Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Higor Valle on Building Wine Programs for Miami's Top Restaurants and Why the Beverage Industry Is at a Crossroads

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Higor Valle on Building Wine Programs for Miami's Top Restaurants and Why the Beverage Industry Is at a Crossroads · 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
• 0:12
  their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
• 0:14
  adversity. As you listen today, let one
• 0:17
  idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
• 0:21
  today's guest is Igor Valley, Corporate Wine Director at Mr.
• 0:25
  Hospitality Group where he designs and leads wine programs
• 0:30
  across three very different Miami concepts, Queen Miami
• 0:34
  Beach, Marion Miami and Lafayette Steakhouse.
• 0:38
  Born in Brazil, Igor worked his way up from busboy to sommelier
• 0:43
  after a life changing taste of a 1995 Chateau Margot.
• 0:49
  Since then he's built high performing wine programs at top
• 0:52
  restaurants, fast tracked full launches on aggressive timelines
• 0:57
  and earned advanced certification from the Court of
• 1:00
  Master Sommeliers. At Mr. Hospitality, Igor
• 1:04
  overseas purchasing staff, training, partnerships, events
• 1:08
  and the financial strategy behind each list, bringing fine
• 1:12
  dining discipline to Miami's dynamic hospitality scene.
• 1:16
  He's also the founder of Wise Seller with AC, where he offers
• 1:21
  consulting and seller management services.
• 1:23
  And he regularly shares his passion through tastings and
• 1:27
  industry events like Fine Expo America's.
• 1:31
  But before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is
• 1:34
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• 2:25
  All right, back to our guest today, Corporate Wine Director
• 2:27
  of Misper Hospitality, Igor Valley.
• 2:30
  Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
• 2:33
  Thank you for having me. So, Igor, what were the
• 2:36
  circumstances that brought you from Brazil to the USA?
• 2:42
  At the ripe age of 18, I was very curious about spending some
• 2:47
  time in a different country that that had happened before, of
• 2:51
  course, even in younger years. But during my team years, I saw
• 2:58
  the opportunity of participating in AJ1 program.
• 3:03
  So it's essentially a temporary job visa where you spend three
• 3:09
  to six months overseas or in this case here in the United
• 3:14
  States. So I took advantage of that
• 3:16
  program in 2006. And what were you doing when you
• 3:22
  came to the States, and where were you?
• 3:24
  It's an interesting journey that as as you can imagine, this is a
• 3:28
  a temporary visa during your college break for you to
• 3:34
  experience a different country. So the jobs are very basic.
• 3:40
  There's a variety of jobs. I don't know if this programs to
• 3:44
  exist at this date, but at the time, you know, there were basic
• 3:48
  and fun jobs either at Disneyland or the Mohegan Sun
• 3:52
  Casino in Connecticut. In my case, it was quite
• 3:56
  different. It was at CVSCVS Pharmacy.
• 3:59
  So you know, we worked as a clerk and right when I landed
• 4:05
  here and of course Internet access and all this was quite
• 4:10
  different than it is today. You had to go to the library and
• 4:12
  all this. So we had a checklist of things
• 4:14
  that we have to do once we landed here and one of them was
• 4:18
  contact your sponsor. So then you could start the
• 4:23
  process of getting your social, Social Security set up and, and
• 4:27
  you know, get in touch with your, your new employer and all
• 4:30
  this. And as soon as I contacted my
• 4:32
  sponsor, he said, Hey, eager look, something happened in
• 4:35
  between, you know, the, the last couple of days that you were
• 4:37
  travelling and getting yourself settled here, the contract with
• 4:42
  your employer got cancelled. So you so you have two options.
• 4:48
  You can return to Brazil and we'll refund, you know, the cost
• 4:51
  of the program. This is something kind of
• 4:53
  unprecedented at the, you know, the, I don't know exactly what
• 4:57
  happened in the details, but that was jobless and that visa
• 5:01
  works. One of the main requirements is
• 5:05
  that you, you have a job placement here.
• 5:07
  So, so you have a, a, a, a stream of income and they said,
• 5:12
  look, you, you can return and we'll, you know, reimburse you
• 5:17
  just like everyone else. That was part of this situation
• 5:21
  or we'll change your, your visa status as independ as
• 5:25
  independent, meaning you have 30 days to find a job, otherwise
• 5:30
  your visa will automatically be cancelled.
• 5:32
  And I said I'm not going back. I need I you know, I it took me
• 5:35
  so much to get all all 2 documentations last year already
• 5:40
  and. And where were you physically?
• 5:42
  Naples, FL. Naples, FL.
• 5:44
  OK. And there were other challenges
• 5:49
  going at the same time. I still didn't know where I was
• 5:51
  going to live. And so I was staying in a hotel
• 5:54
  in Naples. And the receptionist had
• 5:58
  mentioned to me, I, I was just having coffee and chatting with
• 6:01
  this lovely gentleman at the time.
• 6:04
  And, and he said, hey, by the way, a couple of rooms down,
• 6:07
  there's a, a group of Brazilian guys.
• 6:09
  I think they're part of the same program as as you.
• 6:13
  You should go chat with them. And I was like, Oh my God, yes,
• 6:16
  they they either will be in my the same situation as me or
• 6:20
  better because they probably have a job.
• 6:22
  So I go there and luckily a few of them had been had done this
• 6:29
  program already. I actually was this one guy was
• 6:31
  his third time here. And so they knew everything, all
• 6:35
  this, everything you know that you're supposed to do at the
• 6:37
  beginning. I was so lost.
• 6:39
  And they said, hey, listen, we are going to rent a three
• 6:45
  bedroom apartment, so we need to find two other guys.
• 6:49
  So there is space for you. And I was like, Oh my God.
• 6:51
  OK, living situation settled. And I said, what about what
• 6:56
  about work guys? What are you going to do?
• 6:58
  And they're like, oh, you know, it's this really cool place
• 7:02
  because we're going to work in a convenience store.
• 7:05
  So you got to eat and drink for free.
• 7:08
  The hours are easy. And if you work overnight, they
• 7:11
  pay you $2 more an hour instead of $8 an hour.
• 7:14
  It was 10. This is 2006.
• 7:17
  And little I know I was 711. But in my mind, I'm, you know,
• 7:21
  you're 18 years old. You just landed here.
• 7:23
  And I'm like, wait, convenience store.
• 7:25
  And it's pretty easy and I can eat and drink for free.
• 7:28
  I said sign me up. So I, I took my bike.
• 7:35
  You know, we each bought like these $30 used bikes.
• 7:39
  And I got my bike and I actually biked to the 711.
• 7:44
  And I, I mentioned to the manager, I said, hey, I just
• 7:47
  landed with this program. And my colleagues said that I
• 7:51
  should come here, talk to you. And he's like, oh, yeah, I've
• 7:53
  been waiting for you. You know, I, I need to figure it
• 7:56
  was actually someone else, but he signed me up right away.
• 8:00
  So I, I, I had a short stint of four months as a cashier at
• 8:05
  7:11, which, which was a, a fun experience.
• 8:10
  And so how did? You transition from that into
• 8:13
  eventually getting into the hospitality space.
• 8:16
  You got a an early busboy job. Yeah.
• 8:18
  So after that, I, I worked at Abercrombie and Fitch at the
• 8:23
  mall. And then for a period of time,
• 8:26
  you know, you would, you know, you, you would, anything that
• 8:30
  would provide a, a, a good weekly wage at the time, you
• 8:37
  know, we, we, we were gain, we were having a good time, you
• 8:41
  know, your young kids. And so I, I, I worked at the
• 8:45
  mall like I mentioned. And then after, you know, my
• 8:47
  visa expired with 711, you have to extend your visa and then you
• 8:51
  kind of have to find your own thing again.
• 8:54
  And at the time I used to live with this, this group of guys
• 8:58
  was three or four of us, I can't remember now.
• 9:01
  And one of them started working in this small family owned
• 9:05
  restaurant in Naples, FL, coincidentally also called
• 9:08
  Lafayette, not not related though.
• 9:13
  And I was still working at the mall at the time.
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  And I think I was my, you know, my wage was like 850 an hour.
• 9:23
  And he started working in this restaurant and he would come
• 9:25
  home at night and he would be so excited about, you know,
• 9:30
  everything that he saw at the restaurant.
• 9:32
  And he, he got to try some, some food and he got to try some of
• 9:36
  the wines. And especially for me at the
• 9:40
  time, he would come home and, and tell us guys, you have no
• 9:43
  idea. I made $97.00 tonight and we
• 9:47
  were like, Oh my God, this is crazy.
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  What am I doing working at the mall?
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  I, I want to do this too. But of course I, you know, I had
• 9:59
  no experience. I didn't know what to do.
• 10:00
  And then actually his visa expired here, so he went back to
• 10:05
  Brazil and doing so he told the family, he said, hey, listen, I,
• 10:10
  you know, I'm, I'm, I got to go back and I'll do the program
• 10:14
  next year again. But if you need someone right
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  now, there's this guy that lives with me and he really wants to,
• 10:21
  to start working in a restaurant.
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  And that's how it all started. So essentially I replaced him
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  and I started working at Lafayette as a busboy.
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  And that's how it all started. Where?
• 10:35
  And did you love it from the beginning or was it kind of
• 10:38
  rough and like, I don't know what I'm doing?
• 10:40
  Long hours on my feet, Yeah. It was a a good mix of both.
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  I loved being there. I've always, I've always been
• 10:49
  curious about food and wine and in, in in a certain level of
• 10:55
  dining scene or, or as much interest as you can have as a 18
• 10:59
  year old. And it was really challenging
• 11:04
  because I had no idea of, of the, of the, the style of dining
• 11:12
  really, or in, you know, or, or the levels of a gourmet
• 11:15
  restaurant, let's put it this way, or fine dining, the steps
• 11:20
  of service and everything that yeah, you know, is involved in
• 11:24
  a, in an operation like this. So I, so I learned everything
• 11:28
  from Zero. For me, it was really exciting
• 11:31
  at the beginning because, well, it still is.
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  But it was really exciting because it was all so new to me.
• 11:36
  It was all so exciting and you know, to discovered that you had
• 11:41
  different silverware for certain dishes and you know, you, you,
• 11:48
  you, you seen closures, the like the, you know, to cover dishes
• 11:51
  and you know, it's, you know, as a kid, you see that in cartoons
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  or movies and you're like, oh, this is what it's for.
• 11:58
  You know, I'm carrying it and it's going to keep it warm.
• 12:00
  And then someone, you know, stands up to use a restroom and
• 12:04
  their food just lands. So you put it there, keep it
• 12:06
  warm. And then all the different
• 12:08
  glassware and all this. So it was, it was, it was super
• 12:11
  exciting, but of course challenging as well.
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  Extremely busy. If we were a really, really
• 12:16
  small team. And you know, as soon as I land
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  at the restaurant, you know, your training is maybe four
• 12:24
  days, one week. And then, and then right after
• 12:27
  that, you're, you're, you're right, you get thrown right into
• 12:31
  the fire. So definitely some some
• 12:33
  challenges, but but incredible experience so.
• 12:36
  Here's what I gathered from that is that you finally started to
• 12:39
  understand your childhood cartoons.
• 12:41
  Exactly, but I want to. Go back actually to you first
• 12:46
  coming to the country and like, it has to be a little bit
• 12:48
  intimidating, right? 18 year old stepping off the
• 12:51
  plane, new place, you don't know anybody.
• 12:54
  You had some English, it seems like, but you know, and then you
• 12:58
  find out that your job's been cancelled and now you're on your
• 13:01
  own and you got to find a place to live.
• 13:03
  You got to find a job. What were those early days like?
• 13:08
  Yeah, yeah. And you know, it's so, it's so
• 13:14
  for me, it was so thrilling to just picture that I would be
• 13:20
  going to a different country and, you know, get to see all
• 13:24
  this. And everything was so new, a
• 13:27
  brand new culture and all this. But then at the same time, it's
• 13:29
  terrifying. And I think that, you know,
• 13:36
  it's, it's a good moment to give a shout out to everyone that has
• 13:40
  had the courage to leave their home country and really just,
• 13:48
  you know, figure it all out from zero, from day one in a
• 13:52
  completely different culture, in a completely different country.
• 13:57
  And you know, very quickly, depending on, you know,
• 14:02
  depending on the situations and the day and, and the days at the
• 14:06
  beginning, very quickly you get your excitement completely
• 14:09
  replaced by fear, right? Or you know, you're like, what
• 14:13
  do I do? I have, you know, I, I need to
• 14:16
  make decisions in there. You can't, I can't call my dad
• 14:19
  or, or you know how there is help, but it's in a very
• 14:25
  different way, as you, as you can imagine.
• 14:27
  So it was terrifying at times. But but, you know, as, as we
• 14:36
  were faced or as I was faced with these challenges, you, you
• 14:40
  really, even if I didn't want to, we force me to figure stuff
• 14:45
  out and come up with solutions, which, you know, I would like to
• 14:50
  think that has helped me with my character and and with my life
• 14:54
  experience. You learn to grow.
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  Up pretty fast, yes. You like that you, you, you
• 15:01
  know, I, you don't get much time or many choices as far as
• 15:07
  growing up, you know, you just, you just have to do it so.
• 15:11
  So you're cutting your teeth in the hospitality and the food
• 15:14
  industry at this family owned restaurant in Naples called
• 15:17
  Lafayette. It's exhausting, exhilarating.
• 15:21
  You're learning new things. But now I want to talk about
• 15:25
  this life changing wine tasting of this 95 Chateau Margaux.
• 15:33
  Tell us about that. Yeah.
• 15:36
  You know, at the end of every shift, there was always maybe 30
• 15:42
  minutes, 45 minutes. While they were, I wasn't
• 15:46
  necessarily doing any, you know, admin closing duties.
• 15:49
  But as they were doing it, the GM and, and the owners, they
• 15:55
  would always taste a couple of wines, either because someone
• 15:59
  left half a decanter for them of, of something that I didn't
• 16:04
  know something special or something interesting.
• 16:06
  Or they would just share a glass of wine that we featured by the
• 16:11
  glass and things as such. And they would always offer me a
• 16:16
  little sip to, to try the wise and, and I was always so curious
• 16:22
  about it and I would ask all kinds of questions.
• 16:25
  And there was this one time I, I tasted the swine and I just, I
• 16:31
  was like, Oh my God, what is this?
• 16:33
  Why, why does it taste so different and so good at the
• 16:37
  same time? And I remember perfectly.
• 16:40
  Like at the moment I couldn't explain anything, you know, I
• 16:44
  couldn't, I couldn't even say that I exactly liked it.
• 16:48
  It was just, I was just so curious about it.
• 16:52
  I was just so tickled by it and and I was like, Oh my God, what
• 16:57
  is this? This is incredible.
• 16:59
  And they were all laughing and they're like, Oh my God, here we
• 17:01
  go. Of course you love it.
• 17:03
  And it's an. Expensive wine.
• 17:05
  Right. And and I come to find out it
• 17:07
  was a 1995 shuttle Margo. So that was maybe, you know, a
• 17:14
  lot of people in the, in the world of wine, they like to say
• 17:17
  that, you know, you have like the moment that you, you, you're
• 17:21
  bitten by the bug. And so maybe that could have
• 17:25
  been mine. And then sort of fill in some of
• 17:30
  the gaps here. You have that tasting and it
• 17:33
  eventually leads to you becoming a sommelier.
• 17:36
  Yes. So, you know, and at that moment
• 17:40
  I was already very interested in wine, but I had no idea that I
• 17:48
  could work selling wine or I didn't even know that there was
• 17:53
  such a thing as as a sommelier or, or anything like this.
• 17:57
  But I knew that I wanted to become a server at the
• 18:01
  restaurant because, you know, for me, it was so cool to see
• 18:04
  the servers come in and, you know, they would have their
• 18:07
  sections and, and their VI PS and check who's coming in and
• 18:11
  all, you know, excited about the, the evening to start and
• 18:14
  all this. And I, I knew I wanted to become
• 18:18
  a server. And I also learned at the time
• 18:22
  that the servers that knew how to sell wine, they would get
• 18:27
  the, the preferred service, let's say, right, you get the
• 18:31
  better sections and all this. And they, they are kind of like
• 18:35
  the Ogs of the restaurant, right?
• 18:37
  So I said, listen, listen, I need to do 2 things.
• 18:39
  I need to learn how to become a server and I need to learn about
• 18:44
  wine. I already like it anyways.
• 18:46
  And I, you know, so I started just paying attention.
• 18:49
  I didn't even start reading about wine, but I started paying
• 18:52
  attention to, you know, a couple of these guys were doing as far
• 18:57
  as movement and all this and I would just, you know, annoy them
• 19:01
  with questions and you know, why do you decant and why?
• 19:04
  What is this crazy tool that you use to pull the pull corks and
• 19:07
  all this? And then I and then I became,
• 19:11
  you know, super, super, super in super into wine.
• 19:14
  And luckily for me, the, the owners of the restaurant decided
• 19:20
  to expand the restaurant. It was really, really small.
• 19:23
  And when I say, you know, servers before the restaurant
• 19:27
  expanded, I'm, I'm talking 3 or 4.
• 19:32
  And you know, they have been there forever.
• 19:36
  So when the restaurant so there was no space for me, even even
• 19:39
  even if they had said, you know, Igor, you're, you're already
• 19:41
  good. You can, you can become a server
• 19:43
  ready. You know, I, I was a food runner
• 19:45
  at the time. There was no space for me.
• 19:47
  This was a very, very small restaurant and everyone had been
• 19:50
  there forever. So when they decided to expand,
• 19:54
  of course, they had to bring in a lot more employees in every
• 19:58
  front. So then they're like, hey,
• 20:01
  listen, this is your opportunity.
• 20:03
  You know, you, you, you were, you are promoted to server.
• 20:09
  And in another, another good opportunity.
• 20:16
  Maybe I got lucky again, but this gentleman had moved in from
• 20:20
  San Francisco. Who's a friend of mine to this
• 20:22
  day. He moved from San Francisco with
• 20:25
  a ton of experience and an incredible, incredible
• 20:29
  hospitality professional with a lot of energy to train and teach
• 20:35
  people too. So he is, you know, he took me
• 20:39
  under his wings and started showing me all kinds of things.
• 20:43
  And, and, and every time we would open a bottle of wine, he
• 20:47
  would tell me a little bit about it.
• 20:48
  And, you know, then when the the wine room was ready at the
• 20:52
  restaurant, now the wine list was bigger and all this then we
• 20:56
  set up the wine room together was, you know, three of us.
• 21:02
  And he gave me a lot of opportunity to really start to
• 21:07
  understand, OK, what is Napa Valley?
• 21:09
  You know, what is Bordeaux? What is Burgundy, You know,
• 21:13
  understand the grapes and the regions and the style and all
• 21:16
  this. What makes it this producer
• 21:19
  special? Why is this one so famous?
• 21:21
  Why are these two from the exact same village?
• 21:24
  But one costs $300, one costs 3000?
• 21:28
  And this gentleman at the time told me, hey, you know, you're
• 21:33
  really into it. You and I'll, I'll, I'll let a
• 21:37
  secret in here. I was never a good server.
• 21:43
  What made you a bad server? You're so curious.
• 21:45
  You were so into it. Why weren't you a good server?
• 21:48
  I think I, I think I thought too much.
• 21:51
  I was probably not prioritizing my steps of service.
• 21:56
  And so, I mean, I was, I was probably decent, but I wasn't
• 21:59
  very good. I would I would never make the
• 22:01
  cut to the top guys. And but that's not the reason
• 22:04
  why this this friend of mine said this.
• 22:06
  Now we laugh about it and he knows this.
• 22:08
  And he's like, yeah, yeah, it was it was a good decision you
• 22:10
  made. But he told me, hey, listen,
• 22:12
  you're so into wine. Why don't you study wine and
• 22:15
  become a sommelier? I was like, so sommelier, what?
• 22:19
  What is this? He's like, well, you know, you
• 22:21
  see the server, you see what? See what we're doing now you do
• 22:24
  the same, but only, you know, all your focus is wine.
• 22:27
  You go to the tables and I was like, Oh my God, this sounds so
• 22:30
  cool. This is exactly what I want to
• 22:32
  do. I don't want to.
• 22:34
  I don't want to have to fire the soup course and then re silver
• 22:37
  and then think about the temperature of the steaks and
• 22:40
  you know the birthday candle that needs to be.
• 22:42
  I just want to. Focus on wine.
• 22:44
  I want to talk to whoever is using the wine at the table.
• 22:48
  I want a purple. I want to let them know about
• 22:50
  this amazing wine that I tasted last night and sell the wine
• 22:54
  open and, you know, come, you know, it's so so how?
• 22:59
  Did you head down that path? And so I, you know, and, and I
• 23:04
  really started thinking about it.
• 23:05
  And at the time, of course, you know, the, the, the, the, the
• 23:11
  owners were the chef and his sister and his sister was taking
• 23:16
  that role, right? And of course we would all help.
• 23:18
  And there's a couple of us that were really more into wine than,
• 23:21
  than either the other servers or everyone else in, in the
• 23:24
  restaurant. So there was no such a thing
• 23:26
  there either. As a sommelier.
• 23:28
  She, she was a sommelier, but she was the owner, you know, she
• 23:30
  didn't title herself as a sommelier.
• 23:34
  So then I decide to move on And I said, you know, I, I now, now
• 23:39
  I know enough that I can present myself at a restaurant, either,
• 23:46
  you know, and ask if they're looking for some Lea or, or see
• 23:49
  a job listing. And, but you know, in Naples and
• 23:54
  this were fast forwarding maybe a couple of years and, and none
• 23:57
  of this was really available in Naples.
• 24:03
  Let's say, yes, a couple of restaurants had sommeliers,
• 24:05
  maybe the Grill Room at the Ritz and and Blue Provence, but I
• 24:11
  couldn't really find anything like this.
• 24:14
  And then at the time, my girlfriend, she used to spend a
• 24:19
  lot of time on Nantucket. Of course, summers on Nantucket
• 24:23
  Island, they're incredible. But she was actually there year
• 24:26
  round for some time. So she said, Hey, you know, I'm
• 24:33
  going back to Nantucket once season ends and you know, it's
• 24:38
  an amazing place and all this, but she didn't say, you know,
• 24:40
  why don't you come with me? She was just essentially just
• 24:43
  telling me like, hey, I'm, I'm heading out.
• 24:46
  So this same guy, he told me, Hey, Iver do you know, do you
• 24:50
  know that place that she's talking about?
• 24:51
  I said, no, I have no idea. He's like, that place is
• 24:53
  amazing. You got to learn so much.
• 24:55
  If you go there, you you really, really, really should go.
• 24:59
  So you invited yourself, so I. Invited myself.
• 25:02
  So I went to Nantucket and you know, I learned so, so much more
• 25:07
  there and I was exposed to to an incredible hospitality scene
• 25:13
  there. And Fast forward and then when I
• 25:15
  came back to Naples, I was that much more confident.
• 25:18
  And at the time that the Mikos group in Naples were the
• 25:23
  strongest restaurant group and they were set to open this
• 25:28
  steakhouse called the Continental.
• 25:32
  And that was a talk of the town at the time.
• 25:35
  Everyone was saying, oh, wow, the Mikos, you know, they're
• 25:37
  opening a new restaurant and you know, this is going to be
• 25:40
  essentially it was set to be the hottest place in town.
• 25:45
  And I, I, I was just dead set of getting a, on getting a job
• 25:50
  there. I said, look, that's where I'm
• 25:52
  going to work. And then again, the challenge
• 25:55
  they were, they were not, there was no Somalia position for the
• 26:01
  restaurant. And of course, at the time, I,
• 26:04
  I, I had already experienced and, and I knew better and I, I
• 26:08
  was able to understand more how restaurants work.
• 26:11
  And I looked at the, you know, the, the setup that was to be at
• 26:16
  the restaurant and all this. And I said, you know what, I'm
• 26:19
  going to apply for a server. I'm going to apply for a server
• 26:22
  position, but I know they're going to need a sommelier.
• 26:25
  You know, it's a steakhouse and it is going to be large and busy
• 26:29
  and all this. So I got the job and during my
• 26:32
  job interview, you know, or after the job with everyone,
• 26:37
  they let me know that that they were offering me the position.
• 26:40
  I go back there and and they say, hey, listen, you, you are
• 26:45
  really well versed in wine and we're certainly going to need
• 26:47
  this help. You should help us train the
• 26:54
  staff on the wines by the glass and all this you are, we're
• 26:58
  going to connect you with our beverage manager and you know,
• 27:02
  we, we, we would love for you to be involved with the wine and
• 27:06
  all this. And I was like, oh, we have
• 27:08
  absolutely. So the restaurant opened and,
• 27:11
  and I was right. You, you, you really, you know
• 27:15
  it. You really needed someone on the
• 27:18
  floor dedicated to sell wine. So maybe short, very, very
• 27:23
  shortly after, 2-3 months after opening, I said, hey, listen,
• 27:27
  how about, you know, I would, I would love to be the sommelier
• 27:30
  here. You know, I, I have my section,
• 27:33
  but I'm, I'm still going to all their service tables and I'm
• 27:37
  helping them and I'm, I'm essentially already kind of
• 27:40
  doing it. And they said, yes, you know, we
• 27:45
  agree. Yes, we see, you know, we, we
• 27:47
  see what you've been doing, you know, let us get back to you
• 27:50
  with a, with a proposal. You know, I don't promise
• 27:52
  anything. At the time I was asking the
• 27:53
  gym. I don't promise anything, but I
• 27:55
  agreed, you know, I'll try. And then they, you know, they
• 28:00
  told me, listen, how about this? You, you work as a server on the
• 28:06
  weekdays and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you work as a
• 28:09
  wine steward. And I was, I was thrilled.
• 28:14
  I was like, Oh my God, finally, you know, I, you know, I'll be
• 28:17
  able to work as a sommelier and, and you know, just dedicate my
• 28:22
  time for it kinda. I still had to work like 2:00
• 28:24
  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Tuesday and Wednesday as as a
• 28:27
  server. So how did this?
• 28:28
  New role go for. You so it went really well,
• 28:31
  except that you know the you know the the the deal was that
• 28:36
  when I worked on Thursday, Friday, Saturday as wine
• 28:40
  steward, of course, I there was no tips or anything like this.
• 28:45
  So they said, look, you know, it's, you're going to have to,
• 28:49
  you know, pay forward for this. So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I
• 28:53
  was, I was essentially, I was almost volunteering my time.
• 29:01
  So you have. To do the thing that you love,
• 29:02
  but you're not getting paid very well for?
• 29:04
  Exactly. But you know, looking, looking
• 29:06
  at it today, it worked out very well because for it was
• 29:10
  education, right? It was I was, I was essentially
• 29:13
  getting paid to learn the trade. So it all went very well and the
• 29:18
  season ended. And then right after that I
• 29:21
  became the official sommelier, officially the sommelier there.
• 29:25
  And then shortly after I was promoted to beverage manager.
• 29:33
  And when this happened, then I, I really started thinking, OK,
• 29:38
  I, you know, do I, I need to know now, do I take this to the
• 29:43
  next level, right? I, if I, if I want the growth,
• 29:48
  do I take it to the next level or what am I going to do here?
• 29:52
  And at the time I was familiar with the, with some of the
• 29:55
  certifications, but I really didn't know what was the Court
• 29:57
  of Masters Senneliers or anything like this.
• 30:00
  And one of the gentlemen that used to work at the restaurant,
• 30:04
  he, he said, Hey, we're look, I am a level 2.
• 30:06
  I have, I am a certified some MBA and you, you should really
• 30:10
  do this. And essentially so I went and
• 30:15
  took my level 1. I really loved it.
• 30:17
  And then almost back, like two months later, I went to it was
• 30:22
  at the, IT was Houston and I took my certified and, and I
• 30:26
  passed and, and I, I had a, a pretty good run at the
• 30:35
  continental while I was, you know, working through my
• 30:39
  certification and learning and gaining experience and all this.
• 30:42
  But then this this this guy that I met working at a different
• 30:47
  ration, he's like, hey, I'm going to go for my advanced, I'm
• 30:52
  going to go for my Level 3. And I need someone to study.
• 30:56
  I need someone to study with because, you know, you cannot do
• 30:58
  this alone. And he's like, have you
• 31:00
  considered, you know, I was like, man, you know, I've never
• 31:04
  been really an academic person. Let's say I get fidgety if I'm,
• 31:08
  you know, just hitting the books for too long.
• 31:11
  And yeah, I get distracted and, and I said, I don't know, but
• 31:16
  look, I'll help you, you know, you know, let's go, let's go for
• 31:20
  it. Let's study.
• 31:20
  And then I started studying for the advanced and of course, it's
• 31:26
  that much more difficult, right? It's it's intimidating.
• 31:31
  It takes a very, very long time. It may be maybe three to five
• 31:36
  years after you're sorry to interrupt.
• 31:39
  Igor, I want to make sure that we leave enough time to talk
• 31:42
  about what you're doing present day, Miss Hospitality, the
• 31:45
  consulting and everything. So I understand through the
• 31:47
  overall arc here, like you're getting more experience.
• 31:50
  You're, you know, getting the opportunity to level up.
• 31:53
  Now you're, you know, you're getting your own certifications.
• 31:56
  And then from here, connect the dots for us to get to how the
• 32:00
  opportunity at Mr. Hospitality came about.
• 32:02
  Oh. Yeah, sure.
• 32:03
  So what when I was in Naples, Fast forward, I stayed with the
• 32:08
  Damicos for about 8 years and I wanted to experience a a
• 32:15
  different side of hospitality, you know, and one of the things
• 32:18
  that I didn't have was a member only environments.
• 32:21
  So I started working at Bacolony Beach Club in Naples and after
• 32:28
  about 18 months there, Hurricane Ian passed in.
• 32:32
  So it was in 2022 and Bacolony Beach Club is as waterfront as
• 32:36
  it gets. So the, the property sustained
• 32:40
  quite a bit of damage and it was closed indefinitely.
• 32:43
  And because of that, I, I needed to figure out what to do.
• 32:46
  So I started reaching out to people, you know, everywhere
• 32:52
  Naples, but also San Francisco. But Naples was, you know, the
• 32:55
  whole city was silly shock from all this.
• 32:58
  And so I started reaching out to friends in San Francisco, in New
• 33:01
  York and Nantucket as well. And then this friend of mine had
• 33:06
  just moved to Miami and I was thinking, OK, look, do I, I
• 33:11
  either make the long journey, move across the country to
• 33:16
  California or I look for other places around here.
• 33:20
  And I called this friend to pick her brain on her experience in
• 33:23
  Miami, what she was doing and what was it difficult to find a
• 33:26
  rant and all this. And she's like, why are you
• 33:29
  asking me all this? Are are you looking to move?
• 33:31
  And, and I said, well, I kind of have to, you know, I, I, things
• 33:36
  are really complicated here after the hurricane and all
• 33:38
  this. And she said, well, look, might
• 33:40
  not be what you're looking for, but I'm looking for a sommelier.
• 33:44
  And I said, no, it is. It's perfect.
• 33:47
  I said, because I didn't want, you know, to be in a new city in
• 33:50
  a completely new environment with big responsibilities
• 33:54
  already. And all this for me, what I
• 33:56
  wanted to, for the first job to be in a new city was exactly
• 34:00
  that, going back to being a son on the floor.
• 34:02
  You know, you clock in, you come in.
• 34:05
  Because in some ways this was a little bit of a step back,
• 34:07
  right? You've been food and beverage
• 34:09
  director now kind of stepping back into a sommier role.
• 34:12
  But you're like, no, this is very comfortable for me.
• 34:14
  I I would prefer to move forward in this way.
• 34:16
  Exactly because I wanted, you know, what if it what if it
• 34:19
  doesn't work out? What if the move doesn't work
• 34:21
  out right? Or what if the adaptation in the
• 34:23
  city is, you know, takes a little longer?
• 34:25
  You don't want the massive responsibilities of a, of a
• 34:28
  beverage director role to be all jumbled up into this.
• 34:32
  And it was, so it worked out really well.
• 34:34
  And I started there, this was at Fisher Island Club here in
• 34:38
  Miami. And five months later, maybe
• 34:42
  four or five months later, they handed me the beverage program.
• 34:46
  So then I so that I took over the beverage program as a whole.
• 34:51
  And then I stayed there for about 18 months in total, almost
• 34:55
  two years. And then at the time, I was
• 34:58
  really curious about experiencing the real Miami or,
• 35:05
  you know, these the the properties that are more into
• 35:08
  this pulsating energy of Miami. And at the time, Mr. Hospitality
• 35:14
  was building the the mood boards.
• 35:18
  It was soon in the early stages of their new venture, or which,
• 35:22
  you know, in this would become Lafayette and they were looking
• 35:26
  for someone to put together the wine program.
• 35:30
  But the, the challenge was that there were six weeks until
• 35:38
  opening. I'm fast forwarding a little
• 35:39
  bit, but there were six weeks until opening and there was
• 35:41
  nothing done as far as wine program.
• 35:45
  So I got this phone call by this friend of mine who at the time
• 35:50
  was the director of operations there.
• 35:52
  And he said, listen, I, I have a challenge for you.
• 35:54
  And, and you know, there's a couple of guys here that I think
• 35:57
  that can do this. And, and please, please say yes.
• 36:01
  And he said we need to build the wine program for a multimillion
• 36:06
  dollar steakhouse and we're looking to, you know, go for
• 36:09
  awards right off the bat. We really want a beautiful wine
• 36:12
  list. And, and I said, oh, that all
• 36:15
  sounds great. What's the challenge?
• 36:17
  It's all exciting. It's like, well, the challenge
• 36:18
  is that there's no, nothing done yet.
• 36:22
  No wine has been bought. And we you have you would have
• 36:25
  about 5 weeks to put it together.
• 36:28
  How long would you normally want to start a program from scratch?
• 36:34
  Three to six months, OK, three to six months, I would say, but
• 36:38
  you. Made it happen I.
• 36:39
  Made it happen. Yes, I and.
• 36:40
  How did you do it I. Made it a rabbit.
• 36:43
  Out of a hat. Yeah.
• 36:44
  Well, thankfully, I think with the, you know, with the years of
• 36:47
  experience and for all the years that I spend at at the Mikos de
• 36:51
  Continental as well-being a high volume but also high end
• 36:57
  steakhouse. You know, I've had that
• 36:59
  experience of running that average program, which I was
• 37:02
  able to implement, you know, with some changes, of course, to
• 37:09
  completely different cities to complete completely different
• 37:11
  markets being Naples and Miami. But I was able to kind of
• 37:16
  readapt my ideas from those years and implements at at
• 37:22
  Lafayette and it it worked out very well.
• 37:24
  So after eight weeks of consulting, the the restaurant
• 37:29
  was open, you know, and we were running in, in training.
• 37:31
  I had a nine week contract with the group then organically and
• 37:37
  you know, the opportunity appeared to join the team as an
• 37:42
  employee. So then, you know, the other two
• 37:44
  properties also needed some love either revamping the the program
• 37:50
  or you know, staff training and all this, which I had already
• 37:53
  plans of doing. So then I became the the
• 37:57
  corporate wine director for the company.
• 38:00
  So I consulted for about 8 weeks and then I joined the team.
• 38:05
  So here's my question as an outsider or somebody who just,
• 38:08
  you know, knows wine from having consumed it but doesn't
• 38:12
  understand sort of the nuances of your role.
• 38:16
  What is so challenging, what is so difficult about setting up a
• 38:19
  wine program? You know, I see you've got these
• 38:21
  three restaurants. Why not just serve the same wine
• 38:25
  to each location? The main reason or, or one of
• 38:34
  the main reasons would be the, the demand, right?
• 38:40
  The demographics and the, the placing time that the, that any
• 38:45
  given city is at the moment. This is something that could be
• 38:50
  very challenging where, you know, I, I can't, for instance,
• 38:55
  mirror what I have done in San Francisco to Miami, right?
• 39:02
  Because the demand, the demographics that you know, the,
• 39:05
  the, the, the stage in that the city is as far as hospitality or
• 39:12
  dining is completely different. And so it's an ever involving
• 39:16
  thing and it's certainly a moving target.
• 39:19
  So this is a challenge. The other thing is really, you
• 39:24
  know, understanding the what, what takes a successful beverage
• 39:32
  program, right? And, and what do I mean by that
• 39:35
  is a lot of, a lot of times when someone is building a beverage
• 39:38
  program, it's very easy to start thinking that you're building
• 39:45
  the program for yourself. You know, you're, you're like,
• 39:49
  oh, I like this and I like that and I like this.
• 39:51
  And in this region and out that. And you forget that you're,
• 39:55
  you're not building the, the program for yourself, right?
• 39:58
  You're building the program for the people that will come
• 40:00
  through the doors and, and, and experience that.
• 40:02
  And and you still, you still have many chances and many
• 40:07
  opportunities of showing your personality or showing what you
• 40:10
  love in your preference in. In being the wine list or
• 40:14
  cocktail selection or styles of service and all this.
• 40:18
  But ultimately you are, you know, you are reading what the
• 40:24
  guests are looking for. So this is another challenge,
• 40:29
  right? And this changes from 1 concept
• 40:32
  to another, or from one city to another, or even for from one
• 40:38
  wine region to another in the same wine list, right?
• 40:41
  So obviously, we've been talking a lot about wine.
• 40:44
  That's where your big passion is.
• 40:47
  But as beverage director, you know, you're also responsible
• 40:50
  for other drink options. How do you approach, like,
• 40:54
  what's your thought process in choosing those?
• 40:57
  Yeah. You know, yeah, beverage
• 41:01
  beverage as a whole, you know, it's you cannot have, you cannot
• 41:08
  have a fantastic and you see it happen, right?
• 41:11
  It's it's not going to necessarily think a business,
• 41:14
  but you cannot have an amazing wine list and a very weak
• 41:20
  cocktail list, right? Or you cannot have a really
• 41:25
  great tea selection and not have a good coffee machine.
• 41:30
  So understanding that is very important.
• 41:35
  And then also, you know, learning that you can put your
• 41:41
  ego aside and use your team members or bringing in people
• 41:48
  that, you know, have either the know how or have the, the
• 41:53
  experience to develop a section of the beverage program that
• 41:58
  maybe you might not be, you know, as well versed or as
• 42:02
  creative at. For instance, I cannot mix great
• 42:06
  drinks, right? I don't, I, I can mix drinks and
• 42:09
  I can probably figure it out if I'm, if I'm, if I get thrown
• 42:12
  behind the bar, but I, I cannot create cocktails.
• 42:16
  I cannot create something exciting.
• 42:19
  So, you know, it's I, I, I have the humility, let's say, to, to
• 42:26
  understand that. Do I have, do I have a good bar
• 42:30
  manager here? Do I have a mixologist?
• 42:32
  Do I have a strong team that I can give directions, I can show,
• 42:38
  I can share my vision and have it developed, you know, as a
• 42:44
  team. And this is also a great
• 42:47
  opportunity to empower team members to allow them to
• 42:52
  exercise their creativity. So, so it's a win win for
• 42:55
  everyone. Talk to me about how you view
• 42:59
  the state of the hospitality industry today.
• 43:04
  Challenging, you know, there's a, you know, there are, there
• 43:08
  are different ways to look at it.
• 43:10
  You know, it could be scary in a way, it could be tense in
• 43:19
  depending in, you know, or which cities that that we talk about,
• 43:24
  but definitely challenging and, you know, from a because of a, a
• 43:30
  combination of factors. But you know, one example that
• 43:32
  we can use is the high cost of everything, right?
• 43:38
  And the prices that especially in a city like Miami, you see,
• 43:42
  right? And there's a, you know, let's
• 43:48
  use Miami as an example. 2020 or after COVID, Miami was going
• 43:54
  through this era that the sky was the limit, right?
• 43:58
  And we still see that today. The city is growing like crazy.
• 44:02
  But there was this these number of years that that the city
• 44:08
  exploded. And then you start seeing
• 44:14
  situations where the top restaurants in the city were the
• 44:19
  most expensive ones or every top restaurant in the city was also
• 44:25
  expensive restaurants, Right. And I know to some people this
• 44:28
  might seem obvious. Oh, yeah.
• 44:29
  Of course, the best restaurants in the city will be the most
• 44:32
  expensive ones, But that that's not true, right?
• 44:34
  You can have legendary restaurants in, you know, in, in
• 44:39
  any given city, or you can have really famous and really popular
• 44:42
  restaurants that are not necessarily high end or, or, you
• 44:46
  know, celebration places. But then because of this
• 44:50
  situation happened in Miami, when all of a sudden every place
• 44:55
  you go to is is expensive, right?
• 44:57
  And then when we look at the beverage being such an important
• 45:04
  revenue stream for the restaurant, it's a fine line
• 45:07
  where you look at it and you're like, OK, the, the, the, our
• 45:13
  wine selection or our beverage program is making really good
• 45:16
  money. You know, we have a really good
• 45:18
  COGS or cost of goods sold, meaning, you know, I, I paid
• 45:22
  $20.00 for this and I'm selling for 100 and people are buying
• 45:26
  and etcetera. There's a very fine line from
• 45:29
  this to people coming in and saying, wait a second, you know,
• 45:35
  I, there's this glass of wine that, you know, I don't know
• 45:39
  what it is. I'm not a wine, a wine expert or
• 45:43
  anything. I just want a glass of wine with
• 45:45
  dinner and it's $27.00, right? Then this person will be like,
• 45:50
  you know what, I'm just going to have a vodka soda for 18.
• 45:54
  He's going to give me the same buzz, you know, it's going to be
• 45:57
  my drink of the night anyways. And then it come and then and
• 46:02
  that develops into a situation where people's like, oh, people
• 46:05
  are not drinking anymore wine or people, you know, people are,
• 46:08
  people are already drinking less and less and people would drink
• 46:10
  even even less if you go to any restaurant and you're like, man,
• 46:16
  I, I ordered a beer. And then after tax and tip, this
• 46:19
  beer's $14.00, right? For a Corona, let's say.
• 46:24
  And this is something that is very common here now.
• 46:29
  So it is challenging because not only we have inflation all
• 46:35
  across, right, not only with, you know, dying out, but also at
• 46:40
  the groceries and everywhere, right, We see this inflation and
• 46:45
  then operating costs are extremely high, as as we all
• 46:49
  know. And then in addition to that,
• 46:53
  there is the pressure of of course turning a profit, making
• 46:57
  sure your your beverage program is being successful in terms of
• 47:02
  profitability, but then at the same time figuring out how to
• 47:09
  provide a form of value to the consumer.
• 47:12
  And I feel like these years, maybe last year or 2024-2025, in
• 47:19
  these first couple of months of 26, this has been the most
• 47:22
  challenging thing in the beverage program along with
• 47:26
  people drinking less and less, which you know, it's maybe the
• 47:30
  most talked about subject in the beverage world right now, how
• 47:35
  the current generation is ranking 30% less and all this.
• 47:39
  Talk to me about the resilience of the hospitality workforce.
• 47:43
  Yeah. You know, it's as, you know,
• 47:48
  it's an industry that almost almost always someone joins
• 47:57
  either because of plain necessity, right, or just like,
• 48:03
  hey, look, I need some quick cash.
• 48:05
  You know, I'm going to, I'm going to go and you know, I'm
• 48:08
  going to work in a restaurant for a few months.
• 48:09
  So because, you know, I need that money or I, you know, I
• 48:14
  did, I don't have experience or to have a diploma or just for
• 48:19
  whatever reasons that necessity could come or because it is a
• 48:23
  labor of love, right? It's like I, I'm going to go
• 48:26
  because I've always loved food and wine and I want to, you
• 48:29
  know, I could, this is what makes me happy, you know, and,
• 48:35
  and that that creates a very, you know, not that creates a
• 48:42
  very challenging industry, but naturally it becomes a volatile
• 48:51
  industry. Let's see.
• 48:52
  And then on top of it, there is, you know, there, there's so much
• 48:56
  the, the variables of a restaurant.
• 49:02
  When you compare that to other industries, there's just so
• 49:05
  much, right? You can have a great restaurant,
• 49:08
  but if the location is not ideal, the restaurant will
• 49:12
  suffer. You can have a perfect location,
• 49:14
  but if you don't have a great restaurant, the restaurant will
• 49:18
  suffer. If you have everything perfectly
• 49:22
  but then a hurricane comes by, then the restaurant will suffer
• 49:27
  or rain or you know, or if you don't have the.
• 49:30
  Right team in place or? If you don't have, you know, or,
• 49:33
  and then in addition to that, we, you know, you have the hours
• 49:40
  that are, you know, crazy in, in some places.
• 49:44
  And then you have the, the, you know, it's how you're walking
• 49:49
  and you're standing and you know, the level of stress.
• 49:52
  And it is just, it's a continuous barrage of things.
• 49:57
  And then, you know, on top of it, then, you know, we have
• 50:01
  things that can come up like COVID, right?
• 50:04
  This, I remember when it happened at first we, we got,
• 50:10
  you know, when we got the notice that we were all going to be
• 50:13
  furloughed in like 3 days when COVID happened, you're like,
• 50:19
  what, you know, what do I do, right?
• 50:21
  And I understand if you have to switch from one restaurant to
• 50:27
  another, but now there, there is no restaurant, right?
• 50:31
  What are you, what are you going to do?
• 50:32
  And then it was so of course it was, it was challenging, it was
• 50:37
  difficult for all all of us, but it was so inspiring to see also
• 50:41
  how quickly so many people figured out in our industry
• 50:45
  like, Hey, I'll use myself as an example, right?
• 50:49
  I said, look, I'm, you know, I run beverage programs.
• 50:52
  I know a lot of people from dining constantly at a
• 50:55
  restaurant that, you know, people have texted me for, for
• 50:59
  questions, either when they're shopping at, at a wine store or
• 51:04
  if they're entertaining and they're opening this special
• 51:06
  bottle of wine. And I said maybe I can do
• 51:10
  something with this experience outside of restaurants.
• 51:12
  And that's when I set up wise Seller and you know the idea,
• 51:18
  Make sure. Everybody heard it correctly.
• 51:19
  Wise seller. Wise seller?
• 51:22
  Yeah, and the seller? Is with AC, yeah.
• 51:24
  It's like a wine seller, OK? So out of the stress and the
• 51:28
  turmoil of COVID came, you know, you came up with this new
• 51:32
  opportunity. Yeah.
• 51:33
  You know, and now my idea was I, you know, I, there's no
• 51:38
  restaurant, right? Every restaurant is closed.
• 51:40
  So what do I do? And then I had this idea of
• 51:43
  using my experience to provide consulting, seller management,
• 51:53
  you know, private client services and all this.
• 51:55
  And then luckily for me at the time, because restaurants were
• 51:59
  closed, a lot of, a lot of people were either entertaining
• 52:02
  at home or they were looking to get creative with their, with
• 52:07
  their wine selection, right? Hey, listen, I have all this
• 52:10
  wine at home. I can, I cannot dine out.
• 52:14
  I have a private chef. I'm going to turn my restaurant
• 52:18
  into, you know, my, my home into my little restaurant.
• 52:21
  Let's see, I'm going to invite 10 guests and, and of course,
• 52:24
  I'll eventually opportunities started appearing where, you
• 52:30
  know, I would go to people's homes and, and essentially
• 52:34
  provide a sommelier service throughout the dinner.
• 52:38
  And this is one example of that resilience, right?
• 52:42
  And there, and there are so many, right?
• 52:44
  This, this friend of mine, she is a, an extremely successful
• 52:48
  private chef today. And it all started because of
• 52:50
  COVID. She, she was not furloughed and
• 52:53
  once the restaurant reopened, she would come back.
• 52:55
  She, she lost her job. The, the restaurant decided not,
• 52:58
  you know, the, the, the owners decided to not reopen the
• 53:01
  restaurant and now she owns an incredibly successful catering
• 53:06
  business. So, you know, there's, these
• 53:11
  are, are good examples of of the resilience from the from the
• 53:16
  world workforce of the food and beverage world.
• 53:20
  So I want to hear more about the state of wise seller today.
• 53:25
  Are you still providing services?
• 53:27
  What does it look like in present day 2026?
• 53:31
  Yeah. So today as the business
• 53:33
  evolved, we provide services both for commercial on the
• 53:40
  commercial side and private side.
• 53:42
  So I provide beverage management or beverage consulting to
• 53:50
  restaurants being either shorter.
• 53:53
  Hey, you know, we've noticed for the last three months, you know,
• 53:57
  our profits are really low. We don't know what to, you know,
• 53:59
  we don't have a beverage manager.
• 54:01
  Our GM runs the program. Can you come take a look at it
• 54:04
  or long term, such as how my experience with Mr. Hospitality
• 54:10
  started. I was, I was contracted to build
• 54:14
  the wine list under wise seller. So I was consulting, you know,
• 54:18
  for, for the company because they didn't have someone to put
• 54:21
  the, the wine list together. And then on the private side,
• 54:26
  besides, of course, private dinners and, and, and so maybe
• 54:33
  yes, services. We also do a lot of salary
• 54:37
  management and seller valuation. I can assist with connecting
• 54:46
  different, connecting collectors with each other.
• 54:49
  A lot of times they, you know, they, they want to create a
• 54:54
  small group of people that they can go out and dine together.
• 54:58
  And so I, I work as a, as the glue between between them and so
• 55:03
  we essentially anything around wine that one might need, we
• 55:10
  provide. Except I don't make, except I
• 55:12
  don't make, I don't make wine. You don't make the wine, that's
• 55:15
  the only thing you can't do, but you can choose the great ones
• 55:18
  for them. And so you have the the wise
• 55:22
  seller as its own stand alone business and you're a full time
• 55:26
  employee of Mr. Hospitality today.
• 55:28
  Is that yes I do. Both, yeah.
• 55:31
  And so, yeah, you've got time for both, obviously.
• 55:33
  I mean, you get to do your your life's passion every day.
• 55:37
  What is the future Mr. Hospitality look like?
• 55:40
  Are there more locations coming and any plans for growth there?
• 55:44
  So right now we're staying with the three locations and
• 55:49
  essentially just developing. You know, Lafayette is still
• 55:52
  fairly new. It's on its second year and
• 55:56
  Marion, which is our longest standing properties, just over
• 56:00
  10 years, recently went through a major renovation.
• 56:04
  So the idea is to focus on the, on these three properties now
• 56:08
  and maintain and develop the all my department, you know, to
• 56:16
  develop these programs and, and maintain, you know, what we're
• 56:19
  doing with tweaks here and there and adjusting to, you know,
• 56:24
  whatever we feel like the, the industry demands.
• 56:30
  But we're keeping these three properties that I know of, at
• 56:33
  least right now, yeah. You've got your hands full with
• 56:35
  a recent renovation and one of the concepts still being pretty
• 56:39
  new. You know, you talk about the
• 56:40
  stressors of working in the hospitality industry.
• 56:44
  What do you do to make sure that you and your team are having
• 56:47
  fun? Taste wine.
• 56:52
  That is one of them for sure. You know, some, this is
• 56:57
  interesting actually, it, it, it, you know, I say this as a,
• 57:00
  as a, as a joke, but if you think about it, you know, in, in
• 57:05
  this industry, people that do what I do, we get maybe a little
• 57:10
  bit sensitized about a how intimidating wine can be to
• 57:15
  some, but also how new and, and exciting it could be, right?
• 57:20
  We get so used to you're tasting wine all the time and people
• 57:24
  will invite you to dinners and you go to the station's at the
• 57:27
  wine makers there, the owners and 200 different wines and all
• 57:31
  this. But to a lot of people, even in
• 57:34
  the restaurant that you might be working and to a lot of people,
• 57:38
  you know, they they never get to try anything.
• 57:39
  They never get to, you know, they see these bottles floating
• 57:44
  around the restaurant and going in and out.
• 57:46
  And maybe the sommelier is excited about this bottle that
• 57:49
  he or she sold for this specific table in, in, in, you know, a
• 57:53
  lot of a lot of team members, they just see these things, but
• 57:56
  they don't experience it. So I love giving them the
• 58:01
  opportunity to to try the wine, you know, to, you know, to to
• 58:05
  understand why maybe we got excited about this one producer,
• 58:10
  this one bottle. And so I love giving the whole
• 58:15
  team the opportunity to try special wines and, and you know,
• 58:19
  sharing a little bit of the passion.
• 58:22
  For people who want to break into a similar role, wine
• 58:26
  director, sommelier, folks that are listening now, what advice
• 58:29
  do you have for them? If you, if you are curious about
• 58:37
  it or if you love wine, to not be intimidated by the challenges
• 58:42
  that appear at the beginning, especially in the, in the wine
• 58:50
  industry, it's very common to see the, you know, the moment
• 58:54
  someone thinks they know enough, or maybe this person has some
• 59:00
  level of recognition and some, this person have a number of
• 59:03
  years of experience. Sometimes you see people getting
• 59:07
  maybe a little, you know, too confident or too full of
• 59:11
  themselves and they're like, oh, you know, this, they all this
• 59:15
  person, you know, just said this about this region and it doesn't
• 59:17
  make any sense or this this person doesn't know what they're
• 59:21
  they're talking about. And when you just start into
• 59:25
  whine, it's very, you know, it's very common to either maybe feel
• 59:29
  like you don't belong or maybe you feel belittled by some other
• 59:34
  people and you know it. But of course, whoever does that
• 59:38
  and you know, it's, it's, they go in my black book, whoever
• 59:42
  treats, whoever treats newcomers like that, it's really bad.
• 59:46
  So, but, but it does happen, right?
• 59:48
  So I what I would say to people is if, if it feels intimidating,
• 59:55
  if it feels challenging, and if it feels like a complete crazy
• 1:00:00
  foreign world, whoever is maybe a master sommelier today or an
• 1:00:07
  advanced sommelier. Or a wine celebrity, they were
• 1:00:10
  there to at some point, right? No one, no one was born knowing
• 1:00:17
  about wine. It doesn't matter if if it's
• 1:00:19
  Genesis Robinson or any of the, you know, a master sommelier or
• 1:00:25
  master of wine, you know, everyone started from zero,
• 1:00:27
  right? Everyone at some point had to
• 1:00:30
  know what is Chardonnay, right? So that's what I tell people.
• 1:00:33
  It's just be humble, let you know and, and, and ask
• 1:00:39
  questions. There's not a bad question that
• 1:00:41
  you can ask and any opportunity that appears to try the wine.
• 1:00:50
  It's it's, it's, it's important, right?
• 1:00:52
  Because a lot of times we, you know, if you, if you can read
• 1:01:00
  about a lot of wines and regions and, and you can hear someone
• 1:01:05
  say, Oh, this, this is what is great.
• 1:01:08
  And this is what is not so great, being a region, being a
• 1:01:11
  great, being a producer. But ultimately wine is very
• 1:01:14
  personal, right? You, you, you, you, you might
• 1:01:18
  like something that maybe most people think it's not very good
• 1:01:22
  or the other way around, or you, or there's something that maybe
• 1:01:24
  everyone loves and you might not be really fond of.
• 1:01:27
  And you're really going to find out all this by tasting the
• 1:01:31
  wine. So when you have the
• 1:01:32
  opportunity, try. You know, we've already talked
• 1:01:36
  about some of the big challenges you've overcome, COVID, you
• 1:01:39
  know, coming to the States and your job not being here.
• 1:01:42
  I wonder if there's anything else that you want to give voice
• 1:01:45
  to? Big challenge that you've
• 1:01:46
  overcome in your life. What is it?
• 1:01:52
  What is what is a a big challenge?
• 1:01:57
  I think you know why. The, the, the toughest thing for
• 1:02:03
  me is as on a, on a personal side is being fired from my
• 1:02:09
  family, right? You, you, you know, we, we, even
• 1:02:14
  though moving to a different country was a decision of mine,
• 1:02:19
  you know, there is this big, big, big, big compromise, which
• 1:02:24
  is to be far from your family. So, and this is a constant,
• 1:02:30
  right? We, we always, you know, we, you
• 1:02:34
  know, you always think of did I move for a better life?
• 1:02:38
  Did I move because I wanted to, you know, experience something
• 1:02:44
  different in something new. And then, you know, eventually
• 1:02:48
  as we get older and time passes, maybe we get wiser than not that
• 1:02:53
  you start questioning your decisions, but you start
• 1:02:56
  realizing how much you how much you had to, you know, yeah, part
• 1:03:06
  ways with right and, and being fired, being fired from all your
• 1:03:13
  relatives, right. I'm here.
• 1:03:14
  I I don't have not even a cousin or, you know, every everyone is
• 1:03:19
  back in Brazil. So this is a, you know, a big
• 1:03:23
  challenge and you know, the one of the, one of the things that
• 1:03:28
  happened, and I think 1 can only experience this by going through
• 1:03:35
  this life decision is how much we end up connecting either with
• 1:03:42
  friends or, you know, with partners.
• 1:03:45
  You know how quickly your friends become your family,
• 1:03:49
  right? And eventually you, you realize
• 1:03:53
  how much you have to count on each other because you're
• 1:03:57
  detached from your family. So, so this is a challenge.
• 1:04:01
  And it's something that, you know, I, I have told myself to
• 1:04:05
  not take, you know, not, not forget it, right?
• 1:04:10
  And not to think, oh, you know, my, my, my mom and my dad will
• 1:04:15
  be there forever. And, and you know, it's, it's
• 1:04:19
  all good. And so this is so this is a, a
• 1:04:22
  challenge for me to try to balance out the, the, the
• 1:04:28
  decision of living so far from, from my family and understanding
• 1:04:33
  and understanding why and, but also, you know, being able to,
• 1:04:39
  to cope with it, cope with the distance.
• 1:04:41
  How do you cope with the distance?
• 1:04:43
  Is it like FaceTime calls, Zoom calls?
• 1:04:46
  Maybe a trip there once every year or two.
• 1:04:49
  Yeah, you know, we try to I try to visit as much as possible and
• 1:04:56
  that's the the kind of Part 2 all we're talking about.
• 1:05:01
  You know, it's so easy to get sucked into our routines and
• 1:05:07
  work and you know, you're, you're just you.
• 1:05:13
  We know it. We get we get so busy, right?
• 1:05:16
  We get so busy with life and, and, and we're like, Oh, I'm too
• 1:05:19
  busy to do this or I'm too busy to plan a visit.
• 1:05:21
  And, and sometimes, you know, when a family member calls you,
• 1:05:26
  you don't pick up, right? You're like, Oh, no, I, I'm
• 1:05:30
  running, I'm busy, I'm running around and all this.
• 1:05:32
  And you know, this is, this is something that I have thought
• 1:05:35
  myself and I, you know, and I'm not perfect, right?
• 1:05:38
  And we all, I'm not saying that I pick, I pick up their phone
• 1:05:43
  every time my mom calls, but this is something that I've been
• 1:05:46
  trying to do better. And, you know, spending, you
• 1:05:52
  know, having more meaningful conversations, right?
• 1:05:56
  Maybe maybe expressing a little bit more often to them that, you
• 1:06:05
  know, you're, even though you, you live so far away and maybe
• 1:06:10
  you're not seeing them every weekend like your, your siblings
• 1:06:15
  do, that you still care for them very much.
• 1:06:18
  And of course, you, you, you, you, you, you are thinking about
• 1:06:23
  that most of the time. So and then of course, you know,
• 1:06:25
  the usual, then the usual phone calls and conversations and all
• 1:06:28
  this. But I have certainly gotten
• 1:06:31
  better into having more meaningful conversation,
• 1:06:34
  especially with my parents. It's so important that human
• 1:06:37
  connection. Evor, I just have one more
• 1:06:40
  question for you today. But before I ask it, I want to
• 1:06:42
  do 3 quick things for the audience.
• 1:06:44
  First of all, anybody that wants to get in touch in Igor, know
• 1:06:48
  that Igor's name is spelled with a silent H at the beginning
• 1:06:51
  HIGOR, so his e-mail address is igorwithanh@wiseseller.com.
• 1:06:58
  And remember, seller is spelled with
• 1:07:00
  aclikewinecellarsoigor@wisellar.com and we'll have that in the show
• 1:07:04
  notes for folks. Also, if you're enjoying the
• 1:07:06
  show today, please take a moment to subscribe wherever you're
• 1:07:09
  listening. It sends a signal that helps
• 1:07:11
  others discover our show. So thank you for taking a quick
• 1:07:14
  moment to do that right now. And as a reminder, you can get
• 1:07:18
  your restaurant employees access to therapists, doctors, and
• 1:07:21
  prescription meds that, as paradoxical as it seems,
• 1:07:25
  actually increases your company's net profits, real
• 1:07:28
  gains that can change how a business is valued.
• 1:07:30
  Contact us today at adbackbenefits.com.
• 1:07:33
  So last question for you, Igor, what is your superpower?
• 1:07:41
  Being positive and smiling at almost all times, no matter no
• 1:07:48
  matter how difficult or challenging the situation might
• 1:07:51
  be. And where does that come from?
• 1:07:54
  Is that something you've had to develop over time, or did you
• 1:07:57
  kind of pop pop out of the womb as a happy little kid?
• 1:08:02
  But that, that's a good question.
• 1:08:03
  I don't know if it's a trade off my personality or maybe maybe it
• 1:08:07
  was, but I certainly developed it a little bit more throughout
• 1:08:10
  the years. You know, it's, it's a lot
• 1:08:13
  easier. It's a lot easier to complain or
• 1:08:17
  be negative than to take a deep breath and and stay positive
• 1:08:23
  about something and looking at the solution or the positive
• 1:08:29
  outcome of something. It's much harder.
• 1:08:32
  It's much harder to to do that than to be negative and
• 1:08:38
  complain. Unfortunately.
• 1:08:40
  I wish it was the other way around.
• 1:08:42
  Did you have a helpful teacher with this mindset or some books
• 1:08:47
  or courses or podcasts that have kind of helped steer you in this
• 1:08:50
  direction? You know, I think that even
• 1:08:56
  though she's not here on a daily basis, my mother, you know, my
• 1:09:02
  mother went through many challenges her entire life and
• 1:09:09
  every time I talk to her, every time I, I, I see her, you know,
• 1:09:14
  and it doesn't matter how difficult or how how hard the
• 1:09:18
  situation might be. And she always ends with yes,
• 1:09:22
  but it would all work out. God bless.
• 1:09:26
  It would all work out. So I think it comes from her
• 1:09:29
  there. You go all right.
• 1:09:32
  Well, Igor Valley from both Mr. Hospitality and Why Seller, I
• 1:09:36
  want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time
• 1:09:39
  and your story with us today. I really appreciate you being
• 1:09:41
  here. Thank you very much, it was a
• 1:09:44
  pleasure. Folks, that's a wrap on another
• 1:09:47
  episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
• 1:09:49
  Thanks for learning with us. And if one thing stood out, put
• 1:09:53
  that into action today.