 This is Startup Storefront. If you've been a long time listener to the podcast, you might recognize Brisha Lopez from Episode 7. At that point, she had just received the James Beard American Classics Award for the best Wajahkan food in the country. Since then, she grabbed ahold of a rocket ship and her career hasn't stopped ascending. Here's some of the highlights. Her drink mix, I Love Mechiladas, officially launched in Costco. She started Supermamas, a chart-topping podcast with her sister, Paulina, and now you can officially bring the taste of Wajahkan to your home with Brisha Lopez's new cookbook, Asada, the art of Mexican-style grilling. These delicious recipes were born out of love, heritage, and passion. It's one of the first ever grilling books dedicated to the art of Mexican grilling, and it perfectly captures the beauty of Asada culture in LA. In today's episode, we chat with Brisha Lopez about why she insisted her cookbook photos be shot outside of the studio, why we should normalize Latino kids growing up with privilege, and why people don't write cookbooks to make money. All right, welcome to the podcast. We are back with Brisha Lopez. Welcome back to the pod. Thank you. I know I'm back. You're back. You're so legit now. You're the second person, or maybe the first person to come back, but we've had your brother on, obviously, from I Love Mechiladas. And now you're back. What are you working on? What's going on? The book. I am before anything. I have to just plug my book. Plug the book. That is out everywhere where books are sold is my second cookbook, and I'm very proud and very excited about it. Tell us about the book. What was the inspiration for the second? So the first book is Oaxaca, right? So the first book was all about my family's story and about Oaxaca, the essence of, you know, really the heart of Mexican cooking, just the traditional recipes that I grew up eating. I moved to LA when I was 10 years old. So to me, Asada is just my life after 10. It's like all of that, all those foods, the Mexican, Latino weekend journey that we go through having an Asada at home, if I don't have your friends over, or if you don't have a home that has a backyard, going to the local park that you see still, that you still see it, you know, like today, you see those parks and then just the smoke of the grills and the smell walking through and all the families coming together and music in the background and kids running around and at the center of it is this beautiful Asada just spread. Those are the recipes. And I always say a lot of people when they make an Asada, they'll just go to a cremiserie, whether it be at Northgate or Vallarta, right? And they have their favorite one. And they walk in there and they buy everything pre-made and God knows it's delicious. I've done it before. They buy their salsas, their carnes, their nopalitos, their rice, their beans, their tortillas. This is basically all those recipes coming together that I think if anyone makes any of these recipes, 100% people are going to think like they're a store bought. The coolest thing, and this is something that we've been talking about a lot recently, but it's like the coolest thing about food is when you have it and it just transports you to this moment. I think it's actually why people fall in love with food, but I think it's also one of the hardest things for a chef to figure out again. It's like, what spices can you do? What's the thing that's going to bring you back to maybe being a 10-year-old in LA again? Yeah. It's like chicken that, and it's like a gift. You have it. Not many people do. It's like the craziest thing. It's a gift and a curse, Diego. Why? Why is it a curse? What's the curse portion? I think people that are in food, it's the hardest industry to be in. I mean, it's no music, acting, arts. It's part of the arts. You know, if you're in the arts, it's very difficult because you just put so much of you, creativity, time, hoping to get some sort of return. Anyone that writes a cookbook, my respect, my admiration, because it's not something that you do to make money, right? It's just something that you do for fun. And then it's something that you do to fulfill something inside of you. That's just, it has to be out. Like this book has been in me for years, which it was actually inspired of a restaurant that never happened between us two. Yes. Yes. And I had that place in my heart just burning. And I knew I didn't want to open a new restaurant, but that, like that was inside me. And it just manifested itself in the book. Let's talk about that. So we were going to open up this really cool thing. Yeah. And it felt like, but at the same time, it was like, it wasn't, it didn't feel perfect. It didn't feel like right. And then on top of that, I think we dodged a huge bullet with COVID. 100%. I mean, I think like once COVID came, I was like, wow, like my instinct was right on that one. That one, it was all, I followed my heart, right? And it was, I think one of the first times, and like a deal that I just followed my intuition that turned out to be right. And again, it's not a restaurant, but it's a wonderful, beautiful book that I'm very, very proud of. And there's timing for everything I've learned. So give us a sense of like, what goes into this book? So the first time you did it with Javier, the Glutzer, people who don't know. Edder and Chief of Relay Taco. What do people not know about what's behind like a cookbook? Like what is involved other than, first of all, it's beautiful. So if people that are in content, it's like a content masterpiece. Thank you. But what is involved from the side of it that like me? Is it recipe creation? Yeah. Sourcing and then how long does the whole thing actually take? So everyone's book deals are completely different. Everyone's way of working is completely different. Javi and I, you know, this is your second book together. So we're pretty well versed in our relationship. And it was my second time around doing a book. So I knew what it went into. Obviously, when you're in it, you're like, why did I do this again to myself? But then you love it. So here's the way it works. So, you know, in like in any book deal, you get an advance. The difference between writing just a book on business, like the one you have here from a couple of weeks ago, you're burned the boat. Great book. Right. I haven't read it yet, but I was into your interview. And I'm like, I feel like now I have to read it in the night. Like in overnight, like you did because there's a lot of pressure. Yeah, you're you're speed reading capabilities. For him, I don't know if he wrote it or he had a ghost writer, right? But that's all it really goes to. That's all he does. Yeah, he sits, he writes, it's done, maybe decides on the cover. Maybe he doesn't done a cookbook. You get your advance out of that advance. For me, a percentage goes to the agent, then my writer, partner, happy, and I'll explain that relationship in a bit. But then out of you, the duck that from the advance, and then you have to find a photographer that you love. I'm very blessed to know Quentin Bacon, who is the photographer. Who was the photographer of my first book, who I automatically knew and wanted to do my second book with and who I probably would work for future books if I do, if I do more, because he is a one man show who shows up and it's really all about natural lighting. So if you look at the book throughout the book, it's all real. I always when I first saw his work, the best way to describe him, I would say he he's like a legend in the game, in the food game, the cookbook game, very blessed to be able to work with him. But he is a very much natural light realness. He doesn't do, you know, he doesn't play with studio lights. He doesn't have those harsh kind of sure, sure, sure, you know, that you would find in a bon appetit or a food and went, which I love, which I love is just not who I am. I wanted to just be a moment in time captured in realness. So that's what he does. So you have to pay him then for the shoots, though, you also have food styling, you have prop styling. My recipe tester was my food stylist. So that was kind of like a two in one situation. But you have to find budget for a prop stylist. And anyone who's who is looking to writing a cookbook or working in a cookbook, I highly there's a lot of cool props to yeah, I learned the team here. They have like the fake ice cubes and that's the food styling. No, for sure. But it's crazy, like the amount of things that go into these these like shoots, yeah, I think would, at least for me, like blow my mind. Yeah, well, that's food styling. I didn't have any fake guys. All I have is all I have in my book is realized because these were captured in real moments. They weren't like set that we had like three days of shooting recipes for the sake of doing it. But most of the book was shot like in real life. But the prop stylist, again, going back to if anyone's interested in doing a cookbook or working in a cookbook, 100% always have a prop stylist. I think I didn't have one for my first book and I wish I did. Going back, I mean, I'm very proud of the first one actually wouldn't change anything, but this one, I would definitely prop stylist over food stylist any day. But that's also because I have, I already also have experience in styling and I have experience in cooking and have someone there and I have a team of chefs that always helped me prep stuff. So because of that, I didn't think I needed a food stylist. My recipe tester, who was my styling assistant, ends up then becoming a food stylist and now he's a food stylist because he'd love to work in the process so much. That makes sense. Jesse Ramirez, shout out to him. He's great. All right. Let's jump into one of the recipes you have here. And so what are you showing us this beautiful photo from your backyard? Yes, I was just gracing through the pages. One of the first recipes that I made for a can of soda was a Michelada marinade. I'm going to take it to my, I'm going to tie in my brand. I like it. Please do. But it was six years ago. I had a can of soda at my house for further July. I always host my family. It's like the thing I love for the July. Thanks for the advice. So nice. You're welcome. We'll get there. It's, you know, let us, you know, we gotta. Let it marinate. Text me a little bit more often. Send me a few memes before, you know, coming to my house. Yeah. So I was trying to figure out, I was, I was actually doing content for my Michelada brand. And I was like, I'm sure this would be great to marinate. I love Micheladas right here. To marinate meat with. So then I made this recipe. I developed this recipe. And it was one of the most loved dishes of the day. That was like the first meat to finish that day. So. So you marinate the meat. Yes. With different spices. And then we add a lot of our Michelada mix. And how long you let that sit for? Just, just I might have to try this. For marinade, I think you need at the very least two hours. Okay. You can do it overnight. Okay. But I think two hours is more than enough. And here's the thing that people probably just think, oh, it's just so much work. It really is just putting a few items together, a few ingredients together, either in a blender or in a plastic bag, putting your meat and closing it, closing it, put it in the fridge. Yeah, it's actually pretty easy. It's just, you just have to do it. Do it ahead of time. I guess that's the hard part. The hard part is like, oh, I'm going to eat in two hours. No, because if you're kind of people over, right? Right. For Saturday, do the morning and then, you know, or you want to, hey, let's do kind of salad later today. Great. Let's just marinate it. And then take it out in two hours. It's not, you do it at 12, you eat at two, do it at 10, you eat at 12. Like it's fine. And I think one of the most important things is always grilling your meat room temp. So even if, even say, even do this, like marinate your meat cold and just let it marinate, let it sit in your house for two hours and then just put it directly in the grill. Like it's not going to do. What's the most time someone could do this? And so two hours minimum, is there overnight? Oh, you can do overnight. It would be great. I mean, as long as the meat is good, you can just leave it there for four days and it'll be incredible. I'm going to try this. So what else do you add? So besides your michelada mix, what do you add? So here, look, we have, I'm not reading from the book. Garlic, powder, cumin, sea salt, beer, tomato juice, orange juice, shallot, or an onion. That's it. Yeah. You've just launched with Costco. Yes. I love micheladas, all LA. Yeah. Congratulations. And Hawaii. And Hawaii. Yeah. Congrats on doing that. Thank you. How's it going? It's going well. It's going really well. I mean, it's getting warm here in LA now. So it really helps when the heat, when the sun comes out for us. But we're hoping that we, right now we're what Costco calls like a seasonal product. So Costco is constantly rotating products, right? I mean, there's certain legacy brands that stay forever. You know, you're always going to find, you know, Doritos year round. So we are more of a summer, late spring, all summer, late summer, early fall window where we are on shelves, you know, in the beer aisle, you can find us. Got it. And the Chamoy, that's a new thing you guys just started with. I want you to try it right now. Yeah. Okay. Come on, open it up. I want to see you interact with it. Oh my God. If I don't like it, what am I going to do? You're going to love it. I'm not, I'm not really worried. This is a new product that we have. It's been in development, believe it or not, for like two years. We wanted it to find the perfect packaging for it that you're having a heart. Oh, there it is. It's beautiful, by the way. It's really cool. Yeah. All right. What do I do with it? I just put it on this cup. I just want to see how you interact with it. It's, I just do it like this. I got like a lollipop. Do how you just do you. You do you, Diego. Dude, I don't know. I'm just, I'll just do it like this. Sure. Oh, that's good. I wasn't worried. Here's the thing about like the Lopez's siblings, anything we do is going to be legit. This is why it takes us so long to... That's really good. Yeah, I know. Like this is making me, do you put this on me? You can put this on me. You can put this on anything. You can put this on anything. You can put in your ring, you can put in your fruit. You can put it on anything. What's in this? This is delicious. It's like a chili, like a chili paste. Chili, how would you describe it? Chamoy is a, it's a paste made out of citrus, spice, chiles that just, and it's very, and it's salty. So most Chamoy's that you find in stores, they are highly sweet. It's almost like a candied Chamoy. Oh, true. I've had, yeah, yeah. Okay, that I've seen. Yes, people put on their rims and it like heartens. It has so much sugar that when you put it on your rim, it heartens. And I don't get me wrong. I like it, it has a purpose. I just can't have a lot of it. The way our taste buds work is that the flavor that you're having right now, the reason why you love it so much, because it's really activating your glands. So the saltiness and the citrusy part of your taste buds, of your glands, those are being activated. So like that makes you want to have more and drink more and just keep going. If it will be too sweet, you could only just have, you will have just a little bit before it just got too much. This one, you can just keep going because of the salt. OK, one of the hardest things that we had to do for this podcast is something so simple, it's to get chairs. We had been using these plastic chairs and they just weren't cutting it. And not only were they ugly, but they were also massively uncomfortable. So when we had the founders of Sundays on the podcast, it only made sense for us to get new podcast chairs. So they shipped us a set of count on me dining chairs. So if you're interested in upgrading your chairs to whether that be in your house, office, podcast studio or anywhere in between, check out the link in the description to pick some up yourself. We can't recommend Sunday's chairs enough. And people listening, we're going to give one of these away. Yes, the book away and the El of Michaladas. Yes, yes, which is great. Stay tuned for that giveaway. This is the two new products that we have. We have a pre-rimmed cups and for those listening. Oh, these are pre-rimmed right here. For those of you who don't know what Michaladas are, they're not Bloody Marys. Yeah. How do you explain it to people? We did this before, but how do you? Right. It was with your brother, actually. Yes, my brother. My brother. So a lot of people think Michaladas are just a Bloody Mary. And I think that if you were out there, if you were bartender, if you were someone who is in the in the front lines of, you know, the food and beverage, food and beverage, please do not use a Bloody Mary mix to make a Michalada. You were doing us all a disservice. You were pulling people away from enjoying the true flavor in Michalada. Just don't do it. Just say you don't have it. Don't. Okay. Don't put a Bloody Mary mix. And for those who are interested in creating a new Michalada mix brand, please go and find a co-packer that can make an actual, legit Michalada. Do not. Please don't put a Bloody Mary mix in a bottle and call it a Michalada because that's, that's doing a disservice. Yes, all the time. Oh, wow. I just think that that does such a disservice to the Mexican culture and to just like, it just pushes people the way. There's so many people that are like, I don't like it. It's just too tomato me or I'm not about it. And that's not what a Michalada should be. A Michalada should amplify your beer. It should make it better. It should make you want to have more. It should never be a meal in a cup. You know? Yes. So that's, that's really, we make our own. We have our own, our production line. We have our warehouse. We have our own team. We make everything, we make it, we make everything in-house, package it and make sure that everyone just has like a legit Michalada experience. With Costco. So since you're a seasonal product today, will that change if it does well? Or how do they, or do they just put you in that category? You know, it just changes with time. Even if it does very well, we do very, very well in Costco. Thankfully, if you don't do well in Costco, Costco is just such an incredible company to work with partners. They're the best partners. They'll tell you, they'll know. Like at Costco, we'll know if a product is going to work within the first three days of being in the floor. Oh, wow. Like they'll know, like, your shirt's going to pop off or it might not be the best. And if it doesn't work, do they basically cancel the order? Do they, how do they, how do they work with your next capacity? No, it's just, it's just basically they'll like, it'll be a, actually I don't know. Okay. You don't have that problem. I, you know, thankfully right now it's going very well. People love it. Um, I think that it speaks a lot of the Mexican culture where we are right now, especially in LA, to have a Michelada mix at a place like that. That's not even just, you know, a Latino store, right? Like that's like if you, in LA, we have the North Gate and the Vallartas. Sure. Right. We, we have a brand there, but there's also, that's where you go for it, right? Yeah. Now to have it at a place where it's a, it's just a store. Just a store, yeah. Totally true. And then to have our, our culture represented, I think it's really, really important. So what's next? Now you have Costco, or you think about other stores, other retailers? Right now I'm only in the Los Angeles region. So what's next? I, I love Costco. So I'm trying to just grow within the Costco family. It's never ending work, you know? It never is. That's the problem. You just, it never ends. You just keep going. Everyone always says like, what's next? So where are you going? I'm like, if it was that easy, that I can just nap my fingers and be on every shelf in America, you don't think I would, you know? It just takes time, relationships, knocking people's doors, still fighting the fight of like, I don't know if people are going to, you know, really gravitate to a michelada still. You know, you're like, how, how are you still not putting like Mexican products like these on your shelves? You know, why are we still fighting on pricing? Why are we still fighting on whether it's going to move or not? You know, why are people are still. Why is it such a mystery? Yeah. Why are people still pushing back because it's just such a specific, you know, Latino product, you know, there's no data as the problem. It's too risky on paper, allegedly, right? Yeah, but I think I also, these are people who are making decisions, you know, in a, you know, inside a building, right in a vacuum in, in like not understanding the culture, not understanding, you know, the power of the community, understanding the way things, just the way it's shifting. It's been shifting in America, right? I think bad money was like the first artist to bring the Latino culture for from people are like, oh, shit, like this is really where these Latinos coming from all of a sudden. I mean, I think we're going to do the same thing with like pesto pluma, just kind of taking over the airwaves and the slow. I'm very excited to see his progression in the next few months and what it's going to do in the country. I think I see it in California and I see it sort of in my circle, but I think he's going to take over. Do you ever personally think about, so obviously, like television has a huge way of changing the narrative and educating the masses. Do you ever think about really just moving more into media in a bigger way for you personally? Like TV, media, I love TV. I like doing, I mean, I have a pocket with my sister and we do very well. We have a great, incredible audience of moms throughout this country. We have such a super great network. Yeah, super mama's still, you know, top ranking in the charts. We love it. We love doing the podcast. TV is one of these things to that, you know, we just, it's, it's, it's interesting being just, you know, you're in LA. So you think, you know, you're so in front of the entertainment industry, right? And every, if I show you an inbox, it's like an inbox full of people saying like, we'd like to develop a show together. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. It's very LA worlds, but you'd be surprised that when it comes to decisions, they're still looking, when it comes to food, they're still looking for like, people are still in search for the Bourdain. And it's like, it works if it's a male, white male. I see. You know, and if you look at actual TV, food TV, I mean, I think aside from Padma, is there any other. That's interesting. Yeah. Woman who is in. I guess Kristen Kish just got a Nat Geo show. Okay. But that's it. I think, yeah, I think you're right. Yeah. It's mostly, it's still very much, you know, let's put a male voice first, because we know that, like you said, like the risk, right? So many, and not many people have been open to taking risks. There have been so many times we've been so close to closing a deal. I think three times in the past five years that it was right there. All done. All in paper is just a matter of a signature. And then whether the network decided to not do more food to, you know, someone, you know, cut funding or three, it just fizzled off. And also like the things I get offered aren't exciting. Sure. They're probably too safe. For me, I think, you know, recently I was just figuring out like my life values, you know, you go through these things. I was like, okay, what is going to push me? Like, how am I going to, how do you want to spend your life for the next, you know, 20 years? And to me, I just don't want to do things that aren't fun. Like if it's not fun, I'm not going to do it. I decided that in my life. Yeah. For me, I try to do things that it's all about the story. So if it's a good story, like if I look back on it or I can tell someone like you'll never guess how this happened. Like those are fun stories. And so I just chased the story now. No, I just want to have fun doing it. That's kind of what I'm doing. I'm kind of like, yeah, I just want to have fun. That's like my number one thing. And then, you know, family, it's a big part of like, that's like my second thing. The Lopez fam here in LA for staple. Yeah. My family is very important. Make sure that everything is, my family's involved. I get to spend time with them that at the end of the day, for me, it doesn't feel fulfilling if it's just me sitting at the top alone. I'd have to be with my family. That's all that matters. Yeah. It's not shared with your family. They're like, what's the point? Totally. I get that. That's a very Latino thing. I think too, though. Very family focused, family centered approach. Yeah, we're very, we're very tight. We're just a very tiny family. And now with the cousins, you know, with my kids, my sister's kids, that's right. Everyone's having kids. Everyone's having kids. Now it's beautiful just to see the cousins come together and for them to feel like they're siblings and for them to just have that partnership or just that same bond is beautiful to see. When you talk to, I'm just curious, I do this with my nephews, we're all taking like a building that we own. And I'm like, this is yours. And they're like, oh, what? Like when we bought this building, it was a pawn shop. And so they went in there and they're like, this is mine. I'm like, yeah, like whatever you want. And they found like toys. They found like little kid toys in there. But it was like the cutest thing. And then my nephews like, how do you buy a building? I thought you could only buy home. And so it's just cool to see the discovery in them. But obviously for me, there's like an emotional part of it where I'm like, that's what that's what's up. You know, it doesn't really matter. It's just like, it's cool that you can share it with them. Well, it's also cool to witness the fact that your generation is growing up with privilege and like what that's going to do for them. Right? Like, yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. Like I didn't grow up with privilege. Yeah. Same. And my kids are. Yeah. And like, that's amazing for them to have the power of culture, the power of all that and the power of privilege, because there's a lot of power that comes from privilege that people really underestimate. I think the word privilege has that has a really negative connotation in today's woke society. Yes, that's true. It's like, oh, well, you're privileged. And it's like, well, normalize Latinos being privileged. Like, why is that bad? Right. Like, why is it bad that my kids are growing up in privilege? Why? Why do I have to like maintain them? Like, yeah, normalize Latinos make money. Like normalize Latinos making wealth. Like that is the only way we're going to get out of this. So for them to then be able to grow up with privilege with all those, with all that power of culture together, like I'm very excited to see what they're going to do. And that's like something that I'm tapping into right now, too, and being able to move in, like not only doing things that dub me as Latina, but like just doing things that are dope and being, putting myself in situations and rooms and then partnerships that are just great that don't have to have that, like Latina connotation to it. I like it. So when you come back on the podcast in two years, well, what will we be talking about? So for your third time. I don't know. Triple crown. What are we talking about on the third time? Third time. Uh, I'm thinking, I'm thinking a TV show. I mean, yes, a TV show. I bought a building together. Yeah, building. I, I, I loved, I think, I love idea of real estate of, of that. I think it's, I mean, you're in that game, right? Like that's your bread and butter. So doing that, definitely real estate massive. I think I really want to be able to experience the selling of a company. I don't know if that's going to be in two years though. I definitely see. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Definitely like, probably some time TV show for sure. Probably something major. I do want to go through the process of selling a brand. That is one thing I want to do in my life. I don't know if it'll be in two years, maybe in five, but I, maybe in four. That is why we want to just focus on I love me. I want to know what it's like. I want to know what that's like. And I want to experience that in my life. I love that. Yeah. I love that. So you, when you come back, you'll be talking about the sale. Yeah. Maybe we can talk about like how it went down, what happened now with, you know, Costco led to this, led to that. Yeah. We were talking about like what's the empire building now. Yeah. What I'm going to, where I'm doing with my money. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Am I, am I investing in real estate? Am I investing in people? Like, what am I going to be investing in? And I think that's pretty cool. Young versions of you and the Lopez family. I would love, yeah, that's, I think the end game of all of this is being able to just have more, more family. Latina businesses, just seeing what they can do with, with funding and what women can do. It's really amazing to see. I have so many girlfriends who have incredible businesses that they just, it just blows my mind how like the tenacity of Latina, that's a good network out for sure. Well, let's get, tell people where they can buy the book. Anywhere books are sold asada, the art of Mexican star grilling just anywhere, make sure to buy at a small bookstore and you can. What's a small bookstore? Barnes and Noble? What's anywhere? Anything. I mean, I always tell people buy a copy on Amazon, but also buy a copy in a Powell's or in a Barnes and Noble's in LA now serving indigo bookshop.org. Like there's so many different stores that you can buy online is really important to also that sales come from different avenues, not just Amazon for a publisher. That's a good tip. And we're going to give one away. So yes, give one away. Keep it here. For sure. But he said, thank you for coming on the podcast. We'll see you soon in two, three years when you sell this company. Yeah, for sure. If you made it this far, I bet you loved the episode. So you should join our YouTube channel membership for only two ninety and a month. This gets you access to one, the whole on a bridge conversation. Two, you get the episodes on Monday, one day earlier. Three, you get two additional entries to our giveaways. Check out our Instagram to see what we've given away. And four, you get access to seasons one through three. That's over a hundred episodes of wisdom and life changing advice. What are you waiting for? Join.