Speaker 1: Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get it today. I am sitting down with Cesar Alvarez,
Speaker 1: hospitality entrepreneur. Would you consider yourself from Jersey, New York.
Speaker 1: Where are you hailing from?
Speaker 2: I'm from Jersey, You're from Jersey.
Speaker 1: Yes, welcome to Grazias Come Again.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me today.
Speaker 1: We're going to get to know you the core of you,
Speaker 1: not just what you do that makes you cool, fun,
Speaker 1: amazing and popping. We're going to get to know how
Speaker 1: you became the person that you are today. Your parents,
Speaker 1: where are they from? What countries do they wrap?
Speaker 2: My mother? My father Colombian?
Speaker 1: Colombianos, Yeah, from So when did they migrate to America.
Speaker 2: My father came over here in his early thirties and
Speaker 2: arrived in Hackensack. That's where he first found himself in
Speaker 2: the United States, and my mother stayed at home. They
Speaker 2: were married, Yeah, yeah, they were. They were already together.
Speaker 2: They already married. But my father came to the United
Speaker 2: States first by himself to look to create a home
Speaker 2: for her and what is now my brother and I.
Speaker 2: So that's what they were working on.
Speaker 1: So Mami Si, Yeah, Pappy beIN a key and he
Speaker 1: was building for her. And then what happened? He said,
Speaker 1: I'm ready for you. Were you and your brother born
Speaker 1: already or no.
Speaker 2: We weren't born yet. We were actually were actually born here.
Speaker 2: I was born in Hoboken, same Maryag's hospital.
Speaker 1: So you were not even thought of. Mom was just
Speaker 1: like Sime. Also he's in Jersey, he's set and everything up.
Speaker 1: And then what happened? He brought her here? Yes, exactly
Speaker 1: what did mom do for a living when she got here?
Speaker 2: She was just a caring housewife. She just took care
Speaker 2: of my father.
Speaker 1: Were old school, you know, okay, traditional housewife, traditional housewife. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you and your brother came, and.
Speaker 2: Then I came. Obviously I'm the old well I'm the
Speaker 2: oldest by four years, so I came first, and my
Speaker 2: brother came, and then my mother just raised us, you know,
Speaker 2: took us to the park and always made sure that
Speaker 2: we had lunch and dinner. She always cooked clean, took
Speaker 2: care of the home.
Speaker 1: So Poppy was the provider. I saw that your father
Speaker 1: worked in construction thirty years. Yes, how amazing is that?
Speaker 1: And how much did you look up to your father
Speaker 1: as a provider.
Speaker 2: I always call my father my hero because you know,
Speaker 2: he showed me what it was to be a man
Speaker 2: and take care of a family. You know, he kept
Speaker 2: my mother, you know, my brother, the four of us
Speaker 2: together through and through and he would wake up every
Speaker 2: morning and just he showed me what it was to
Speaker 2: be you know, marnment. You know, yeah, like a man's man,
Speaker 2: you know. So I got that from him, that that
Speaker 2: was forever instilled in me to be a provider.
Speaker 1: And is dad what you practice now? Do you see
Speaker 1: yourself as you have to be the provider or do
Speaker 1: you also require that the woman that you're with provide
Speaker 1: for the home also?
Speaker 2: No, I am I'm still very you know, I'm I'm
Speaker 2: an old soul. So I get that from my father,
Speaker 2: the people that I grew up around, around within the
Speaker 2: neighborhood and the community. But I feel that, you know,
Speaker 2: the man should always be the protector of the family
Speaker 2: and the provider. I mean, I know obviously now times
Speaker 2: have changed where you know, women you know, are great
Speaker 2: at what a lot of things.
Speaker 1: Don't play with me, don't with me, don't play with me.
Speaker 2: I mean I'm here because of you right now again
Speaker 2: to the bag too, Okaye.
Speaker 1: Being my guess no Soulso your dad one daughter?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: How old is she?
Speaker 2: She is going to be nine next week on the
Speaker 2: twenty eighth.
Speaker 1: You're gonna blink and you're gonna be doing this for sixteen,
Speaker 1: aren't you.
Speaker 2: Yeah? This is a that's a that my daughter is
Speaker 2: kind of like, that's like my guardian angel. You know,
Speaker 2: she she's she's a very special girl. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: actually surprising her and taking the Disney World. So I
Speaker 2: hope that this is gonna be.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be the first time do you take me?
Speaker 2: No? No, this is gonna be the No. Well, I took
Speaker 2: her when she was much younger, but she doesn't really
Speaker 2: remember it. She knows that she was there.
Speaker 1: I need you to I need you to record this.
Speaker 1: You surprising her videos? We're parents, you know. Have you
Speaker 1: seen the videos of parents like we're going to Disney
Speaker 1: and they're like when and they're like right now and
Speaker 1: the luggage is in the car and the kids go crazy.
Speaker 1: You got to record that.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: You say your daughter is your guardian angel. Why do
Speaker 1: you reference her that way because you're supposed to be
Speaker 1: her guardian angel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I am her guardian, but I feel like
Speaker 2: you know, my daughter always said that she's like she's
Speaker 2: a time travel I feel like she's been here already.
Speaker 2: She's the old soo, yeah, she's an old soul. So
Speaker 2: she was already here. And I feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: I feel like God sent her like back to this universe,
Speaker 2: like you know, guy me and make me a better man.
Speaker 2: You know. That's that's how I see my daughter.
Speaker 1: How how can a young you're a guide and adult man?
Speaker 2: She just makes me a better version of myself every day.
Speaker 2: She reminds me. I think that in being an entrepreneur,
Speaker 2: you know, being in that field, it comes with a
Speaker 2: lot of it comes with a lot of obstacles, and
Speaker 2: you find yourself more than more than a few times,
Speaker 2: just plenty of times questioning everything that you've done. You know,
Speaker 2: where you are, where you could have been, you know,
Speaker 2: and then you find yourself, you know, looking at this
Speaker 2: beautiful person in the soul, and she just reminds you,
Speaker 2: like every reason why you're blessed, you know. So that's
Speaker 2: that's just she's different from me.
Speaker 1: She gives you purpose.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she gives me a lot of purse. My son also,
Speaker 2: but you have a son also, I have a twenty
Speaker 2: one year old.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, because I only saw your daughter, like I
Speaker 1: was talking to your social media his daughter, my.
Speaker 2: Son doesn't like pictures.
Speaker 1: No, listen, Oh you gotta tell me, is your son's
Speaker 1: twenty one years old?
Speaker 2: You don't even like me no more? You know, you
Speaker 2: don't even follow me on social media like this, Like
Speaker 2: they become adults and then it's like he's just be
Speaker 2: like yo, and I'm like, what's up? Yo? Yeah, but
Speaker 2: he's a great kid. He's a great kid.
Speaker 1: They become adults, you know, and then it's no longer cool.
Speaker 1: But I feel like kids have that because then it's
Speaker 1: like then they get a little older, like maybe when
Speaker 1: they start reaching thirty, and then they're like, oh, it's
Speaker 1: cool to be your kid again.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And you know what's funny that my mother
Speaker 2: everything that I put my parents through when I was
Speaker 2: young because I was I guess, you know, I started
Speaker 2: a little bit of trouble when I was young.
Speaker 1: And but you mean a little bit of trouble if
Speaker 1: you're bringing it up, you started a lot of fathers.
Speaker 2: Is But yeah, she told me, she said, listen with
Speaker 2: this boy, you're going to you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're gonna put with this one, and he ended up
Speaker 2: being just great. Like even his friends, like they're good kids,
Speaker 2: Like I met them, and you know when you're you know,
Speaker 2: when you're around genuine kids, you know, like they come
Speaker 2: from good family.
Speaker 1: Means, you know, like they would get me to said
Speaker 1: to my mom, Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, she's a hater. She she's just like you got lucky.
Speaker 2: I mean, what do you means lucky? I was like,
Speaker 2: I raised him to be a good boy, you know,
Speaker 2: so what.
Speaker 1: Did you want him to do differently from what you
Speaker 1: did that brought your parents sleepless nights or you know,
Speaker 1: grief in some way?
Speaker 2: I guess the beautiful thing about, you know, being a
Speaker 2: parent is that, you know, I told him, I tell him,
Speaker 2: I told him one time. I'm like, look, man, you
Speaker 2: know you know I'm I'm forty one. You're twenty one.
Speaker 2: You're a cool dad.
Speaker 1: You're so young.
Speaker 2: I've been twenty one before, but you've never been forty one.
Speaker 2: So I could tell you something about life, you know,
Speaker 2: like like I've been down this road over here. This
Speaker 2: road was no good, this one was a dead end.
Speaker 2: You know. So the great thing about fatherhood is being
Speaker 2: able to you know, give them like just life lessons
Speaker 2: on which ways to go and which ways not to go,
Speaker 2: you know, and try to bet themselves like that so
Speaker 2: they're a better versions. I told him, I'm like, you
Speaker 2: got to be better than me. You know. If you're
Speaker 2: not better than me as a man at my age,
Speaker 2: you know, then you know, I feel like you feel
Speaker 2: as a father, you know, in my opinion.
Speaker 1: And how is he doing right now?
Speaker 2: He's great. He actually called me. He actually called me
Speaker 2: like two weeks ago, and he mentioned to me that
Speaker 2: he was ready to purchase his first home. And I
Speaker 2: told you about that at twenty one.
Speaker 1: I'm proud of him and I don't even know him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I'm very proud of him. Just but I
Speaker 2: had a serious kind you know. It wasn't it wasn't
Speaker 2: that moment that made me proud. It was it was
Speaker 2: it was that at that moment, I realized that a
Speaker 2: conversation that I had with him a long time ago before,
Speaker 2: when I first found out he got his first job,
Speaker 2: he was he started working at a fast food franchise, russ. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And so I decided, Well, what I'm saying is that
Speaker 2: I realized that that message that I had for him
Speaker 2: resonated with him, you know, because I finally saw it
Speaker 2: flourished in that in that way.
Speaker 1: And what was the message? You just can't tell me
Speaker 1: the message. You got to tell me what you said.
Speaker 2: I took him. I took him one day to a supermarket,
Speaker 2: you know, during the fall. It was like January February,
Speaker 2: so you know, you already know that tri state. Whether
Speaker 2: it was like trees out fitting, degrees out, you know,
Speaker 2: and there was this little boy pushing these shopping carts,
Speaker 2: you know, and I parked the car and I told him,
Speaker 2: I'm like, look, you know, I want to talk to
Speaker 2: you about something. You know, I want you to look
Speaker 2: at this boy, you know, pushing these shopping carts right now.
Speaker 2: And he's like, all right, he's like, what are we doing.
Speaker 2: I'm just like, well, what do you think he's going
Speaker 2: to do? What do you think he should do? You know?
Speaker 2: I was like, because he's working, you just got a job,
Speaker 2: and you're starting at the bottom. I'm like, do you
Speaker 2: consider this the bottom? And you know, we fast forward
Speaker 2: and I told him, Mike, this is a lesson of
Speaker 2: the spoke of the wheel. That was never the spoke,
Speaker 2: you know. And you know, I told him I Mike,
Speaker 2: everything happens with guidance, you know, and also you know,
Speaker 2: being able to absorb the information. You know. I tell
Speaker 2: him that, you know, you have two eyes and two
Speaker 2: ears and one month for a reason that's supposed to
Speaker 2: be observing and listening more than talking, you know, so
Speaker 2: with true students of the earth. So I told him,
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know what if this boy his father
Speaker 2: told him, you know, after three months of pushing those
Speaker 2: shopping cards, make sure that in those three months you
Speaker 2: push those shopping cars the best that you can. You
Speaker 2: greet everybody, You show everybody love, compassion as they're showing
Speaker 2: up to just a supermarket, you know, make them feel special,
Speaker 2: you know. And then three months later, ask your boss
Speaker 2: and say that you want to learn the register, you know,
Speaker 2: and then from the register you want to learn to
Speaker 2: see food department. And I can just copy and repeat that process,
Speaker 2: you know, where you be the best that you can
Speaker 2: in every position. I'm like, who's going to be the
Speaker 2: regional district manager of that supermarket one day? You know?
Speaker 2: Is it going to be the boy that's coming out
Speaker 2: a college, whether a diploma or something like that, or
Speaker 2: is it going to be this boy that decided to
Speaker 2: hop off the spoke on that wheel and become the
Speaker 2: driver of his destiny. You know. So, I think that
Speaker 2: that resonated with him very deeply. And he went from
Speaker 2: one restaurant to a more high end restaurant to a
Speaker 2: much more high end restaurant in New York, and now
Speaker 2: he not only works there, but he also works the
Speaker 2: sweets in Madison Square Garden, and so at twenty one,
Speaker 2: at twenty one, yeah, and he's just I'm proud of him. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm proud of him, you know so. I just feel
Speaker 2: like that resonated very well with him. And you don't
Speaker 2: necessarily always get like a twenty year old that's going
Speaker 2: to absorb that kind of information, you know, like it's
Speaker 2: it's you.
Speaker 1: Don't get a thirty year old that that information sometimes.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, that's true, that's true. That's true. So yeah,
Speaker 2: so I'm very proud of him.
Speaker 1: Were you ever at any moment thinking of like different
Speaker 1: careers than the career you hold now?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: What did you want to be when you were twelve,
Speaker 1: when you were fifteen?
Speaker 2: When I was twelve fifteen, I have no idea what
Speaker 2: I wanted to be.
Speaker 1: You didn't have that, like, well, I want to be
Speaker 1: a lawyer. I want to be a firefighter. I want
Speaker 1: to know you.
Speaker 2: I knew, I just I knew I was I was
Speaker 2: going to have to work hard, because that's what I
Speaker 2: saw through my old man. You know.
Speaker 1: I guess it's all you already knew you had to
Speaker 1: bust your ass.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I know I had to work hard, you know.
Speaker 2: So you know, obviously, if my father was maybe a lawyer,
Speaker 2: let's say, then I would have probably been in his office,
Speaker 2: you know, and I would have had my head in
Speaker 2: different books. You know. Maybe I would have wanted to
Speaker 2: learn the law. Maybe I would have wanted to be,
Speaker 2: you know, a police officer who knows, you know, a
Speaker 2: worker for the community. You know, I don't know what
Speaker 2: would have happened, right, but my father just woke up
Speaker 2: early and put in those hours and then came home
Speaker 2: and then he just wanted to watch the Yankees. You know,
Speaker 2: it's just relaxed.
Speaker 1: Did you ever work with your dad or no?
Speaker 2: I did? I did? I got fired?
Speaker 1: How did that go?
Speaker 2: I got smoked? In a month? I got fired?
Speaker 1: What had you do it that you that didn't work?
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I was working in this office in Roselle
Speaker 2: and they had this company. It was a staffing company
Speaker 2: and they were on the first floor, so it was
Speaker 2: like a corporate buildings, like a five story building. There
Speaker 2: was this receptions there that was like a little older
Speaker 2: than me. But we kind of like had like this thing.
Speaker 1: You clicked with the with the I.
Speaker 2: Clicked with the cougar, you know. And then they caught
Speaker 2: us like in the in the they caught us in
Speaker 2: the closet with I know, I messed up, So that
Speaker 2: was one strike. They called my father, you know, so
Speaker 2: that's the corporate office of the company.
Speaker 1: How was your father's like, that's my boy?
Speaker 2: Oh man, you know he was embarrassed by that because
Speaker 2: again my father is very old school, so like he
Speaker 2: was a kind of they told.
Speaker 1: Them what happened.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they told them. The guy's name was Tommy Lynch,
Speaker 2: I remember, and Vinni Lynch. I'm sorry. He's the one
Speaker 2: that called my father and told him, Hey, listen, man,
Speaker 2: we caught we caught your son, and you know, the
Speaker 2: office supply closet with the receptionist of another company on
Speaker 2: the first floor. I have no idea, you know, I know,
Speaker 2: I got taken out of the corporate overs and I
Speaker 2: had to start, like, you know, keeping inventory of like
Speaker 2: boat parts in like.
Speaker 1: Some kind of like a punishment of sorts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they're downgraded my position. I went from a
Speaker 2: cubicle and they put me in a warehouse with this
Speaker 2: guy named Derek. I remember, and I'm.
Speaker 1: Pretty sure that that changed the course of your life
Speaker 1: in one way or another.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I realized that. I realized that, you know,
Speaker 2: I think that sometimes you realize that you're you have
Speaker 2: a different purpose, you know, and maybe you don't do good.
Speaker 1: With cubicle wasn't for you.
Speaker 2: The cubicle was not for me. I tried to cubicle
Speaker 2: many times and it didn't work out, you know. I
Speaker 2: actually the second time that I actually really got that's
Speaker 2: when I got fired. Fired was you know, I had
Speaker 2: got into an accident with my vehicle and uh, the
Speaker 2: hood came open in the middle of one and nine.
Speaker 1: That's Jersey got out.
Speaker 2: I took out my shoelace out my air forces, tied
Speaker 2: the hood to the car, drove it. It popped open,
Speaker 2: broke my son roof, and I showed up to the
Speaker 2: office where like the engine was smoking. It was bad,
Speaker 2: you know, And I got fired that day. And this
Speaker 2: time it wasn't my fault.
Speaker 1: But what I was just gonna say, what did you
Speaker 1: do to different?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, its just it was, you know, one strike
Speaker 2: too many, you know. I think the receptionist was my downhill.
Speaker 1: That was the receptionist. Your image tarnished?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I was over after that.
Speaker 1: When did you begin your career as an entrepreneur? Like,
Speaker 1: what was your first business venture? You were like, I'm
Speaker 1: going to launch this right here.
Speaker 2: I actually I never started this. I I got brought
Speaker 2: into it. I was at a at a venue. The
Speaker 2: venue still exists, but it's under a different name and
Speaker 2: different ownership. But it was called Konga Lounge. It was
Speaker 2: located in New Jersey and no I'm sorry, North Bergen,
Speaker 2: New Jersey, across the street on Kennedy Boulevard, and I
Speaker 2: used to go there every Thursday with my friends. Back then,
Speaker 2: bottles are seventy five dollars before eleven, you know, Like,
Speaker 2: so this is a club, Yeah, this is like a lounge.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: So is this the beginning of you working hospitality and nightlife?
Speaker 2: Yeah, for the first time ever. But again, I'm there
Speaker 2: as a guest though, Okay, right, I'm there as a
Speaker 2: guest every week. And then there's this group of like
Speaker 2: seven girls leaving the venue, and you know, I was outside,
Speaker 2: I was smoking a cigarette and I'm like, where are
Speaker 2: you guys going. They're like, oh, we're going to go
Speaker 2: into the city. I'm like, well, why don't you guys,
Speaker 2: why don't you want to just stick around and hang
Speaker 2: out here. It's going to be a good party. Back then,
Speaker 2: in north Bergen, they used to close the bars and
Speaker 2: lounges at three o'clock in the morning, so they were
Speaker 2: leaving at like one o'clock, you know, And I told them, listen,
Speaker 2: like around one thirty one forty five is when the
Speaker 2: cool kids arrive. Yeah, you just just just hang out.
Speaker 2: Trust me, you don't want to go into the city
Speaker 2: right now. You're going to pay tolls. There's gonna be
Speaker 2: parking signs, they're going to tell you to park in
Speaker 2: one section of the street. But you really can't.
Speaker 1: I'm surprised you sell them the club?
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, So I convinced him to come back inside.
Speaker 2: All set. It was like seven or eight of them.
Speaker 2: They walked back inside, they checked their coats in again,
Speaker 2: and the promoter was outside. My brother Duncan so shout
Speaker 2: out to him real quick because he was basically my mentor.
Speaker 2: He's the one that brought me into the business. He
Speaker 2: saw me and says, how did you convince those girls
Speaker 2: to come back in after they were leaving? You know
Speaker 2: the venue? You know. He's like start asking me questions.
Speaker 2: You know your name? Do you do you do promotions?
Speaker 2: Do you do parties? And I'm like, I was like,
Speaker 2: I don't know what promotions mean. I'm like, I come
Speaker 2: here every Thursday, bro, we come here like at like
Speaker 2: ten forty five for that seventy five dollars, seventy five
Speaker 2: dollars above with your special that you have whatever it
Speaker 2: was that was bottle. Yeah, And he's like, well, would
Speaker 2: you be able to do this again? What if I
Speaker 2: paid you, you know, and you could do this. I'm
Speaker 2: like yeah, I'm like so much. And I guess when
Speaker 2: I mentioned the seventy five dollar bottle, He's like, seventy
Speaker 2: five dollars and I was like, let me get that absolutely.
Speaker 2: So I went inside and told my boys, yo, we
Speaker 2: got hooked up. Your boy got a job. The bottles
Speaker 2: come from now on there. So we were celebrating that day.
Speaker 2: We bought the we got the girl shots from the
Speaker 2: bottle because we were like, we were all good, come
Speaker 2: see us next week. And that's how it all started,
Speaker 2: you know, like that's where everything began.
Speaker 1: Really fast forward today this is where we presently are,
Speaker 1: and that's how I came to know of you more personally,
Speaker 1: because you know, I knew about you through brunch Exchange
Speaker 1: and everything else. But this space that you have now
Speaker 1: is something so different, something so unique and just special.
Speaker 1: How did you open these doors?
Speaker 2: Well? I was. I started there when it was twenty
Speaker 2: thirteen when I first started there. Really, yeah, I sold
Speaker 2: I sold hooka pens there, one for fifteen, two for twenty.
Speaker 2: That's how I really started.
Speaker 1: There, really, yeah, such humble beginning.
Speaker 2: Yes, I started there selling hookah pans one fifteen two
Speaker 2: for twenty to patrons. Yeah, to patrons, so that they
Speaker 2: wouldn't have to smoke cigarettes outside of the cold. And
Speaker 2: this is before vapes started. So I had a hookah
Speaker 2: business and we were we had hookahs all over New
Speaker 2: York because I remember Kings of Hookah, Yeah, Kings of Hookah.
Speaker 2: So we were in the Griffin Greenhouse, all Opus, the Raven,
Speaker 2: all these pass parties that mattered, you know, in the
Speaker 2: meatpacking District, downtown Manhattan and all that good stuff. Sutra
Speaker 2: you know, Sutra was great. So so yeah, that's really
Speaker 2: how it all started. And I started doing a brunch
Speaker 2: party there in twenty fourteen. Last Sunday was our season
Speaker 2: eleven premiere, because that event is obviously still going. And
Speaker 2: I got, I got. I was very fortunate to have
Speaker 2: people that leave to me and gave me an opportunity
Speaker 2: to you know, showcase my talent. And now that same
Speaker 2: place where I started is the place that we own.
Speaker 1: Congratulations. You know it brings us back to the boy
Speaker 1: pushing the cards.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the spoke on the wheel that was never look.
Speaker 1: At that the story you know, translates straight to you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: now why the Lobo the wolf? It just feels like
Speaker 1: a running theme in your life. And it's like I
Speaker 1: always check people's Instagram, no matter how many years they've
Speaker 1: had it, and you've been posting on the animal for
Speaker 1: a very very long time. Is it special to you? Like,
Speaker 1: do you feel a connection to it or is just
Speaker 1: the brand?
Speaker 2: No, it's actually a wild story how I got that.
Speaker 2: That's they started calling me that because I was doing
Speaker 2: an event. It was during December. I had my brother Mantes.
Speaker 2: He lives. He lives in la and he was living
Speaker 2: in Jersey obviously at the time. And we were doing
Speaker 2: an event and we had him. He was just up
Speaker 2: as saying. And then we had like a little helper.
Speaker 2: So we had a little person that we hired to
Speaker 2: walk around.
Speaker 1: I love how you say a little person. He's so politically.
Speaker 2: Correct and give shots out to like the guests and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. But then he was standing on the
Speaker 2: bar and you know, he was dancing, and he had
Speaker 2: like little elf pants on and a true story, I
Speaker 2: cannot make this up. His little thing was going back
Speaker 2: and forth inside the pants, inside the pants. But my
Speaker 2: boy was standing at the bar, and so the thing
Speaker 2: is going in front of his face too closer. No,
Speaker 2: this is this is I get. You can't make My
Speaker 2: life is a story man for real. They he's looking
Speaker 2: at my boy, my boy is you know, he's from
Speaker 2: the streets. You don't play that this is the little elf.
Speaker 2: But no, guest, my boy in Jersey City. You know,
Speaker 2: like he's looking at him, and the little guy is
Speaker 2: buying his lips down, looking at doing too much. You know,
Speaker 2: I come to find out that you know, that's what
Speaker 2: he likes. And okay, no problem, Okay, that's exactly what
Speaker 2: he did. So my boy took him and threw him
Speaker 2: off the bar because he took it as.
Speaker 1: Disrespect you swinging at too close to my mouth.
Speaker 2: It was so his manager that went to high school
Speaker 2: with Maggie comes up to me like, sees, they just
Speaker 2: threw such and such off the ball.
Speaker 1: The delf had a manager.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was a magic. So I'm just like,
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm so sorry about that, my boy.
Speaker 2: My other boys are coming in and they're like, yo, sees,
Speaker 2: you know what was that? Like I just seen he
Speaker 2: felt related get thrown off the bar, you know, And
Speaker 2: I'm just like, yeah, he's like, yo, see you like
Speaker 2: the you like the Wolf of Wall Street, but like
Speaker 2: the Wolf of Brunt Street. And I'm like, oh, that
Speaker 2: sounds crazy. And right there. That was in two thousand
Speaker 2: and fifteen when that name came about. So since then
Speaker 2: they've been calling me the wolf, you know. So like
Speaker 2: we called, they called us now the Wolves of Brunch Street.
Speaker 2: So everybody on my phone is saved with like a wolf,
Speaker 2: our own wolf logo. You know. We called each other wolves,
Speaker 2: you know, and said we just take care of one another,
Speaker 2: you know, and when this place came about the way,
Speaker 2: that's a lobe. What really happened was is that the
Speaker 2: owner at the time, which is still my partner today,
Speaker 2: his name is Joe, he called me up and told
Speaker 2: me that he had had a lucid dream that I
Speaker 2: was the owner of the place and that I was
Speaker 2: walking around talking to everybody.
Speaker 1: Which is what you do now.
Speaker 2: He like, sees, I saw you in my dream. He's like,
Speaker 2: you were literally walking around greeting people. He's like, and
Speaker 2: it was your name. Your name was on the place.
Speaker 2: He's like, I don't I don't know what it was called,
Speaker 2: but you named it. He's like, I think that you should.
Speaker 2: I think that you should buy this place. This is
Speaker 2: right before COVID hit. So that's when we started having
Speaker 2: those conversations. Obviously COVID came the deal when when down
Speaker 2: When obviously post COVID and everything calmed down, things became
Speaker 2: normal again for the most part, I guess is when
Speaker 2: we started exercising the conversations, and you know, I was
Speaker 2: able to find an investor to come in with me,
Speaker 2: and he stayed on board. You know, he said, I
Speaker 2: want to stick around for the ride, and he gave
Speaker 2: me an opportunity to uh to, to be uh an
Speaker 2: owner there, you know, and that's how it all came about.
Speaker 1: Really, how proud are you of just it's just such
Speaker 1: a dope place. The space just feels good, the service,
Speaker 1: the music. I don't know, and maybe I'm just biased,
Speaker 1: Like I don't really go out at night much. It's
Speaker 1: just not my thing anymore. But I will go out
Speaker 1: at it.
Speaker 2: I think that. At first, I want to I want
Speaker 2: to thank you, you know, because you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: individuals like yourself that come and remind me every day
Speaker 2: of you know, the journey that I'm on, you know,
Speaker 2: because again you know, like back to my daughter and
Speaker 2: the times that you question yourself as an entrepreneur, you know,
Speaker 2: because there is no set schedule and there is no
Speaker 2: set hours, Like I'm I'm sending emails at eight o'clock
Speaker 2: in the morning and I'm looking at things I have
Speaker 2: to catch up to at four o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 2: when I'm way to the bathroom in the middle of
Speaker 2: the night.
Speaker 1: You know, how hard is that? How hard is that
Speaker 1: on your personal life?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a lot. It takes a toll on you.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a special kind of person to even
Speaker 1: be able to be in your space and allow you
Speaker 1: to always be on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and but you know, you hear about, you know,
Speaker 2: certain businesses that you know, people burn out. They get
Speaker 2: burnt out, you know, because it's a lot, it's it's
Speaker 2: it's it's physically and mentally, you know, exhausting. It takes
Speaker 2: a toll on your body. But you got to just
Speaker 2: you know, you gotta if you have will and you
Speaker 2: have a little purpose, you know, meaning like my daughter,
Speaker 2: you know, like there's nothing really that can stop you.
Speaker 1: You know, I did see that you take your breaks.
Speaker 1: You do like to travel. Yeah, where have you been?
Speaker 1: I felt like I was on your Gramm and I'm like,
Speaker 1: he's with camels. Now, he's on the beach, now he's
Speaker 1: in Colombia.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I love to travel. I love to. I call
Speaker 2: it given my passport tattoos, you know, I love to.
Speaker 2: I think that we we are, you know, a specimen
Speaker 2: of people that are just very caught up right now
Speaker 2: in tech, you know, and we're we're always very concerned
Speaker 2: on you know, charging our phones, our laptops, and we
Speaker 2: forget to charge ourselves, you know. So I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, sometimes it's good just to really get away
Speaker 2: and just like unplug and really just kind of like
Speaker 2: you know, feed your soul again, just so that you
Speaker 2: could go back into the machine that you came from.
Speaker 1: So it's like a hard recess and you all controlled
Speaker 1: the leite.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Really, when you go to Columbia, I wanta do us.
Speaker 2: I just go to my family where Somoso. So you
Speaker 2: go home home, I go home.
Speaker 3: How good.
Speaker 2: I don't go to the beaches. Yeah. I don't go
Speaker 2: to clubs. Like it's it's funny because like people think
Speaker 2: when I go out there, I see so you know
Speaker 2: what was like, I'm like I was playing Parcheesi bro
Speaker 2: at like one o'clock in the morning with my cousins.
Speaker 2: Then we took out the karaoke thing on a Saturday night.
Speaker 2: Then we made a barbecue and we were saying we
Speaker 2: were playing, you know, beating Nola, And you know, I
Speaker 2: just spent time with my family because I don't have
Speaker 2: them here like other folks too. You know, like my
Speaker 2: entire family is in Columbia.
Speaker 1: Who else is Are your parents here there or they're
Speaker 1: in Columbia?
Speaker 2: No, my mother, my father or my cousins. No, my
Speaker 2: parents been left.
Speaker 1: Oh, Columbia, They like, we're out here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so you have a house to go to.
Speaker 1: I love that for you because you know a lot
Speaker 1: of Latinos, you know, especially like second or third generation
Speaker 1: Latinos were here, Our parents are here, our grandparents are here.
Speaker 1: I love that for you that you can actually go
Speaker 1: back to Colombia and be so in tune with like
Speaker 1: your roots, where you come from, your food, your parents.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. Do they want you to move there eventually?
Speaker 2: They like, oh, absolutely absolutely, I want to. I want
Speaker 2: to go there eventually. You know, at some point, you know,
Speaker 2: like you know, a lot of us, what do we do?
Speaker 2: We move down south to North Carolina, Miami. We go
Speaker 2: to Miami, we go to Georgia, we go to Texas.
Speaker 2: Why don't you just go a little bit more south,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Straight to your day country.
Speaker 2: Go back to your country. I've learned. Look in Colombia,
Speaker 2: a dollar is four dollars, you know, the Columbia. When
Speaker 2: you go and eat your steak, that chicken, that chicken
Speaker 2: was killed down the block, in somebody's backyard or in farm,
Speaker 2: you know, like everything is fresh, the air is clean.
Speaker 1: You know, and when you travel it's it's so different.
Speaker 1: Even the food tastes differently.
Speaker 2: Everything.
Speaker 1: It just tastes organic. Like you're like, why does food
Speaker 1: taste so organic?
Speaker 2: It's not labeled organic, it is. That's the difference, you know,
Speaker 2: sitting in a supermarket, you know, it's just like it's
Speaker 2: real food, straight from the land.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like if you move to Columbia, we
Speaker 1: will get a Columbia.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe no, no, no, no no no. It's funny
Speaker 2: because a lot of people have actually talked to me about,
Speaker 2: you know, putting a Castle Lobo. They want to put
Speaker 2: one in Dubai, they want to put.
Speaker 1: Columbia. He's like, Yui, okay, yes, these guys that what
Speaker 1: would that be like kind of like a franchise.
Speaker 2: Maybe it could be something like that. Just I think
Speaker 2: that right now, I want to definitely make sure that
Speaker 2: the original brick and mortar is exactly the blueprint to
Speaker 2: lead to more successful things, you know, and it doesn't
Speaker 2: necessarily have to be another Castle Lobo. It could just
Speaker 2: be like a sister venue of.
Speaker 1: That brand, kind of like the Tower Group. How they
Speaker 1: have all the difference.
Speaker 2: Exactly exactly like that where you like, you know, it's
Speaker 2: the same quality, it's the same hospitality group. But it's
Speaker 2: a different product, it's a different service.
Speaker 1: I see where you're going. It will take it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, as long as you're involved, because I feel
Speaker 1: like you're such a pivotal part of the establishment because
Speaker 1: we see you. You walk around, you stop by tables,
Speaker 1: you what do you need is everything?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: You need something to drink? Like you're the one that
Speaker 1: makes the place even more special because you know, it's
Speaker 1: New York City. We have a million places Jersey, but
Speaker 1: when you go to Casa Luloo, you just feel like
Speaker 1: you're safe, you're home and kind of like you're like
Speaker 1: the pops. It's like he got this on the control.
Speaker 1: He's gonna make sure everybody is taken care of.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: And you're you're what makes it. You know, the place
Speaker 1: is beautiful, the food is amazing, the drinks are great.
Speaker 1: But I feel like you're the icing on the cake.
Speaker 1: And I'm not gassing it because you're sitting in front
Speaker 1: of me. Because I always say it. I just love that,
Speaker 1: like there he is there. He's like when I see you,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I know everything is gonna be okay because
Speaker 1: he's here tonight. Thank you and you know, what you've
Speaker 1: done there is absolutely, appolutely amazing. I gotta shout out
Speaker 1: my girl, Erica Man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, shot out to her.
Speaker 1: She introduced me to and she wants me to go
Speaker 1: every week. When hit she hit me, what was it Friday?
Speaker 1: Come to us. I'm like, I'm not dressed, let's plan
Speaker 1: a little bit better. But she loves it there, and
Speaker 1: just like me, she feels safe because there's a unique
Speaker 1: twist to which is.
Speaker 2: To member of space, to member space to speak easy,
Speaker 2: which everybody knows of speakeasy is where they come from
Speaker 2: and whatnot. And but the members only space. I wanted
Speaker 2: to create a community within one, you know. I wanted
Speaker 2: to create a space where there could be organic growth,
Speaker 2: organic conversation between perfect strangers that have great things going
Speaker 2: on that they want great things for themselves. They're trying
Speaker 2: to be the best versions of themselves and you know,
Speaker 2: their spirit forward individuals, like minded individuals, career driven entrepreneurs, visionaries,
Speaker 2: you know, bringing them into a space and them knowing
Speaker 2: that not just anybody could come into this space. And
Speaker 2: it's not really about you know, what you spend in there,
Speaker 2: It's about how you spend it, you know, and who
Speaker 2: you spend it with. So we do have a screening
Speaker 2: process of course, you know, and but it's really mostly
Speaker 2: based on referrals, you know, on accountability. That's what really
Speaker 2: the place is about.
Speaker 1: Now, if someone wants to see the place and see
Speaker 1: understand what we're talking about, website, Instagram, where can they
Speaker 1: go right now?
Speaker 2: So there's a website www dot costolobojc dot com, there's Instagram,
Speaker 2: Costa Lobo JC, and they can reach out and there
Speaker 2: will be a concierge that will respond and set you
Speaker 2: up with a reservation and anywhere between five six thirty,
Speaker 2: which is more kind of like for non members to
Speaker 2: come in and check the space out, you know. So
Speaker 2: it's more about like it's like an Uber and Lyft
Speaker 2: business model. You know, if you know, the five of
Speaker 2: us go somewhere to see a show tonight in the
Speaker 2: city and we grab uber. You know, as soon as
Speaker 2: we get out of that man or that woman's vessel,
Speaker 2: you know, the first thing that happens is that we
Speaker 2: get an opportunity to go ahead and judge that person
Speaker 2: and judge his vehicle, Judge the way he had a conversation,
Speaker 2: Judge the cleanliness of his vehicle. You know. But because
Speaker 2: these companies don't own those vessels, don't own the insurance plans,
Speaker 2: don't own the maintenance that's required on those vehicles, you know,
Speaker 2: the policies and whatnot, it's the driver that gets the
Speaker 2: opportunity to also judge us as passengers, you know. So
Speaker 2: I wanted to adapt that at Costa Lobo, where you
Speaker 2: can come check us out, you know, but we're also
Speaker 2: going to judge you whether you could come back or not,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: And you know what, that's what keeps it such a
Speaker 1: you know, dope space. Yeah, because you're curating you know,
Speaker 1: the clientele in a way, and it's like as you should.
Speaker 1: And that's what makes me feel safe. And when I
Speaker 1: go there, I'm like, I'm good, and I trust the
Speaker 1: people that are to my left and I trust the
Speaker 1: people that's to my right because I know that you've
Speaker 1: handpicked these people.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And they know also that they've went through
Speaker 2: a process. They know that when they arrive that they
Speaker 2: see individuals that also went through that process, that these
Speaker 2: are members. So that nice organic sequence where everybody knows
Speaker 2: that they're safe gives it for that nice open, you
Speaker 2: know feeling like you just you just feel very welcomed.
Speaker 1: You know, and it feels like one big party. And
Speaker 1: it's like every time I go, somebody's having a birthday
Speaker 1: and it's like we're all saying happy birthday, and yeah,
Speaker 1: somebody gets up and dance and I don't care you're
Speaker 1: dancing on top of me. I could care less because
Speaker 1: I know that we're kind of like connected in a way.
Speaker 1: So I encourage you if you're listening, go to the Instagram,
Speaker 1: go to the website, and you know, try to get
Speaker 1: you you know, your reservation. Go check it out. Order
Speaker 1: everything all the small place, like every single one of them.
Speaker 1: But my favorite is the cauliflower. Every time I go,
Speaker 1: you know, the lollipop chicken is amazing, right, what else?
Speaker 1: What else?
Speaker 2: I feel like I've ordered that Myersco Trasco is amazing,
Speaker 2: not because it's mine, but it's just amazing. It's really
Speaker 2: really good.
Speaker 1: I gotta try it. But it's just like I always
Speaker 1: feel like so like cool and bougie when I'm there
Speaker 1: that I'm like, I can't order a big right, right,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna order every single small place I wanted to
Speaker 1: be cute me and my plates or I gotta order.
Speaker 1: I still have not ordered one of the entrees. But
Speaker 1: you come to the table, you're going to see everything
Speaker 1: is there.
Speaker 2: Next time you come to Cherasco, be on me. How
Speaker 2: about that? All right?
Speaker 1: Find that like you're doing.
Speaker 2: Don't play with me? Definitely playing around, But yeah, that's
Speaker 2: what that's what that place is now.
Speaker 1: Switching gears from the lobo to the dogs. Your dog
Speaker 1: lover like me.
Speaker 2: Yes me?
Speaker 1: Why the bullies?
Speaker 2: The bully? I was that's when I was working at
Speaker 2: a furniture store.
Speaker 1: Particular breed, like it's a certain type of man that
Speaker 1: loves that dog.
Speaker 2: I had a friend of mine, Well he's still my friends,
Speaker 2: my brother. He's he's actually a professional boxer, you know.
Speaker 2: He he works at boxing very very hard. You know.
Speaker 2: I didn't want his name I know him because I'm
Speaker 2: not sure if he wants me to mention his name.
Speaker 2: So he he had a dog named Peanut and she
Speaker 2: was a bully and she was beautiful. And I remember
Speaker 2: coming home from the furnit store now and I saw
Speaker 2: him on the corner. I'm like, wow, I'm like that
Speaker 2: dog is beautiful, Like it was just very It was
Speaker 2: a fawn color with a white chest. She was smiling.
Speaker 2: Is hot, So I was like, listen, man. I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm like, whenever you puppies say listen, you know what,
Speaker 2: whenever she has a letter, I promise you I will
Speaker 2: give you a puppy. I was like, I had no problem.
Speaker 2: Two years later, I'm like, you know, you know, surfing
Speaker 2: the well, I'm on Facebook stalking. Yeah, not that stalk.
Speaker 2: I'm just like checking out, you know, doing promoter things.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at flyers all that stuff, right, and I
Speaker 2: come across I come across a post of his where
Speaker 2: he's just like, you know, oh, Peanut is about to
Speaker 2: have her puppies. So I hit him up. I'm like, yo,
Speaker 2: you remember this conversation we had. She's like yeah, I was.
Speaker 2: I was like, cool, so I got second pick my dog. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I went to go see the puppies when they were
Speaker 2: when they were feeding for the first time, and I
Speaker 2: saw this one little gray puppy just climbing over all
Speaker 2: the other siblings, trying like you know, attaching itself to
Speaker 2: his mother. And I'm like, that's my dog right there.
Speaker 2: I'm like, and I'm gonna call him mega, you know,
Speaker 2: because he like he overcame everything, you know.
Speaker 1: He said, listen, I'm gonna get to this city.
Speaker 2: Yeah at all us.
Speaker 1: So you felt connected immediately?
Speaker 2: Yeah, like that was my guy. Yeah, I call him Mega. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the most loyal dog ever. He's still alive, thank god.
Speaker 2: But he's thirteen. Are you kidding me? Yeah, he's very
Speaker 2: old right now, we were just talking about him.
Speaker 1: I know you had multiple dogs. It's just Mega throughout
Speaker 1: his life. I'm like, he got a puppy, he got
Speaker 1: older one, he got it.
Speaker 2: No, it's Mega, man, It's always been Mega, you know,
Speaker 2: he always man's best friend. Yeah. Dogs are Dogs are
Speaker 2: amazing creatures. Man, They're just amazing, Like you could you know.
Speaker 2: I heard somebody tell me one time. They made an
Speaker 2: analogy about how if you ever put a dog inside
Speaker 2: of a trunk, right, not that you I would ever
Speaker 2: do that or that wouldever on. That just sounds crazy already,
Speaker 2: But if you ever put a dog in a trunk,
Speaker 2: right and you let him out ten minutes later, he's
Speaker 2: going to be waggon. He's just going to be so
Speaker 2: happy to see you. He's not going to be like,
Speaker 2: why'd you put me in that trunk for it? Kind
Speaker 2: of walk away like they just like we don't deserve dogs.
Speaker 2: It's just they're just great, you know.
Speaker 1: So they are very forgiving. I have a dog myself,
Speaker 1: My husband and my dog fight all day. Help put
Speaker 1: them in the crate about you punished? And the dog
Speaker 1: when he lets about the crate, the dog is look
Speaker 1: at his face. I'm like, so you forgot what you happened.
Speaker 2: They definitely have personalities, you know. But but yeah, they're
Speaker 2: very forgiving, you know.
Speaker 1: And you know, I say all the time, you know,
Speaker 1: we don't deserve dogs, but we should also take from
Speaker 1: them also because sometimes we tend to harbor resentment and
Speaker 1: you know, it don't even be that serious, and sometimes
Speaker 1: we lose core relationships and family members because we don't
Speaker 1: have the ability to forgive them and we could take
Speaker 1: from them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I I remember a neighbor. One of the
Speaker 2: neighbor's daughters threw like a rubber ball at him and
Speaker 2: he chewed it and ate it and it got stuck
Speaker 2: in testing and and I almost lost him. I had
Speaker 2: to take them to get like emergency surgery. And you know,
Speaker 2: the vets, they know they got you ten thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: It was ten thousand dollars with no problem.
Speaker 1: These bets are crazy, like it's.
Speaker 2: Ten k I'm like, you know that we're going through
Speaker 2: omicron right now, whatever is going on? Right, yeah, this
Speaker 2: is after COVID. I'm like, this is the other strand
Speaker 2: I'm like, why are we here right now? What do
Speaker 2: you mean ten thousands? Oh, they don't care, and ten
Speaker 2: thousand cash is what I have to pay, you know, like,
Speaker 2: and they found a rubber ball and stuck in his testing,
Speaker 2: so he was he started first throwing up because he
Speaker 2: couldn't digestic food. So he started throwing up. We thought
Speaker 2: that he ate weeds, and then he started bleeding, you know,
Speaker 2: out of his backside, and that's when it was a problem.
Speaker 2: So thankfully, and you know, they were like listen, you know,
Speaker 2: we could just see what happens too if you don't
Speaker 2: have the ten thousand. And I'm like, I'm like, that's crazy.
Speaker 1: We haven't let Mega die. Yeah, we don't get to
Speaker 1: this money. He went in the sash.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I went into the stash, the Project Change
Speaker 2: staff slash.
Speaker 1: And Mega is here with us. I want to really
Speaker 1: thank you, you know for sitting down with me, opening
Speaker 1: up you know about your your journey, your parents, your daughter,
Speaker 1: your son, Mega, and you know, most importantly you the
Speaker 1: core of who you are as a man.
Speaker 2: Thank you, and I appreciate you. You know, I told
Speaker 2: you that evening that you know, I was very excited
Speaker 2: and I was very blessed, and I just you know,
Speaker 2: I uh, I felt like this, this wave of gratitude,
Speaker 2: you know, when you guys approached me about this and
Speaker 2: and give me an opportunity on this amazing platform of
Speaker 2: yours to come here and speak about my humble beginnings
Speaker 2: and you know, my humble journey right now, you know,
Speaker 2: so thank you, Thank you very much. Honestly, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: And listen, you guys, we're all going to meet up ata,
Speaker 1: We're going to celebrate together, not gonna say on Caesus.
Speaker 2: Time just.
Speaker 1: Right now is amazing, your dope, your energy is amazing.
Speaker 1: Keep up the work, the great work that you're doing,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know, make sure you follow.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you very much. I appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Come again, all Hi, Grassiers.
Speaker 2: Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions in
Speaker 2: partnership with Iheart's Microtura podcast network