. To talk to us more about the
29:21
menu, maybe pick one of your favorite dishes and tell us how
29:26
the idea came about and how it sort of fuses these two
29:30
different flavored concepts together.
29:33
Absolutely. What something that I like on
29:36
our menu is going to be the pulpo mestizo.
29:40
And actually that was featured last week on KTLA on the news.
29:44
And the pulpo mestizo is something that we came up with
29:48
about two years ago and it's a charcoal octopus.
29:52
We call it Pulpo sarang piado, but we put that in a in a
29:55
skillet along with some country potatoes and pork belly.
29:59
The initial name of that dish was a pulpococino or dirty
30:03
octopus and people were curious about that.
30:05
I mean, if you even, you see some things on the menu, there's
30:09
some, some, some different creative names.
30:13
We also have another burger that we added a jalapeno pepper on
30:19
top and some eggs and we call it a corn burger.
30:22
So people really look for the especially the younger crowd,
30:26
right? And the inputs that will come
30:27
over like let me get the barnburger, Let me get the, the,
30:30
The Dirty octopus. They're interested on that.
30:32
People like that experience something that you would not get
30:35
just on a on a traditional typical restaurant.
30:38
So those two names show me that you're having some fun.
30:40
Maybe like there's a little bit of a racy vibe.
30:42
Does that sort of like carry on throughout the the rest of the
30:45
menu and sort of the the decor of the place?
30:48
Correct. I was putting some some
30:50
questioning whenever you're going to be ordering, it's so
30:52
fun. So it's something to talk about.
30:54
Whenever I go to the table and I'm taking care of a of a new
30:57
party, I start telling them everything about the menu, what
31:01
it should get, what you know, what they like.
31:03
And it's kind of showcase whatever I'm picturing either
31:06
that week or something. That's a staple, A staple that I
31:10
couldn't get away out of. And I would like when, when I
31:14
created this location or or when, when, when that came the
31:18
dream came alive. What I like, I'm gonna be adding
31:22
the fish Taco. When you wouldn't know for the
31:23
fish Taco, I told you guys about the the story of my grandfather
31:27
that will come from BA, California with the fish, right.
31:30
So that being along with all the restaurants that we currently
31:34
own or, or sister restaurants, and I added the fish Taco
31:38
Ensenada style beer battered, but I'm gonna make it a little
31:41
bit different from what my family does.
31:43
I'm gonna do a blue corn tortilla and I'm gonna have it
31:47
there just as an additional because I'm from Baja.
31:50
But the customers has their, the, the the last boat.
31:54
They actually boated the, the, the, the face Taco as the best
31:57
1. And that's something that I sell
31:59
the most. Even though that was not my what
32:01
I wanted. I was wanted to feature a little
32:02
bit more Christine culinary arts experience, a little more
32:07
elevated, a lot, a lot more presentation were made, but the
32:11
fish stock was still one of the top number ones.
32:14
You know, and I've heard this talking with other successful
32:17
restaurateurs like yourself is, you know, especially ones that
32:20
have received some formal training, you know, they have
32:23
ideas, they have the the technique to do some things that
32:26
are more creative. But at the end of the day,
32:29
right, it has to be what your customers want.
32:32
Yes, yeah, we'll definitely have to adapt to it.
32:34
That's that's an advice I would I would give to any, any
32:38
business in general adapt to the customer demand.
32:42
I mean, you could have a great idea.
32:43
It's not take you months or even years if you want to adapt it to
32:48
to the community that is not ready for it.
32:50
But probably I tried to at some point.
32:53
I did try to, but it was just costing me time and money.
32:58
Once you go with the flow, listen to the customers and you
33:01
start comparing your numbers that when you know you're going
33:04
to on the right track. So that's an advice I would
33:07
listen to your customers. I would see what they have to
33:10
say. Your reviews is always great if
33:12
you don't have a chance to talk to every customer that comes
33:15
through those doors, right? That's great advice.
33:18
Any other tips for aspiring restaurant tours?
33:23
Very. OK, that's a lot of tips, right?
33:27
But if you want to work 24/7, do it.
33:31
If you want to assure that you forget about the holidays,
33:35
especially bands, Mother's Day, weekends with your family, if
33:40
you're ready for that, you just give that up, do it.
33:42
Otherwise is you're going to be pulling all over your hair.
33:46
There's going to be some time. There's definitely going to be
33:48
some time. It's a lot of work.
33:50
In order for a manager, a chef or or anyone in the company,
33:56
even in the customer service in front of the house team, they
34:00
have to understand you. And once you show your values
34:03
and the values are compatible, they know what's what are those
34:07
who built the core values. Basically you, you're start to
34:10
get some time off here and there.
34:14
I do always see it. I might work three months
34:16
straight with no day off, but I know I'm gonna be able to have
34:19
two weeks off if I need to. But it's always gonna be like
34:22
that in the restaurant field. There's always some challenges.
34:26
You're not always at the best successful, successful peak.
34:30
Not always. So be you should be ready for it
34:32
once you self Strop or you know, people are not liking what
34:37
you're doing or you're not the favor anymore because there's a
34:39
new restaurant in town or across the street that they're going to
34:42
go to. You have to be ready for those
34:45
as well and not get too impacted.
34:47
I, I've, I've helped out people or business owners open up their
34:53
restaurants and with ideas, paperwork, getting their liquor
34:57
license or kind of like giving them advices on that part.
35:01
And sometimes they get frustrated at some point when
35:04
they're almost ready to get it. So say, don't ever give up.
35:08
Take that risk. If you're ready for it, it ain't
35:11
going to be easy. It's not as simple as when you
35:13
were the third party. And when you're when you're just
35:16
transferring a father from point A to Point C, you're the you're
35:20
the middle man. That's simple because you would
35:22
not have to work a lot or you don't need a lot of employees to
35:25
work on that. You depend a lot on the
35:27
community, a lot on the, on the economic as well.
35:31
And the, the, the, the, the employees.
35:34
I don't know if I said employees already, but employees they have
35:36
to. Yeah, let's talk about the
35:38
employees, because, I mean, they're a big part of the reason
35:41
for your success. What?
35:43
What's your approach to finding, attracting, and then retaining
35:47
good employees? I strongly believe that everyone
35:51
has a talent and you is your responsibility as a manager or
35:57
or the owner to find what that talent is.
36:00
You cannot be put. You cannot be, you can't put
36:03
someone to take care of a customer and their thing is
36:07
bartending or you cannot put a bartender in the kitchen.
36:11
It does not their thing. Sometimes we're like, Hey, we
36:14
want we need to fit in or fill in these positions and that's
36:18
where we have to be a little bit more careful and hire a little
36:21
bit slower because that's that's when we make our mistakes.
36:26
Once you figure that out that, you know, everyone has a talent
36:29
and just put them where they're going to sign and thrive.
36:33
The other thing, it's knowing their goals.
36:36
My first, one of my first questions when I do the
36:40
interview, it's what are your goals?
36:43
What are you looking for from the company?
36:45
And I'm sure that they get mad that they the way that we meet
36:48
the goals, it has not happening. It's going to get to a point
36:52
that they might not be as much interested on the position or
36:57
engage with the company that things will start falling apart
37:01
if you're not taking care of them.
37:02
No, they, they, they do play a big role, big role in the
37:06
company. Without them, I will not be able
37:09
to do or take care of the other store that we have do all the
37:13
community events that we have being these, all these being on
37:16
the board in many network groups that we have in, in the in the
37:21
area. So definitely got to take care
37:24
of them. That's a number one.
37:26
Another thing that we like to do it's I don't like to have a lot
37:30
of or give them a lot of repetitive actions.
37:34
I would like to throw in some events, something new to learn.
37:37
If there's a course that we could take and we could learn
37:40
and improve, that's something that we like is like you like
37:43
the paycheck at the end of the of the week, right?
37:45
But also learning and be able to collaborate with them given the
37:49
credit. It's always right.
37:51
Yeah. What's the future of Raw Kitchen
37:54
and Cantina look like? The family business you guys
37:56
have been expanding over the years?
37:59
Is there the thought to do that with the same concept?
38:03
Yes, yes, we're definitely looking for a second location.
38:06
Is it why, why it happened in 2025?
38:09
There was some, some issues happening in 2025 on the
38:13
personal side and I was going to the business which we couldn't
38:16
do it. We're ready to sign a contract
38:18
for another location. I had to wait a little bit
38:21
longer. But 2026, I believe we're going
38:25
to be having that expansion, the expansion with the full
38:28
restaurant bar as well, kind of focusing more on the restaurant
38:32
and something that I that is always been on my that I want to
38:36
do. I want to create a chef's table.
38:39
What would that chef's table be? It's gonna be a separate room, a
38:43
private room for capacity 10 to 2025 people.
38:47
It's gonna be smaller than 130 that we currently have in this
38:51
location and be able to just cook for that.
38:54
If you know myself or my other two chefs that we have here at
38:58
the restaurant, be able to cook for them and give them the the
39:01
dining experience. A5 course meal, 7 course meal
39:05
that you could be able to talk about where this dish is coming
39:08
from. So it's it's a little bit more
39:10
on the on making sure that we share the experience that we
39:15
have and talk about history on each dish.
39:18
That's something I'm very passionate about on the business
39:21
side, Definitely, definitely be able to just franchise this
39:24
franchise, franchise out this restaurant brand.
39:30
But you want to turn it into a franchise concept, not just to
39:33
open more corporate locations, but turn it into a franchise.
39:36
Correct. That's that's the main goal and
39:38
that's with both companies. With La Bofaraba Girl and Raw
39:42
Kitchen, that's in our mind and I know it's gonna happen.
39:48
You probably, you know, you obviously need more locations of
39:50
Raw Kitchen and Cantina to kind of prove out the concept, but
39:53
with the other restaurant you probably have enough to sort of
39:56
go that franchise route. Is there a timeline in mind for
39:59
that? It's ready for it.
40:00
What we started doing there, it's creating or bringing
40:06
partners into their locations. So there's not only one owner,
40:10
there's multiple. Now we have about awesome buying
40:13
within 13 locations, probably about 11:50 different business
40:17
owners because we're following that that concept or model of a
40:21
franchise. So we're, we're, we're almost
40:24
there. I would say within I I could
40:26
vision the company within about three to five years Max.
40:31
It will become a franchise. There's a lot more he comes that
40:34
will come with that for more responsibilities and more risk.
40:38
But once you're ready, I mean, if if God gives you the
40:41
opportunity to do it, don't ever go against them.
40:45
I. Like that, you know, behind
40:50
pretty much every success story, there's usually a chapter that
40:53
almost broke someone. Can you share a serious
40:55
challenge that you've gone through, personal and
40:57
professional, and how you got through that?
41:00
Yes, I'm I'm going to go back to 2024 and there's a restaurant
41:06
journey. I was getting out the success,
41:09
you know, the, the, the, the, the, the lines at the at the
41:13
restaurant were, were, were long during the weekend, you know,
41:17
full capacity. Everything was coming out great.
41:21
The location, people loved the location, loved the vibe, the
41:24
energy, the food mainly, and was doing so great.
41:30
And, but, but as I mentioned, just staying trying to please
41:34
everyone and, and getting some appliances, other collaborators
41:40
or, or or friends and not putting like a cap to it.
41:46
I was getting home late to, to my kids, to my wife.
41:51
I was just working a lot more and then just pretty tired and
41:55
trying to be at the all these events a little bit more
41:58
inexcessively and or excessively.
42:01
And that gave me that it cost me a lot.
42:06
I started seeing a lot less compromise from my staff.
42:10
I saw them a little bit more as a, you know, what, like we were
42:13
here till like 2 in the morning and, and things like that,
42:17
right? And I face calling started
42:22
going, going down a bit and I started having a lot of issues
42:26
up at home. My, my, my kids were not seeing
42:29
that as much. And, and that's where then 2024
42:35
had a lot of issues, a lot of, a lot of fights with the wife and,
42:40
and I had to, to recover from that.
42:43
I had to make better decisions, had to assure that we're not
42:48
just there for fun. But let's go back to the
42:50
business side and primarily the family side.
42:55
I did make a lot of changes, a lot of mistakes.
42:59
Right now, I, I, I'm with my kids 100% of the time.
43:04
That's what what I try to do every day after work.
43:07
I, I was give them at least two hours to play with them, to do
43:10
homework with them, take them to practices, sports practices.
43:14
And I believe that was a tough, tough year.
43:18
Like after seeing how this success, you're like alright, so
43:22
people likes you, people want to be there with you, but you got
43:27
to be careful who you choose and go with them with life a little
43:32
bit and not none of the fast throttle basically.
43:37
I'm curious, as you were going through this challenging time,
43:41
Rigo, was there like one kind of light bulb moment where you were
43:45
like, OK, this has to change tomorrow?
43:48
Or was it kind of a gradual realization and you gradually
43:53
made changes to get things back on track?
43:57
I definitely did gradually changes.
44:00
It was not from one day to another.
44:02
It was a little bit difficult to to organize my life right.
44:07
And the best thing was started taking taking baby steps as of
44:13
OK, let's go back to the business.
44:15
Let's you know that's my that's the core.
44:17
That's how we feed. We feed family, the employees,
44:22
my family as well. Let's step back a little bit and
44:26
sure what we're planning on. I was able to to work with the
44:31
team again to take my my family as well and yeah, I just it it
44:39
was just a year of a lot of success, right.
44:41
It was great people were were liking it and I was like, I have
44:45
to stop this cannot be happening.
44:49
And yeah, I just, it just helped me out to realize that not
44:55
because you were able to make it, that means that that's it.
45:00
That's that's it with your job. You don't have to do anything
45:03
else. It's going to go on itself.
45:05
You could lose it. You could lose it, lose it all.
45:07
People don't know when to stop and that's a risk we all take.
45:12
And I think I heard you mentioned some of the changes
45:14
that you made you quit drinking. Did you start closing earlier so
45:19
you and the staff could go home? Was that one of them as well?
45:22
Yeah, mainly we stay till later because of a private event and
45:29
they're having fun. You know, they're they're
45:30
consuming. It's a business.
45:32
So there's there's income. If so, we're we're not closing
45:39
earlier right now. It's just a time that we still
45:42
can conduct business. Before it was like, yeah, come
45:45
over, you know, we have a full bar.
45:47
It's it's an open bar. So let's let's let's have fun,
45:50
right. And that was not good.
45:52
That was not good. So, Regal, what would you say is
45:56
your superpower? My superpower, oof.
46:02
I'm determined. I'm determined.
46:03
I feel like a leader as well. I could, I could be a lead.
46:06
I could also be guided as well. Like I said, I my ears are
46:11
always open to hear any anything, but that my it might
46:15
be my attitude. I don't go out there with the
46:19
bad behavior, anything, anything that I do.
46:22
Yeah, yeah. I would say just my personality.
46:27
Personality. It's something that opens up the
46:29
doors a lot. It has happened to me a lot of
46:31
times and and it's I've been blessed to to to count with
46:36
that. What's your favorite thing to do
46:41
outside of work? I like to to watch a lot of
46:45
comedy or sports events. What what's it called?
46:51
You know, mainly the main thing that I do right now is with with
46:53
my kids to be able to just have fun with them and you know, they
46:56
like I've been putting you know, we have a we have an arena here
47:00
that we have access to so close to us and we go to different.
47:05
The last time we went to going to professional bull writing
47:09
were just and they involves activities.
47:14
I just a little bit of everything to be honest lately
47:19
with my studies, I got a lot into reading a lot into like
47:23
doing a lot of research and development for myself as well
47:26
for my career. So I love to eat.
47:29
I love to try new places, see what they're doing as well to
47:33
assure that we're in the right field too.
47:36
So I was, I was out. I was out.
47:40
Love it. I've just got one more question
47:41
for you today rego. But before I ask it, I want to
47:43
do 3 quick things. First of all, to get in touch
47:47
with our guest today, go to their website,
47:50
rawkitchencantina.com. You can find their location,
47:53
their hours, their phone number, everything there Raw Kitchen
47:55
cantina.com. Also, if you're enjoying the
47:59
show, a quick comment or review on your favorite podcast at goes
48:04
a long way towards helping others discover us.
48:07
So thank you for taking a quick moment to do that right now.
48:10
And as a reminder, if you want to get more restaurant employees
48:14
access to therapist doctors and prescription meds that, as
48:18
paradoxical as it seems, actually increases your
48:21
company's net profits, reach out to us at add back benefits.com.
48:25
So last question for you, Rigo. A year from now, what is 1
48:28
specific thing that you hope to be celebrating?
48:33
One year from now, First of all, my master's degrees, what's it
48:39
called? My degree, be able to just get
48:44
that, gain all the experience that we need to get from all the
48:46
chefs. I should be celebrating my third
48:49
location by next year as well. 2027 is coming hard.
48:53
You're going to open up two more till next year, OK.
48:56
Yes, and, and, and this year, by 2027, I should be celebrating
48:59
that we have three companies up and running successfully, right.
49:05
And like I said, taking care of that as well, celebrating life,
49:09
celebrating this new chapter of my life, you know, coming out of
49:14
the fashion, coming out of, you know, just being out.
49:18
It's, it's been good for me to make a change in my life.
49:23
And I can't wait for that next person that Mister Raw or Rigo
49:26
Espinosa will be celebrating 2027.
49:29
Definitely. I love it.
49:31
Rigo Espinoza from Raw Kitchen and Cantina, I want to be the
49:34
first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story
49:37
with us today. I really appreciate you being
49:39
here. Anthony, thank you so much for
49:42
the opportunity to provide to us for bringing me on board with
49:45
your podcast. I love this.
49:47
Thank you so much for all the great questions that you that
49:49
you did today and I can't wait to to to see more of you.
49:54
I appreciate all those kind words, Rigo folks, that's a wrap
49:57
on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
50:00
Hey, if one thing stood out today, try putting it into
50:03
action. Thanks for learning with us.