 So I got $6,000 in my pockets but I put like $3,000 in one pocket and like $1,000 in the other and I spread it out, right? So I show up and I'm like, hey man, I'll give you $3,000. He was like, no, you know, I'll do it for $6,000. So I took out the $3,000 in the first pocket. And I was like, look, this is all I brought. I got $3,000 right here, cash. So I was like, take it dude. And you know, people see it, it's different. They get excited. I was like, all right, four. I was like, all right. So I took out the other pocket. And then he laughed. And then we made the deal. I got the truck. And it was like, man, you know, I can't drive manuals. I have to have someone come over and help me drive it home. This is Started to Store From. Today's guest is Fernando Lopez, founder of I Love Mitchelladas. If you've never had a Mitchellada, it's a spicy tomato-based concoction mixed with a beer. Though if I'm being honest, that description doesn't begin to encapsulate the drink that GQ called the greatest Mitchellada in a city full of great Mitchelladas. And whatever you do, don't call it a Mexican Bloody Mary. So listen in as we cover everything from dealing with imposter syndrome, making a Mitchellada mobile from an old VW van, to Fernando's dream of one day getting his product into Applebee's nationwide. Now, back to the episode. Welcome to the podcast. We're here with Fernando Lopez of I Love Mitchelladas. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me, dude. Let's talk about what this is. For people who don't know. Yeah. So I have to explain this. We have listeners from all across the country. Let's do it. Some have never heard of a Mitchellada. Tell them what it is. I'll tell them that they might not have yet, but in five years, the whole country will hear about it. I love that. It's a spicy beer cocktail. It's just a beer cocktail in Mexico. To me, like the quintessential, in the simplest form, a Mitchellada is beer with lime and some sort of rim. And then on top of that, you make it as complex as you want. So we have around two recipes. We have the red that I brought and the OG green. And the OG green is the original one. The OG green is more savory, sauce, sauceful, more like deep, a deeper flavor. I didn't know there was a green one. Yeah, this is like the more friendly, it's lighter, crispier. Red. Tomato flavor. More tomato. Neither one tastes like tomato. Okay. One of my biggest pet peeves is going to a restaurant asking for a Mitchellada and getting like Bloody Mary Mix and a beer. Because tomato is a blending agent. Like as an ingredient, what it does is blends flavors together. So when you add just tomato with beer, all it does is you're kind of just taking away all flavors and you're just getting like watery, tomato-y, watery flavor. I didn't know that. Yeah. So then like what the tomato does in the Mitchellada makes is it kind of blends the flavors together. The citrus, the sauces, like the saltiness. What else is in it? What else is in the Mitchellada? It's the way you make it at home. I mean, think of how you make it at home. You have your sauces, your spices, salt, tomato juice. This one doesn't have any clan juice. Our original one does. Okay. But this one also, this one has anchovies. So it's not exactly vegan. Okay. We have a vegan one also. You can find it on our website. And how did you start the business? Were you guys doing it at the restaurant? They start from the restaurant. You know, we've had the restaurant for 25 years and we took over the restaurant. We were rebranding everything. One of the things we've always sold at the restaurant is the mole. Yeah. The mole is amazing. Yeah. So we bought the Domain Isle of Mole. And it used to be the Galaghetza. And we were talking about branding earlier. Yeah. Like I don't really believe in names that much anymore. Sure. Because Galaghetza is such a weird word. But like giving, our website used to be Galaghetza.com. So like imagine giving that out, right? Yeah. Where it's like THG, GUE, LA, another GUE. So then we bought IsleofMole.com. Once we had the Domain, we were like, all right, let's rebrand our mole. Put it online. We got on Shopify. I think like within, we're one of the first Shopify stores. Or at least, you know, it was super new. Yeah. Like I would ask everybody like, have you heard of Shopify? Have you heard of Shopify? And nobody would know about it. And now they're like the household name. It's crazy. So we got on Shopify. And when we started, people would buy the mole from like, you know, Nebraska. And we would have like five sales a week. So I would hand write a letter to every customer. I'll be like, dear, thank you for your mole. Here's your mole from, you know, Fernando of the Galaghetza family. Send it out. That slowly started becoming bigger and bigger until like I couldn't really do any more handwritten notes. I remember one day we came out in the article and we had 150 orders in one day. Wow. So we had to send all those out. And then, you know, it kind of like stayed, not those numbers, but like it was visible. Yeah. It was cool. Yeah. So then from that it was like, okay, what else can we kind of crack it? Yeah. Because you can only get the restaurant so full. You can only fit so many people. Right. But so then on the product side, it was a way to kind of like grow beyond the restaurant. Yeah. So then one day we were hanging out at the restaurant talking, I think we were talking about the murals that we did outside. And the bartender came up and he was like, hey, somebody wants to buy the Michelada mix that we use here at the bar. And you guys were making it yourself at the bar? Yeah, we always have. That was the OG Brown. Yeah. And we were always, that was the staple of the restaurant. Okay. So people really liked it. They were like, oh, I want to just take the mix. So we're like, all right. Wow. The guy was like, I have some empty tequila bottles. We can just fill that up. Yeah. And we were like, all right. Tell them like $25. Yeah. Because that's like a ridiculous number, right? Like if he wants at that price, then you know. And it was called in line with like, is that a ridiculous number? No, I don't have any. No, I think at the moment, at the moment, we thought it was now considering now, now it's a deeper conversation about prices and Mexican food and everything. Right. Sure. But like we, it was just more in line where it was like, that's the margin. That's the, the, the upsell. Right. And then you get about 10 per bottle. Yeah. So it's about $25. So he buys it for $25. So he buys for $25 bottles and then more people were buying it at $25. Okay. So it was like, okay, if these people were willing to buy it for $25. Yeah. I'm sure outside of the restaurant, we can sell a lot more for, you know, a more reasonable retail price. Yeah. And this was before, I mean, there were literally no Michelin mixes in the market. There were no cups. There was nothing. Nothing existed. Oh man. Two years before the cups existed. It's like whatever that year was. Let's see. So Spotify is a new player. This is probably. Shopify. Shopify. Sorry. Eight to 10 years ago, I would say. Yeah. Probably 2012. Probably 2012. Between 2012 and 2015. Yeah. So we were, you know, the thing is that once we kind of like got it, say to market, the product out to market, we had the product at the restaurant. It was there. We made a lot of mistakes that, you know, like now I wouldn't have done. Okay. Like what happened? Like we, because the price was, I think $10 at first. Okay. So we wanted it to look like a $10 product. When we rebranded the mole, what we did is we put it in glass jars and we made it look like what it was worth because it was worth a lot of money. Yeah. But people didn't sort of see that. It wasn't conveyed. Yeah. Because we're selling it in like plastic bags. So we had to make it look like what it was. Sure. So we, you know, it was like, okay, let's do the same thing with the Michelada. Yeah. But it, the glass doesn't travel well. Right. It doesn't ship well. Yeah. So already you're increasing your shipping costs, your transportation costs. And most mixers, people are also not buying in glass, right? Yeah. Most mixers and also just like, it breaks a lot. Sure. You know, it's expensive. It's heavy. It's heavy. Yeah. Just the weight. The weight is a big issue. Yeah. Totally. So, you know, that's one thing. So, you know, by the time we fixed everything, by the time, and we weren't really paying a lot of attention to it. It was just kind of like a side project we're doing. Sure. So by the time we got this product ready, there were already the cups. There were already those things. And it was like, oh, okay. Now it seems like we're just kind of following the trends. So it was just a few years because I mean, we're slow with it. We were just kind of like redoing the restaurant. We were just building a bar. So then at the same time, you know, it's like, oh, let's build a Michel mobile to kind of help promote this thing. Yeah. And how'd you do that? What'd you buy? You bought a food truck? Yeah. Talk to us about that. I looked that up ahead of time and I'm just fascinated by it. So the Michel mobile. Okay. So I think I forgot, I forgot what year it was. It was one of the last, not one of the last, it was a LA Street Food Fest. I don't know if you're familiar with that event, but we participated very often. Yeah. And one year we were there and there was a point where, there's so many food events. So at a certain point we were like, all right, we'll do it, but we'll just take the Michelada because it's easier. It's just a beer in the mix and it's very integral to the restaurant. So it's still, it's still very much galageta going. Yeah. So I was there hanging out with the Michelada, my friend from LA Taco shows up and he's like, oh dude, this Michelada is really dope. Like you should do something cool with it. I was like, oh yeah. And we're just talking bullshitting and like out of nowhere. We just kind of, we're like, yeah, I'm just going to buy like a VW bus and do like a Michelada truck. Okay. And then I'll have like a DJ booth and we'll like have beer taps. And we're just kind of like spitballing and like, you know, just like talking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then it was like, oh, that's like pretty cool idea. Maybe I should. So then I started looking on Craigslist and all these things, VW buses. And originally I wanted the one with the V, like the quintessential, but those things are expensive. Yeah, they are the classic. Super expensive. So then I landed on this one. It was on sale down the street from the restaurant for like $6,000. So I was like, damn, that's a lot of money. So I got $6,000 in my pockets, but I put like $3,000 in one pocket and like $1,000 in the other and I like, I spread it out, right? Right. You're like, this is all I got. Yeah. So I show up and I'm like, hey, man, I'll give you $3,000. He was like, no, you know, I'm like, I plan to give this truck to my kids. Oh, there you go. With the emotional story. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, but you have it on Craigslist for sale. I don't know. Right, right, right. So I don't really believe you. So he's like, I'll do it for $6,000. I was like, you know, so I took out the $3,000 in the first pocket. Yeah. I was like, look, this is like a TV show. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, look, this is all I brought. I got $3,000 right here at Cash. Yeah. So it's like, take it, dude. And you know, when people see it, it's different. They get excited. Yeah. So it was like, he was like, it was like, all right. Four. I was like, all right. So I took out the other pocket and then he laughed. You know, and then we made the deal. I got the truck. How much, how much was it to renovate it? Oh man. Arm and a leg, dude. Yeah. Yeah. The truck was the cheapest part. Yeah. The truck was the cheapest part. Did it run? Yeah, it ran. It ran. I mean, it ran, but like, It sounded like it walked a little bit. You pushed it home. Yeah. And it was, it was like manual. I can't drive manuals. I have to have someone come over and help me drive it home. Did you know that before? Yeah. You know, it was just, they didn't make any. Not in that day. Any automatic. Manual. Yeah. Manual. Yeah. Can you drive manual? Yeah. I got to learn, dude. So how long, from the moment you bought it, how long until it was operational and you could bring it to? It took, it took like a, probably eight months, which is crazy, crazy timeline. But I was literally at the shop every day, pushing dude, like anything. He would be like, I don't know about this. And like, okay, let me just find a solution. Just like pushing it, pushing it, pushing it with me. That's not a bad turnaround. Cause I know a lot of people who have project cars that just sit. I have a, I have a six to six Mustang that I've been restoring for three years. Yeah. So there you go. But it probably helped that this was like for your business, as opposed to for pleasure. Is it manual? No. That's automatic. I was going to say, that's so sad. That's such a good story. No, no, no. That's a cool car, man. It's a dope car. It was my first car. It was my first car. So then I'm just restoring it. That's awesome. That's way better than 99% of people's first cars. Well, it was, it was a six to six months. I bet it was like a piece of shit. 66 Mustang. Hey, man. You know, it was like, I think we got it for like $2,000. $2,000. Yeah. And it was like baby blue. So like my dad took it to TJ. To get painted black. They blew. Now looking back, I should have kept it. Yeah. That's a classic look. It wasn't the original color. The original color is like, like a gold, like a weird California gold. I think it's called, but it's weird. Yellow, like a mustard. Yeah. Like a mustard. Weird. But I'm going to, the restoring color is like an olive green. Yeah. And I'm doing it. It's a two plus two, but I'm changing it to a fastback. So once you're not doing the original, I'm already right. As long as you're not putting like flames on the hood. I think that's okay. Yeah. So you finished the Meachemobile. Finish the Meachemobile. First event we did was the LHU Food Fest, where I had the idea the year before. And what did you do inside of the car? Is there space for people to walk around? So inside the car, so the, we got it the interior. Yeah. On the side, on the driver's side, along the side of the car is a jockey box, where the, there's four taps, and those taps lead to the side of the car. So on this outside of the driver's side, there's a door that you can open. Yeah. It's got four beer taps. I didn't know, I mean, when I got it, I didn't know anything about the car. Right. Like I just chose it because, I chose it because that in my memory, it's very Mexican, because like in, we used to get picked up to school when we lived in Mexico in like Combi. Yeah. And like in Defe, it's like a working person's transportation. Yeah. There's Caseras, it's like a taxi. It's like communal transportation. It's like Uber before Uber. Sure. So then, That's so funny to think about. Yeah. It's the same in Peru. Everything's always, everything's the same. There's no new ideas. Yeah. No, that's so interesting. The back on top of the engine is raced. So then on top of that is a DJ booth. So the DJ when he's playing is looking towards the engine towards the back. Yeah. But to fit the DJ, we had to cut the roof and it hinges open like a book. And on the inside of the, of the roof, once it's open, there's a TV and two speakers swing out. So it's, it's like a DJ booth slash beer tap. That's so dope. And like a TV. Refrigerator? No, no refrigeration. The only electricity is just for the electric, for the DJ booth. So it's a jockey box. A glorified jockey box on wheels. Yeah. No, it's great. Yeah. So then we did the LA street food fest and then, you know, ever since we've done like a bunch of cool events. Were you a hit where people like, Yeah. You know, I think in my mind, they would have been bigger, but my question was that if you noticed a huge swing in people visiting your booth or whatever, I think it's so big, but because of the truck, the next day, I got a DM on Instagram from a circus liquor. And they're like, Hey, we want to carry you guys and Ramirez. And those are our two first accounts. Because before that, we were just at the restaurant. That's significant. Yeah. So we got like two big account. And like at the time, I didn't know, but those are like two staple liquor stores in LA, circus in the valley and Ramirez, then like the downtown area. So when they gave you the account, you had to ramp up production to be able to fulfill those. I mean, we were, everything was from the restaurant. You know, but it wasn't like, I always tell people when you have a product, the easiest thing is getting to stores. Getting to stores is easy. Selling the product is hard. Right. So then like, we got into these stores and we would go every week to like circus. And one week circus, one week Ramirez with the Michelin Mobile. We were parked there and just kind of like post up and play music and like talk to people as they were coming in. And do you taste things and stuff? We go to the tasting because it's beer. So you can't really do tasting outside. Okay. And when you taste a mix by itself, you don't get the full experience. Yeah. So it was just like, you know, try and convince a few people and a few people. And when we did that, we still had our own brand, our old brand. And we saw the glass bottles that were originally called Michelin Galaghetza. Which, you know, doesn't translate very well. It translates at the restaurant because we build it over years and years. Right. And it could have worked for the Michelin Galaghetza if we wanted to build it over another 10 years. It would take a long time. Yeah. You can shorten that by making it a little more obvious. Yeah. I love what you said though. You said getting into stores is easy. Yeah. It's like selling. Selling is hard. It's like the same thing when you open a store. Yeah. It's hard in the moment. It's hard in the moment but you don't realize how easy it was. Oh, it's so easy. Yeah. And you're like, no one's coming inside. Yeah. And you're like, now you got it, that's the hard part. Now you got to sell. Yeah. You got to market. You got to get out there. Yeah. So then we, you know, we relied very heavily on our social media and making videos and content and all those things. I mean, right now we have the biggest social media presence any other item in the category. Yeah. Why do you think that is? It's just the medium will be able to work. It's consistency. It's the work. The process is everything a little bit. Just kind of over time. Over time and doing it every day. And so in terms of the accounts, are you still at the time of this is all happening? You have these two accounts. Are you focused on growing them? Yes. I mean, but like I said, we have the glass bottles, right? So it's like, we have to take them every time they order. We take them ourselves, you know, self distribution. So like these cases are heaviest. So we're taking them and then like we've always had the, the powder on the neck. But we do it differently. So a lot of times because of the weight when people pick it up by the neck Yep, it would fall and break. Oh, so then we had to like replace them. It was just a lot of issues So people listening we there's the bottle comes with a little a Seasoning and it's attached to the neck and effectively you would dip the seasoning on your glass on the rim on the rim It's a rim and then you would put the mix inside but also the reason we did that is also at the time It was like what eight years ago, you know, whatever time people That he didn't exist like it does today now. Everybody has that he yeah Taheen is something I never knew up for me. Tell it's like but now it's almost national I mean now you go to Disneyland they have to him you go to anywhere they have to him But so at the time they didn't so we had to kind of include it So this is actually this packaging. We're actually about to phase it out. Okay It's now we're going to the next step without that. I would like that he reduce it that labels expensive because it's a full-body sleeve Okay, so we're gonna get rid of that go back to like traditional label just do a next leave and we're gonna pass on the cost savings are going to pass on directly to the consumer to This is a to be able to drop down the price for consumers and Ideally get like a wider range because right now. We're a premium product We're probably twice the cost of anything on the market, but once we drop it down We're more in line with everybody. Yeah, right now. We're doing about the same sales as Products half a price that are half the price half the quality. We're gonna maintain our quality, right? We're not gonna be half the price, but like yeah get more in line with that So for those who may not know what to he knows it's like a seasoned salt. It's like it's a Ground chilies mixed in with salt and citrus. Yeah, so was that hard or like how did that partnership? It's not really a ship you ask me like how do you partner with them? I was like, I just buy it wholesale from and then you just wrap it on the bottom Yeah, I mean if there's nothing on it it says that I'm I'm not like that's interesting. I would have just assumed that you and Tahin were in cahoots with no No, well and Tahin we only use for the red one for the og brown one We make our own salt. Okay, and then we have we package now We like everything looks a lot more packaged now when we started it was like in plastic. It was like coke bags Cocaine bags clarify like little sachets. Yeah, just look like bags. I really love the packaging You can see the meet you the meet your mobile on the back. Yeah, it's there But you know now the new packaging it's like it's a thinner strip. It's a thinner strip So that allows the everything to be just more What do you guys save on doing that? Honestly, it's like it's like pennies But the way the industry works and like now I try go to store I mean I look at my competition and the price and I'm like, how do you like how do you guys make this stuff? How do they make money? Not not just how I mean, I know they make money. They have to make money or it's a capitalist kind of A lot of people don't do the man. Well, I mean look at least they've been around for long enough for it has to make some sort of money Yeah, so for my cost There's a markup to the distributor which then does a markup to on the store, you know, there's like three markups along the way So like it's gonna retail for I think six ninety nine But like there's a huge gap there and I know what I put into my product It's like quality stuff and I'm good. It's like I'm just very fair, right? It's just like a straight markup. Yeah, straight profit margin and hopefully everything falls in line with volume Where I can then make money in the long term, but I'm like, man I like what kind of ingredients must other people be using so from the circus liquor and your other account How did you then what was the next step to explain? Oh, just like very slowly just knocking on doors and stuff and we got into Northgate, you know, I think a market Northgate markets and they have about 50 stores in LA But it was with the whole thing so, you know, so then it wasn't selling very well because it was like I think I think I time was actually $12 because it's more expensive. So then we did this whole repackaging We brought we did this brought it down to 899 and then things started moving along that we got to Vallarta We got to shake ease. I actually have the red one because of shake ease. I don't so shake ease is like a pizzeria Are you have you gone to shake ease? I haven't been there, but I'm down the street, man It's like it's I think it's like a local thing like you have to Like it was just one of those like all right, it's like a pizza hut or something No, no way. How dare you? I love shake ease. Not shake ease like we grew up with it You know that there's like if you grew up in LA as Latino, you knew about shake ease Shake ease was one of the first pizzerias who started who advertised on Mexican television They're one of the first like Americans like company local companies to really like bet on the Hispanic market Yeah, and they had this quintessential commercial where it was like a family at shake ease and Then like the grandma's there and the kids like a willy-tah They said well, I'll tell Papa mojo and the grandma's like gracias mijo and everybody knows that like if you talk to any Latino Who grew up in LA they all not a commercial Because it was awesome. It was unlike any vision all the time. Yeah, so there was always like it was like one of my dreams to be in shake ease because like Not that like I love shake ease that much or like I see you but it's like it's more of a it's more of a staple And it's more of a you're becoming ingrained in LA culture. Yeah, and you're being accepted It's more mainstreaming right because micheladas Consider very niche. So it's like, okay How do I mainstream this because that's the long-term success, right? You like niche is like cool But like and also you see the way that the US is growing like my pitch for the micheladas to like people is always like On the business side as a business is right now the Mexican population is the fastest growing market in the US Right now in the US. There's more because of the is being made than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches There's more salsa being sold in ketchup, but along with the growth of Hispanic market. We're not just selling to Mexicans We're selling to the people influenced by the Mexican culture. Yeah The same way margaritas were a very niche Mexican product 10 years ago I've got a Chinese restaurants with margaritas now the culture influences the greater culture Yeah, and that's how things become mainstream. I went to a talk recently at a law office here in LA and this guy that was on the Obama administration came in and he was telling he was telling people the facts about Mexico and the US relationships in relation to imports specifically and he was saying that 22 states in the United States 30% of the income that comes to those states is is based off Mexican import and The argument he was making or I get the awareness he was making is like in the media, you know, the portrayal is so poor Yeah, and he was trying to say but in reality were pretty The US economy and states that you would never even think of like in the Midwest even yeah are dependent on Mexican imports And he was saying you take that you take the media makes you unhappy But at the end of the day the way he was looking at it is like when you think about other border disputes that are happening in the world We're kind of lucky. Yeah, not at war. It's just a media war. It's a media war It's a culture world. Yeah, try this and he was saying that you know despite the differences There is progress being made Yeah on an economic level. I'm a very positive person. I like in the long term. Everything's getting better. Do you like it? So I'll be upfront with you. Normally. I don't like Michelades and it's not my favorite drinks You haven't had a good one that is one of that's actually pretty good That's the best one because I'm not just pandering or whatever I'll tell you why I'll tell you why you haven't had a good michelada because everywhere you've had a michelada All they do is that Bloody Mary mixed to beer and I hate Bloody Mary's. Yeah So the reason the reason that's good is it almost tastes I hate I don't even know if this is the right word, but it tastes real like it tastes like an Organic II versus when I had them before they say it's like juicy. I don't and that's the thing It's like when I normally have bloody Mary or Michelada I just taste tomato juice and I can't stand it It was more seasoning and spice and aroma as opposed to just here's some tomato juice coupled with whatever else in here So right now, that's what I'm battling. I'm battling like people's perception of what a michelada is That makes a lot of sense because I'm always like I want to if I I never get a bloody Mary But if I do it's only for the shrimp and the bacon Then I give it to my wife and I'm like, you know, that's that's why that's why shakey in my mind was so important Because it's like how do I reach people who wouldn't normally order a michelada? Yeah, to get a michelada and also, you know, like my my next big dream is to be in Applebee's Okay, not because I love Applebee's but because Applebee's is such a quintessential American company, right? It's like almost like satire American, but you know, it's funny about Applebee's They probably have like 10 different flavors of margaritas. They do they do, right? Yeah, they do margarita. Yeah, and they have 2,000 locations across the US Yeah, so it's a good way to introduce the yeah the population the general market and that's to be that kind of like first It's happening in the vegan community right right now in the vegan the vegan community So Dunkin Donuts has rolled out the vegan side the possible burger meat McDonald's and so you think about these huge companies introducing vegan products To your average consumer. Yeah to the market. That's yeah, are you talking to Applebee's? I've Mailed you've called you've text I faxed the way I've gone the way I got into those DM when I got shakies I literally drove by their headquarters. I was like, I don't know headquarters is here So I was driving to I was run to a market and they said no on my drive back I was like, oh shakies right there. I'll stop by so I park and I look up shakies And I look up, you know who the person of in charge of the bar is yeah, and I walk in I'm like, hey I'm here to meet Michael and they're like the other meeting. I was like, no, I just like stop by You know, like I'm sorry you can't like you can't just come in without a meeting You gotta like call and email him all stuff. I was like, all right. Well, here's my mix Here's my business cards. I'll try it'll call every day But like the older all of these big companies. Yeah, they you assume get like a million emails They probably do so like their voicemails are usually like how you've reached whoever If you have questions about procurement or being a supplier email emails here And it's like an email that like everybody sends her things you get lost So call once a week send an email once a week for like six months and at the six month mark I get a call from him. He's like, hey, it's Michael from shakies. I'm calling. I'm just gonna give each other And I was like, oh man, it's dope. How did you Like my emails finally got through. He was like, oh One of my managers was telling me that we near each other and I saw your bottle on my on my desk So I called you so it's like not even from the emails. It was just from like that one visit. Yeah And so for Applebee's, you know, I'm trying to do the same thing. I'm like selling product and like I did get it I did get it I'll hold the guy once but when he picked up it was almost like he accidentally picked up But he talked me for a while they gave me some advice So I'm just trying to like, you know, it's a long it's a long game. It's a long come I would imagine that it might get easier the more accounts that you have. Yeah, the bigger you are the more leverage You know, you know, like everything it's like money the more money you have the easier it is to make money right now We have about 200 accounts. So like now when I go to accounts, it's like we're here. We're here They're like, okay, they're more likely to say yes, right? Nobody wants to be the first mover Where do you guys make it? Do you make it at the make it East LA? Okay, so we made it at the restaurant for a long time Yeah, and then we know we move and now we have our own like many faction facility We make it ourselves. Okay, so the way a lot of other people make it the way most people make most products is Yeah, and like even then I'm like, how does anybody make money? So your your sticker says smorgasbord. Yeah, that's so so I actually run the bar program at smorgasburg Tell people what smorgasbord is smorgasburg is the dopest food events in the US It started in New York now and now there's like three or four in New York And then they open up LA and when they open up LA, you know We were very fortunate to like be brought in to help out with the bar And then it was like a one-year kind of thing and then it worked out So now we just I just kind of run it run the bar It's every weekend every single Sunday dude every Sunday the whole year. Yeah, we close like three weeks out of the year But it's pretty amazing. I mean, there's a lot of foods that I've never heard of and when I go there You have it's probably the biggest event and it happens every Sunday We get 8 to 15,000 people every Sunday through the doors and so that's where I have a michela as well It's like a michela beer garden is I love me child as beer garden So that's another point of contact where I get to try to and that's where I I'm there I'm personally there every Sunday. Yeah So if you want to meet me comes smorgasburg get a beer with me I curate all the beer so you can criticize my beer choices and the way we met I guess in some way right was through your sister, but also through border X Yeah, because you guys use their their cucumber, you know sour. Yeah beer in the in the mix in the mix We make a amazing cucumber michelada So clearly the type of beer that you put into the michelada mix Effects the overall taste but are there some beers that you just tell people to shy away from because no No, I mean, I don't tell people shy away from anything. I'll try anything with it You know, it's funny. So right now we're drinking a Belgian beer a Belgian ale and and it tastes great with it It tastes great. It tastes amazing with it. Yeah, I literally was like this is gonna be so You're mixing Belgian culture. So I have a I have like a youtube show that I started I love michelada show and then uh, the first guest is my friend Javier Cabral who was the core writer for the Gluster the Gluster. Yeah, we when uh, we're hanging out and I was telling you earlier my whole theory behind My video was like, I'm just gonna do it like I don't even know what it's gonna look like Sure, I don't know what it's gonna sound like. I don't know what it's gonna be So then he was my first guest He showed up early and we were talking we're like, all right How do we get like a like a random beer and then pair with the micheladas and just see how it is? So he was like, all right, I'm just gonna think of the wildest beer. So that's a great idea So we got that's what we do on the show. We just get like whatever beer whatever beer First we drink the michelada and then we just talk about whatever and you're honest about it. You're like, yeah We're honest about it. It wasn't good. I mean the person who that last person was like, I don't like it I was like, all right, cool Give us your favorite beer to pair with it and your least favorite if you have it off top of your My favorite beer Probably the border X with been a sour It's a cucumber But like it's like a cocktail at that point because I I like to muddle the cucumbers in it Oh, okay squeeze some lime Yeah at the brown mix and then add the cucumber sour border X brew a beer and I rim it with our own It's like spicier than tahin and that's like my favorite But the best seller is the mango Which is the red mix with muddled mangoes And mango half by garage brewing mango half. I haven't had that. It's really good. I mean the beers It's good by itself, but it's like amazing with the michelada. What do you think that is? The michelada draws out the flavors like like the pepino. I like the pepino. You're all right But with the mix it it really draws out the cucumber flavor So a lot of things that we've been talking about today I would consider so some people view what you're saying is like an educational Entrepreneurship right and so you're kind of like I bought this car And then I converted it and it became like this marketing thing. Yeah, you're not talking about it like a strategy You're talking or a tactic. You're talking about it. Like you just being you so another one is you got rejected from applebee's You stop You leave your product six months later. Boom. You got an account. Well, that's how it is, you know You just gotta do it. Is that how you think about it? Is that how I think about it all? You're just kind of like let's just see what happens even with the videos You're kind of like yeah, yeah, okay because I think Overplanning it sometimes stops you. Yeah, it's just what works for me, right? Sometimes when I over plan things I'm a I'm a perfectionist. Yeah, so like that's why I used to do a lot of videos I used to do a lot of video editing a lot of content for me to us And then like I got to a point where everybody was like, oh, those videos are so good And then like I was like, oh, they gotta be better better And then it stopped me because at that at that point it was like Yeah, I got like a camera and like lenses and I got to edit it And I was like importing into After Effects doing all these crazy things So like I made it so hard for me for myself, right? Where I like now I just don't do it as much as I used to that's so important So now I'm going back. I'm like, all right I'm just gonna like not worry about it and just do it Especially now the way the the marketing landscape is yeah things are moving so quickly Then like it doesn't matter Like no one really cares that much people digest the content so quickly so quickly and they'll cut through the bullshit, right? Like right the the production quality doesn't matter as much as authenticity Authenticity is what sells now. I think that's why podcasts are becoming like a because yeah Because because it's long format so people are able to like talk enough to the bullshit where they eventually Like are real. Yeah, and that's the part of people like I mean, that's what people like like hot takes right because like the spiciness People let their guards down and they're more real or like even fear factor That's what people like fear factor right initially because it's like It's something you can't put on an act when you're when you're fear of this snake pit in front of you is overwhelming Yeah, yeah, it's authenticity. We've been fed Like curated or like actors or like we've been fed that for so long. It's interesting that all of that's changing so quickly There's an awareness around everything around food Around what you put in your body I mean you look at like people the biggest people on like social media are people who just don't don't care And are just like just do it Who's your favorite person to follow? I don't I don't know everybody. I just scroll like it gets depressing sometimes or I'm like I wish I was this authentic or like I wish I gave this little fucks I think about that a lot sometimes when I post because I'm like, why am I thinking about this? Yeah, that's what happens to me. I overthink I mean, I haven't posted anything on my personal instagram for so long because I overthink everything Yeah, and I'm like, all right I'll post it later and I later never comes Do you have a team that you that you work with not for my personal one? No, I mean for um the michelales Yeah, yeah, we have a team it's like me and christine and uh, you know We have jennifer and gabby from camilla creative That we work with at what point were you like this is a real company like at what point Did you did you get to like oh my goodness? This is like taking more of my time or we have a lot of accounts A couple years ago, let me and even then I'm from maybe like one or two years ago It was just uh when your head though. What was what was that like were you like? Oh, this is this is legit now in my head. I was like I'm like this is like a thing I gotta treat it like a startup where it's like, you know, like they and I kind of die by it and just make it work Do you ever feel the imposter syndrome of it all the time? I think we all do I don't do you Oh, dude, I was at dinner last night and this is all we talked about my buddy just sold his company huge acquisition He still feels like an imposter He feels like he tricked everybody into it all the time on the daily and so We were both talking about it. We were talking about the reality of what that's like and Is he brown? No I was talking to a friend of mine. We had dinner at my house and I had my friend. She owns a restaurant and another friend She owns a restaurant and another guy he owns a restaurant And we were just talking right and then three of us were talking about the same thing how we feel And I was talking with my pros experience how I I feel a lot of things that stopped me My needing that need to physically do work Sometimes stops my growth for sure because I I put my effort into Dumb shit that I could easily outsource. This is what I tell nick every day Yeah, this is gonna get real right now. So I'm telling nick. He needs to make junior Yeah, so we because it stops me right like I'm like I'm doing all these things I'm physically doing these things myself Right And then our other friend she was like dude like all you guys were talking about like she was like Do you guys just gotta like own this shit and like I mean like yeah This is what you guys like and she was like, I don't know what what it is about the way you guys grew up or something She was like, I just fucking accept it. I'm just it, you know, this is just me You know, it's like I gotta I gotta get on that level. Yeah, and she she was like, you know, we as managers have two jobs Delegate and follow up and if you're doing anything else, you're just wasting your time It's hard though. It's tough to relinquish ownership. It's tough to relinquish ownership Yeah, it is very especially when it's more creative like on your own it's more creative But I mean without systemizing things You're not gonna be able to grow right because at the end of the day you have the same amount of time as everyone else and If that time is taken up by this task then that task is gonna go unaccomplished or you're just gonna maintain where you are Right, right, but that's another conversation where it's like in our community of like people who are doing stuff Yeah, this is like when the first thing people ask you are like, oh, what are you up to? And you're like, oh, I'm doing this. They're like, oh cool. What's new? What else? I'm like, fuck now. I gotta have something else too. That's always the question It's always like what like what's what what new thing are you working on? Yeah, right, right and it's like Like people like it's like the restaurant the micheladas the book and people. Okay. Um, what else what else? Yeah, and I'm like, ah, fuck. It's never good enough. Yeah, nothing's ever good enough for anyone There's an expectation there, right? And then I don't know if it's like uh, like It's not real though, right like nobody really expects you like people are people it's the conversational thing It's like yesterday. I was on the side. I get a phone call from a friend Hadn't spoken to them a while in like two years and they're like looks like you're killing it. Oh my god, all this exciting stuff Love the podcast. Love the brewery. How's it all going? And I'm like, oh That's interesting. That's your world. Yeah, that's that exactly Yeah The day-to-day is very different. It's completely different. Yeah, and it's um, anyway, we were talking about this last night at length And it was kind of like how we cope with it, right? Like the seesaw of it all how do you cope with it? So for me What I was telling my buddy is it There's two there's two things one all the fears and The the fear of failure lives in my subconscious and particularly when I come out when I sleep And so then it just comes out And for a long time I was super good at ignoring it and blocking it out. I was so good at that It was like all ego, you know what I mean? I like plug into the ego and then it would just block it out And it was just getting worse. And so at some point I just need to talk to it, right? Yeah have the conversation And just accept it and be like, look, this is a normal thing We're all going through it talking to other people people like you right that are that feel it and then you're like Oh, I'm not alone in this how great right? And so you're in a safe space with other people and just realizing it's just normal It's part of it And embracing it to some extent basically not running away. Yeah from it. Yeah facing it That's kind of what I did. I just just doing right and not worrying about the perfection or the looks of it Yeah, the other thing is like momentum. So I try to keep momentum going and then It's it's tiring, but it's also I've gotten I think pretty good at just hiring the experts You know not overthinking hire the experts and I think that's why I like realistic development so much It's because I I literally can't be the lawyer. I can't be the architect I can't be the environmental assessment company. And so it forces me to rely on people To do their job And at the same time it's like makes me feel good. I'm employing people But I'm also getting good counsel or good services And so there's a whole component to I think real estate development where it also solves solves the what's next Because there's another project. You see what I'm saying? And so it's like I figured out the construct of how to check the boxes Do you have a End place? Do you have a place where you'll be comfortable stopping? So this is so we talked about this last night too for me So everything goes back to the why you do it The why and and it's not like oh because I like it. It's so fun. It's like I love drinking It's not it's not that the why is like super personal to you And so for me, I've just always really valued my time and being able to dictate my time You can do that now. I mean like so that's a weird question though because it's it's a weird because I you know I mean you can do that very easily with very little You can and no doubt, right? But if you want to grow your if you want to have kids as an example Like there's a there's a fiscal responsibility you have to these individuals you want to bring into the world And my whole thing is how do I maximize my time with them? Without having a nine to five or without being in a chair all day And that is the problem. I've I feel like I've solved and so the question isn't To me anyway, it when is it enough? I have it now, right? It's what changes around you that then requires a system to optimize to let's say two kids Three kids no kids, right? And so it's always the balance. Yeah, and I think as an entrepreneur you're always thinking I want this So let me optimize the system to get me that and sometimes it's just vanity sometimes people are like, I want the car Yeah, I want this mansion and so they work really hard to do that for me. It's none of that. It's just It's just my time. It's like, how do I maximize my time? I'm trying to strip. Yeah when I got married I uh One of the things that changed inside of me. I like I was like I got to strip away all the wants inside of me Yeah, and just focus on like the realness like the communication the time Time is family people time spent being present. Yeah, and like stop worrying about Money in a weird way like, you know, but I'm still working a lot. So it's not like right So I'm trying to figure out what my End thing is because right now, you know, we cut back and right now we're living on like so little money But still doing the same amount of things and still being happy and still doing all those things So we're just saving and saving and saving But why Why are you saying? I don't know. You see even listen, I'm saving right now for like I want to I want to get into like real estate investing Yeah, so I'm saving capital Got it because I'm trying to Systemize my life where I can then get like the residual incomes and do all those things right you're trying to create passive income for yourself Exactly, right. So you could have your time back. Yeah, yeah But I could even have my time back now is just like but you require more the system requires more Life requires more the family requires more Yeah, but it never stops never stops. It only gets worse. Yeah, like you're just not gonna one day be like I want less time from you Right or your kids or your family Family needs change. I mean you have a lot of siblings once they have Kids, you know, then you have a nephew nieces. Yeah, you want to spend time with them That's what happened for me I have two nephews and all I want to do is make sure like I see them as much as I can They're in massachusetts And so it goes back to the time equation systems here Cool, I got to optimize so we can go back to the east coast four times a year and Be present right be part of their lives. That's like important to me. It's an ever-evolving thing It is. Yeah, there's some days where I fantasize about like moving to ohio and homeschooling kids. Yeah Sure, I mean, that's don't go to ohio I have friends of mine who are entrepreneurs at homeschool their kids Yeah, they've created that like their own oasis that like I mean that's In any any city any when I was younger, you know, like every I think like everybody who went to public school You would think homeschool kids are weird now. Now I understand it more I was talking to someone the other day about how in popular culture Having a good life and being stable and the only things just like look down upon Like look at the simpsons, right? Flanders is the punchline. He's like a punching bag But he's the guy with the best life He has like his kids who love him. He loves his wife Yeah, he has a great relationship with like, you know with god if you're religious. Yeah, you know, he has it all But he's the punching bag and he's like the loser and Homer Simpson's the hero of the show It just depends on what makes you happy if that makes you happy like there are some people who are very content with just working their nine to five coming home to their family at you know, 5 30 when they get off work And that's that's all they could ever want But then there's the other side of the equation, which is the Workaholics so to speak like they're never satisfied with with Good enough. They always want that perfection So then they strive and they add those extra hours to work for it and I noticed the disparity between myself and some of my friends who They were content to just go work for the government and start settling down buying a house having kids and I it was just never I was never comfortable with that life Which is why I I ran away from it and didn't pursue it But for them, I don't I don't hold anything against them for not wanting the same things I do It's more that's their life that makes them happy and gives them joy. So Why not pursue that? It's a very achievable goal. No. Yeah, I mean, obviously we're all here, right? Like yeah, I'm like doing I have like three four jobs But sometimes like the Flanders I just go like in my mind. I go back to Flanders It's a really interesting point that you're bringing up here because it's like, uh, like Flanders could be an entrepreneur But like mid romney Hmm, let's talk about mid. Like he is very much in pop and in LA It's like he's like the boring punching bag and stuff. But aside from politics Yeah, like just looking at like lifestyle and stuff the Mormon the Mormon that kind of like very wealthy He's like a saltine cracker. Yeah, no flavor. No, but that's like that's like the that's a that's the perception That's your Flanders. That's a perception But the difference with mit that I feel like Flanders does not have mit never has to work a day in his life and probably never did I'm sure he does He's a venture capitalist. I mean, it's different work. Right, right, right But he's got enough money where He could decide to never that's the issue again. So that's the yeah back to that's the same That's the issue. The issue is he has that he has that yet. He's still out there The pursuit of power. I mean, that's like some emptiness that You know anybody who goes into like that kind of level of politics. Yeah, you have that kind of need and emptiness inside of you Right for validation. Yeah, I mean, I think there's a trajectory. So I mean my friends talk about this too. It's kind of like They you know, they've sold their companies are doing super well It's another they have money and the only thing to attain now is power Yeah, and so that's why they go into politics or screwing each other's like the friends Basically, they screw each other over And so on the real estate side for me, I mean any one of these guys if I upset Could just easily be like, oh, let's make Diego's project a little bit more a little bit more difficult here And you know, you're susceptible to that Lucky for me. I'm not I'm not competing with them. Right. I'm not the same age as them And so they kind of look at me like a cute little nephew Which is nice for now, but I know at some point it'll change And you know the competition Will exist in the human nature. It'll come out and we'll deal with that and we'll deal with that But it it's strange. Yeah, I yeah, man. It's good conversation. Super super interesting We could have an entire podcast about this Yeah, and we should I mean this is like a lot of the stuff that doesn't get stated Well, yeah, I think we're there a lot of people don't like to have these conversations for some reason No, I love it. I really do. It's like the most exciting thing. It's the most authentic, right? It's mostly like it's like humanity. It's like what it what makes us human what makes us Like why keep going like literally why not, you know, just stop or Sell everything you have right now and just uh, so I think this is why so I have had this conversation too So I have this belief that the human being today is actually programmed to be a doer of a progress seeker And there's nothing you can do to shut that off And so this vision of people like I want to retire and be on the beach is really flawed actually It's more of like an american Marketing it's just advertising right because they got to sell condos in florida and that's totally cool But at the end of the day the human being today is not programmed to do that They're programmed to to build to add another brick except now it looks digital and that's it That's the game. I think that it's because like people People's perception of reality is shaped only by um comparison. Yeah, that's a fact You know, it's like we I can give you a million dollars and you'll be happy But as soon as you meet a friend with two million dollars, you're like, oh well I want to have two million now So this is what so why I got into real estate what I realized was there's a lot of people with a lot of money What they don't know how to do is grow the money. Yeah, they have no idea And so I tell people would you rather have a million dollars or know how to make a million dollars, right? And these are some people choose the million totally reasonable Kind of makes sense actually. Yeah, because growing it is actually very difficult. It's hard. It's like starting a business And so I've just always focused on like I need to I'd rather know How to play the game than be accepted winning the game. Yeah, and I and that's just been my thing Yeah, I mean, it's it's an unwinnable game Totally true. Yeah, I mean, you know, who would you say is winning right now? Oh, man, because you can always anybody you bring up and it's a right answer no matter who you say Yeah, it's well, it's a yeah right or wrong answer, right? Yeah, there's no You could say bezos because he's the wealthiest man in the world, but you could be just as wrong too Yeah, because you're like that guy's he's like, I don't know how happy is right, right? Is he I mean, is he hanging out with his nephews and nieces and probably not kids and stuff It's so that I mean, it's it's miserable. Frankly. I mean even mark zuckerberg. You can't take photos out in public You can't there's a whole security team. I mean you're you and I use our laptops freely. He does not I mean, it's a whole another world. It's just the level of security at his house In his car his cell phone everything is prone to be hacked at any moment It's just a very you can't trust anybody. All right, you could say something off the cuff and Next thing, you know, it's in the new york times. Yeah, even the smallest things become You know, you make mountains out of molehills on a daily basis. Yeah, yeah My dad moved back to ojaga and the other day, you know, he's building this like compound That he doesn't know what he's gonna do with it But he's just doing it because you know, he has nothing to do. Yeah, it sounds like you're all wired that way It's kind of nice He was like doing this thing and um, you know, he was talking about like what what should the experience on it be And I was like, well, like how do you live? Because I feel like he has a life that everybody wishes they had and he was like, well, you know, I wake up whenever He has like his organic food that's grown locally. He eats his good food and He's in in nature. He gets to like look up at the stars at night But he's not He's not like all super happy with it He's constantly worried about us and worried about the restaurant worried about like All these things that he has no control over and he doesn't understand what he has Yeah, so I was like, you know, just do that for your customers. Just have him live a life you life without the baggage of you That's a good point Richard Branson people ask him his daily routine and they find it amazing till he wakes up. He has like a similar copy Plays tennis for two hours or an hour and then he does emails Then he does another physical activity like surfing or like riding his bike on the island but In while he's doing all of that There's for sure levels of stress that are happening and he's doing these things to offset the to offset the stress Yeah, he's not like playing tennis because he wants his forehand to be For you know And a part of that is totally awesome that he's doing that and he's probably is getting better at tennis But at the end of the day, it's a cope. It's all coping. It's all coping. You're just trying to So I was interviewed Stephen Colbert was getting interviewed by uh Kona brian on a show like that flip interview thing he does. Yeah And uh, the quote Kona brian was like, how do you deal with being in front of these people this adoration all day? You go home. How do you turn it off? Because your wife, you know, like they're not they're not fans She's not gonna clap for you when you walk into the room. Yeah, and he's like, he's like, I'm just miserable when I'm home I'm just like miserable to be around And Kona brian was like me too everybody has these private lives Alicia key is posted this great video on her instagram about when she was named the grammy host And her I think she has like a young kids like under four years old And so they're running around she walks and she's like mommy has amazing news and the kids are like I'm hungry. I'm hungry. They don't care. And then she tells them she's like, oh, I'm gonna be hosting the grammy's And one of them's like, did you say granny's like what like doesn't care at all? You know, there's perspective in the moment Yeah for both ends of it by the same time, you know, I feel like this is this is what privilege sounds like That's complaining about our existential issues. I guess so, but we all we all strive For something greater. We all crave a purpose and What you find that in can either define you or shape your Existence in this world and the impact that you have around those or the people around you So some of us find it in the work that we do others find it in family. Where do you find your purpose? Creating creating I I love for me, I love creating works that Get some sort of emotional reaction from people So whether that's a photo or video or even just something mundane like in everyday life But I love Eliciting some sort of emotion from people because I'm like I I help them find that spark of happiness I help make them laugh like that's that's my drive. I like creating stuff. What do you find purpose? So so too, right? One of the time it's like really making sure that I can do what I want when I want and owning that Progress is part of it doing cool stuff. It's part of it making money is part of it But the other part of it is again, it gets to like I've just analyzed myself very deeply And so I kind of know why I do the things I do and so the other one is I grew up with no one so we moved here from Peru and crazy like leaving a Some a country going through some bad stuff and so we came to Massachusetts And I never really had an example of someone who made it in America. I didn't have that Because we're new here, right? So it's like where do you look and you know your doctors and you know your whatever, right? But it's like you don't they're not your uncle. Yeah And so I can't talk to them and be like, how did you make it? Yeah, what are the steps? What are the steps? What's the process? What what are the rules to this game? We call the usa and for me I've at some point had a revelation where I'm like, that's what I'm solving for myself And so if I have kids or nephews nieces And they're like, oh uncle Diego seemed to figure out. Let me go talk to him Right, you know, like you guys are fucked And even if they don't want it at least they have the example At least they have someone in their life who's like, uh, uncle Diego did something cool. Let's talk to him Yeah, but there's other examples too now, right? We have doctors and other people doing cool stuff Now you have a circle of friends that you can refer him to right and so I think that That that for me is the is another part of the why it's the time but also Trying trying to live that trying to figure that out on the daily the perspective is there I mean, I keep those things pretty clear, but it's it's still not easy even having that, right? More beer a lot more on This is a dark step That's delicious. So we have like a Belgian chocolatey ale in front of us And Fernando's about to add some of the micha mix Well, that's good. That's good, right? It's great beer But it's like it's nice not as strong as I thought it would it's a brewery coming soon We're not going to mention any names. We don't get them in trouble this underground stuff And so you have a youtube video dedicated to grabbing a beer adding a mix to it It's like this. We just talk for a while and see it. Let's see a touch. Cheers. Cheers. I am I am very frightened for you Mecha mix and you can smell it right away strong Still tastes good You know, I'm just thinking back to to my childhood and and how we would have where did you grow Maryland Maryland? Yeah, so we we would have you know tacos with some regularity, but you have like the hard shell tacos Yeah, exactly with the ground beef and stuff. Yeah. Well, so like but that's the thing. I thought I knew I was like, oh, yeah, I like Mexican food, but then I I knew I knew Nothing of of Mexican food until I I started traveling and then I I came out here and now what I thought I knew was was not even scratching the surface But it was that going mainstream like, you know, it took a while and we talked about this with the margaritas before It does take that Let's make this kind of a watered down version And and introduce it to the masses and then you can kind of introduce them to the more nuanced Dishes and and aspects of that culture. I don't know. I don't know because this isn't a watered down version No, I'm not I'm not talking about you Mitch a lot I'm just Like my you know when when I when I tell people that I want to get into applebees Yeah, people laugh and they're like, why applebees? It's like, you know, you get like gets a Applebees well applebees is like the most watered down version of like americana But my my argument is like their fudge cake is good. Let's be on their fudge cake their chocolate fudge cake Well, I love their chocolate. Yeah, I get down with it. And also they're buffling a boneless buffling bites of dough But like I always tell people I can't help what they eat But if I can make sure they have a good michelada, right you want to be on the menu, man Right, like I can't I can't help what you eat, but I can give you a good michelada You can give them the best experience and you can yeah, and this is authentic michelada, but it's palatable The brown one is more because that's our original one And I think the original story is that so when I got to shakey's I got with the brown one and I didn't I didn't have the red one So then I got into the stores they distribute it The guy who got me in he called me up. He was like, hey friend. We're having troubles People are already in the michelada, but when they see it They they send it back because it's not what it's not what they imagine And that's an LA problem because an LA micheladas are red where in Mexico, they're darker So then I was like, oh, you know, that's funny. I'm working on a on the more red version right now But I wasn't so I hung up and I was like, yeah, I gotta work on this red version So then by the week after I dropped off a sample that we came up with And that's how we come up with the red, but the red is still up from the ground up Mix and actually when when we made it I was like, fuck I even I may even like this one more, but you know, I go back and forth now I mean, I think about this all the time when it relates to products It's like you have a perception of what it should be Yeah, and the perception messes with your with your ideal You know, it's like someone who's never had good Peruvian food And they have some good Peruvian food, right? They can have the best Peruvian food and they're like, this is bad because it's not what they expect Exactly. It's totally true. Would you ever consider branding this like a Mexican Bloody Mary? Like would you use those terms? That's how that's how we use it people who don't know But I feel like if we do that then We we mess around with perceptions. Yeah And it's no longer a new market and I feel like there's more upside to opening up a new market Yeah, then to tackle on to an existing market But you explain it that way to somebody if they're like, what the hell is a I use it. I always say it's like a Mexican Bloody. It's like it's like a Mexican Bloody Mary with beer But not quite it. It's not tomato. It's more citrusy. Right. It's more savory. No vodka No vodka. Just all beer. No bacon. No bacon. No burgers Some people go a lot with it. You know, you go to like some of these restaurants I've been to a Mexican restaurant where they had to meet you And you have like I'll put the skewers on top the skewers Some people even put like the whole can and they'll dip the entire beer can in chili powder. So it'll be a chili powder Coated can which is all show It's also hard to carry, but some people like it. I'm like, oh, some people like the show But you know, some people like that the show, but that's more like out of restaurant experience What is next for you guys in terms of growing the business? What's next growing the michelada growing distribution We're still self-distribute so getting distribution And then getting distribution outside of state and then just growing the network So then we it could just like have you thought about having north gate as either a Partner investor north north gate. Yeah, I would I would welcome not north gate But like in north gate executive the family someone with like experience someone with connection distribution site. Yeah I'm up into like investors, but very particular. We have one investor But it's like one percent and it's more of a relationship investment. It's a friend It's a friend, but they have a big User base and it's a it makes sense Got it And the other the only other person I have in mind only two people one is like a north gate person Yep, and another person is like an influencer. Okay, so, you know A partner that will make sense because the long game would be to they expand your reach Yeah expand the reach and what is the long game? Is it to get acquired? What would you yeah, probably? I mean, I don't know either either acquire Or if we if we are in a position to get acquired see what what it's worth at that point and see If it's worth it or not How far to the east coast of the united states? Do you We can go all the way, you know in terms of accounts Oh, uh, we have like one account in like florida one account in georgia one account It's like that's peppered. Okay But because the thing is because we're self-distributed any account that's not through a distributor is additional work Right. So right now we're trying to be as lean as possible. So we're trying to Wait for that other accounts ideal. I like to unload them on to our distributor rather than like us do all the work So besides that what else is uh on the 2020 agenda 2020 honestly, I'm trying to actively Stay away from opportunities What is that because we'd like to more focus on the things we have on the table Like the restaurant the book. Uh, we have a we we're building houses in oaxaca. They're like airbnb hotels So like for example, I meet I don't know someone really cool me. I want to go I'm like, yo, dude. Say you have you have like not you. No, no. Yeah, you're not that cool. Well, obviously you But I'm saying like right like you obviously but like say Say I meet someone they have uh 50 million followers on instagram Yeah, you want to do some kind of me. I'm like, hey dude, let's go to oaxaca I'll I'll put you up I see and we'll hang out, you know, because obviously we want to get back to the state and the best way to get back to the state is to Convince people to go down there and spend their money with the people that actually make things And then pass that like if I ever, you know, I have dreams of like if I ever what are your dreams sell this off I like to open up a brewery I worked a lot with breweries now and I've talked to a lot of brewers. Yeah more importantly. I've talked to a lot of failed brewers Yeah, so I feel like now I have a better idea. What have you learned from from them from failed brewers? Yeah, I learned that breweries are restaurants And if you don't operate in my restaurants, you're doomed to fail. What does that mean? In terms of your margins. Yeah in terms of your profit margins, your costs, your cost structure That you can depend on outside distribution and success. I've learned that and then If you don't engage as a community That's a surefire way to die same thing as a restaurant Whether it's local artists or just being present With the community just being there saying hi to people being known I mean if you treat it as a local restaurant, I just describe this as like just give a shit That's any business give a shit, right? And if you don't people will know and you'll fail. Yeah, and it's no secret I'd love to I'd love to Do michi mobile like michi mobile concepts at like the airport. Do it now That that I would be more up until now. Why don't you guys worry now? I'm curious What's holding you back? Because I want to focus on the micheladas right now I like I I'm very easily me personally My attention very easily gets drawn And like I feel like if I if I try to do that or try to do anything else My attention will will be sucked away from the micheladas, but it's all vertically integrated in some way, right? Yeah, yes. Yes, but not really. Okay, because it's it takes time It does. I mean, I feel like maybe if I get better at being a delegator Yeah, and I can hire away my position at micheladas. Yeah, then I can do it Sounds like you have something on your to-do list This is something that can I talk about all the time you got to build the system basically to allow that and then That's what I'm working on right now right now. It's just like I mean, we're a startup. Yeah, you know, we're a startup So we're just bootstrapping. I'm just everything is staying inside I'm hiring good people And once I get like a distribution and the sales and all that stuff Then I can systemize everything, but I need the sales because right now right you need to see right now It's just maintaining right right right right now. It's maintaining. Yeah any growth numbers But if I can hit that by mid next year Then you know, I mean every year gets better every year we do more sales every year we get bigger I mean, you know when we started I used to like look at the competition and be like damn. How do they do that? Now we're doing the same numbers as they do now. I just need more accounts, but I need distributors and I need like The footprints and then you know because marketing all the marketing all that stuff is ingrained in who we are Yeah, I think that's the most beautiful part because you're not You're not creating a brand per se, right? Yeah, I feel like we're a brand creating a product Yeah, which I think is is really difficult. Yeah, right. It's like imagine three of us were to pick a product today Let's call it candles. Yeah, we don't know shit about candles, but like we'd pick a look Yeah, kind of like the whole garbage disposal. Yeah, let's make it look this way Let's brand it this way. You guys are the complete opposite. You're just sharing your culture Yeah And your passion. Yeah, I mean micheladas micheladas are i'm bicultural, right? I'm mohawk, but i'm la. Yeah, the micheladas is my la side And the restaurant is my mohawk inside So like the micheladas brand is like A cool hanging out in la backyard parties palm trees Micheal mobile tell everyone where they can find you they can find me on instagram at learn and the faux pas dot Just add learn and the faux pas and then I love micheladas. I love micheladas at smorgasburg la every sunday At like it like it's thank you, brother. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Thank you for coming This is surprisingly good. I mean shot. I brought out like the the chocolate really brought out the spiciness. It's good. It is good. Yeah It's growing on me Cheers We hear it started the storefront would love to hear feedback from you reach out and let us know what you think about the show Make sure to give us a rating on itunes anything over five stars is the only way to go Our music is composed by double touch You can find us on facebook and instagram at startup the storefront For more information on the products and businesses featured on the show check out the links in the show notes Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss a single episode. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time