Interview with Uzi Wizman, founder of Borekas and PSY Street Kitchen, about growing a brand from an Instagram Story and sharing culture with the world.
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00:00 Welcome to Restaurant Influencers presented by Entrepreneur.
00:03 My name is Sean Walsh, founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media.
00:07 In life, in the restaurant business and in the new creator economy,
00:12 we learn through lessons and stories.
00:14 We are grateful to Toast, our primary title sponsor of this show,
00:18 for believing in restaurants, for believing in smartphone storytelling
00:22 and for believing in technology.
00:24 We're so grateful today that we have Uzi Wiseman.
00:27 He is the proprietor of @Borrecas
00:31 and you can find them on Instagram at bo.re.kas
00:38 and also at @SciStreetKitchenShermanOaks.
00:43 You're making a huge, huge wave on the West Coast.
00:48 Everyone is talking.
00:49 If you go on TikTok, if you go on Instagram, this is the hottest concept in town.
00:54 Uzi, we're so grateful to have you on the show. Welcome.
00:57 Thank you. Thank you.
00:58 Nice to meet you, first of all.
01:00 And yeah, that's what I hear from the side.
01:02 People love it.
01:04 People love it.
01:05 So we're going to start with our favorite random question,
01:08 which is where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage or venue?
01:14 Well, I would say
01:19 Staples Center, Crypto.com Center, but for me, it's always Staples Center.
01:24 And yeah.
01:26 Beautiful.
01:28 So one of the things that we love to do is we,
01:30 we, the people that listen to this show are true entrepreneurs,
01:34 true hospitality professionals and true storytellers.
01:38 And they like to do things different.
01:41 And I know that you're a man that likes to do things differently.
01:43 That blazes his own trail.
01:45 We're going to go to Staples, Crypto.com.
01:48 I'm going to talk to entrepreneur, talk to Toast, talk to some other partners,
01:51 and we're going to bring all of the best storytellers
01:54 and hospitality professionals to Crypto.com.
01:57 And I'm going to put you on center court.
01:59 I'm going to say, Uzi, tell me your story.
02:01 Give me your story.
02:03 How did you get to be on entrepreneur.com?
02:06 Why is everyone talking about you?
02:09 And so.
02:11 I think it was a surprise for everybody what we did.
02:17 And what everybody talking about that,
02:21 because there is a line all the time.
02:23 So first of all, when there is a line, people like to talk,
02:26 people like to ask, people like to check what is it.
02:29 And second, we open a small store out of like a catering kitchen,
02:37 which it's no more catering kitchen, of course, and small window.
02:42 We serving one item and one buttery flaky
02:49 item, and we take something that is very traditional
02:54 and very popular in my country, in Israel, and we bring it here to L.A.
03:00 And we trying to create it, we trying to do it a little bit more upscale.
03:06 And and but on the same time, keep it like fast food.
03:11 And most of the people, like 99 percent of the people just like it.
03:18 I never heard about someone who tell me, no, I don't like it.
03:21 Like who doesn't like butter and and and dough and cheese
03:26 and perfect cooked egg, you know, like all those stuff.
03:29 And also L.A. people is really like breakfast people.
03:34 They love breakfast.
03:36 So tell me, tell me more about Barakas.
03:39 Tell me about tell me about the first time that you had it in your life.
03:42 Oh, it's everywhere.
03:45 It's everywhere in your life.
03:47 When you grow up in Israel, it's everywhere.
03:50 It's it's when someone die, they bring breakers.
03:54 When there is a party, they bring breakers.
03:56 When you said you eat breakers, when you drank, you eat breakers.
03:59 It's like it's meet you in a lot of like special moment.
04:04 And and in your life.
04:06 And the first time I meet breakers, it was,
04:10 I guess, when I was a baby, I don't even remember when I met breakers first time.
04:16 But I can tell you it's definitely one of those
04:19 foods that you always wanted, like
04:23 in the second you smell it, you want it.
04:26 And and the appetite for breakers.
04:30 It's something that.
04:33 You know, I never said no to break us to have fresh breakers.
04:37 I never said no.
04:38 And yeah, pretty much.
04:44 So what's incredible to me and why I love the opportunity to host this show is that
04:50 we've never had the Internet at our fingertips as entrepreneurs
04:54 and business owners where we can share our story.
04:56 And then our share, our story can be shared by so many other people.
05:00 This concept started as an Instagram story.
05:05 Is that correct?
05:06 He pretty much look.
05:08 So basically, the concept start is like we have I have side street kitchen.
05:13 It's like a smoked meat place, burger place.
05:17 And we're trying to take the kosher burger to the next level in L.A.
05:22 We open like I think almost six years over there.
05:26 And we we start to create
05:30 big caterings and I needed another kitchen.
05:34 So I took over another spot in the same shopping center.
05:38 And this part of this little window.
05:41 And I'm like, OK, we are in the middle of Sherman Oaks shopping center.
05:45 What we can sell out of the window.
05:46 And we're talking about 700 square foot, right?
05:50 This is the basis.
05:52 And OK, let's make breakers.
05:54 So we just.
05:57 Made this sign of breakers, open a new company,
06:01 just make it very like easy, fast, nothing like too complicated.
06:06 We open an Instagram account.
06:07 My wife like control it.
06:09 And we make a story, hey, guys, we open today after like
06:13 like months and a half of like tests to find the perfect dough,
06:18 the perfect feeling. We work on it for a long time.
06:20 And again, maybe like 12 pounds this month.
06:25 And and OK, we have 90 90 pieces.
06:31 I think it was 90 pieces of breakers.
06:34 We open guys and we have it.
06:37 We we pretty known in the kosher community.
06:39 And and we just opened the window.
06:43 OK, let's see. 90 breakers.
06:45 I tell my guys, look, guys, we probably be sell out around like 3 p.m.
06:50 So this is the shift. Let's get ready.
06:52 We sold out in 55 minutes.
06:55 We open at 9 a.m.
06:56 We sold out and 10 a.m.
06:58 We close the kitchen.
07:00 And I'm like, OK, what was it? You know? Yeah.
07:03 And from there is just like start to build up and grow and grow.
07:07 And we try to catch up and make more and catch up and make more.
07:10 And people just order those huge quantity and like give me 20 pieces,
07:14 give me 30 pieces and they take it to the offices for meetings.
07:18 And I saw that people really like it, you know.
07:22 Thanks, God. People love it.
07:26 We bring something new to L.A.
07:30 First one, I don't think in U.S.
07:32 there is something that specifically make only breakers, only this type of pastry.
07:38 And. And it's so different than restaurant operation.
07:44 It's so different.
07:47 So different, and it's so fun for everyone who working in the in this business.
07:52 They love it, you know, and it's first time after like I'm
07:55 in the restaurant business for 15 years.
07:57 It's first time when I see like employees that really, really happy come to work.
08:02 We're really, really happy when it's crazy busy
08:05 because they know when we sell out, we go home early.
08:07 And it's just the perfect combination of everything together.
08:13 That's incredible.
08:14 And I mean, the reason why I love the story so much is on so many different levels.
08:19 But to think differently as a restaurateur,
08:23 you know, it's such a hard business.
08:25 It's so difficult, you know, from your side kitchen.
08:28 You have two locations, is that correct?
08:31 And we sold one of them because breakers.
08:35 We sold it like recently, like a month ago, because breakers got so busy.
08:39 And I have this three weeks baby and newborn in my house.
08:43 Congratulations. Thank you so much.
08:45 Which I really want to be with and, you know, be next to him.
08:50 And it was kind of like too much for me.
08:52 Yeah. So we sold this location.
08:54 And so we are in Sherman Oaks right now.
08:57 And yeah. Talk to me about becoming a father.
09:02 Becoming a father. Wow.
09:05 It was amazing journey.
09:08 Amazing, amazing. I deliver my wife.
09:10 We did on birth like the doctor being with us, but she.
09:16 She filmed everything, and it was
09:21 like the house was full of energy.
09:25 And it was the most amazing experience I ever had.
09:29 And it's it's amazing to see how much power.
09:36 My wife, all the women around the world have when they can handle this,
09:42 like it was something it was a moment.
09:45 It was like a 17 hours, like all the delivery and everything together.
09:51 And it was the last two hours.
09:53 It was a moment. And I'm like, I talk to my wife
09:56 and I don't know if she's still with me, you know? Yeah.
09:59 It was something else.
10:01 And very excited every day.
10:04 Just what I want to do.
10:05 I want to go back home to be with my baby, be with my wife.
10:09 And I think it's part of the meaning of life, you know.
10:13 Huge news toast.
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10:46 One of the biggest difficulties that restaurant guests have
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10:58 This is huge news for the restaurant industry.
11:01 Huge news for guests and huge news for you, the restaurant owner.
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11:20 I think, you know, the for me as someone that has barbecue restaurants
11:26 and we're here in San Diego and 15 years in the restaurant business,
11:30 owner operator kind of wearing the badge of, oh, I have to be there.
11:34 I have to work.
11:35 I've got to open and I've got to close and I got to do all the things.
11:38 But then when my son was born, was the first time for me
11:42 that I realized, you know, maybe it isn't about opening up
11:45 as many barbecue restaurants as possible.
11:48 You know, maybe it is about doing something deeper and more meaningful.
11:51 You know, that's really when we started doing a lot more of the storytelling
11:55 and the media side, because I didn't have to be at the restaurant every single day.
11:59 I think when I when I hear your story and I see, you know,
12:02 I didn't know that you had sold sold one of your locations, but
12:05 it's it's a powerful shift for an entrepreneur.
12:09 You know, you've been spending so much time, blood, sweat, tears, hopes, dreams
12:15 putting into this hospitality business.
12:17 And now you're at a point where you're starting to prioritize
12:22 the things that matter.
12:23 Absolutely. Absolutely.
12:25 And the first lesson and the first thing I learned,
12:29 it's never falling in love in your business.
12:31 You know, it's a business the end of the day.
12:34 And we're here to do business and to fall in love in like four walls
12:38 and chairs and menu and customer.
12:42 It's nice, but there is more than that.
12:45 Yeah, I heard a quote, never.
12:49 Never lose what you have chasing what you want.
12:52 Absolutely.
12:54 We spend so much time chasing as men, as leaders,
12:58 as what we want to build and see something grow.
13:01 And we forget to take care of the things that are right in front of us.
13:05 Tell me about Saturday.
13:07 Why are you closed on Saturday?
13:09 Is that something it's it's because the place is kosher.
13:13 I'm not kosher, though.
13:15 I'm not keeping kosher.
13:16 And why I decide to do it kosher, because I love my family time.
13:22 I want to have one day that I can completely be like here
13:28 with my family and do nothing.
13:31 Turn off my phone and and.
13:35 This is the only reason this is the only reason also from my guys,
13:38 from my cooks, they have this and we close Friday.
13:41 We sell out around like Friday.
13:43 It's really busy day.
13:44 So we sell out around like twelve thirty to one thirty p.m.
13:48 We finish clean, organized and.
13:51 That's it. Quiet till Sunday morning.
13:54 Which is great.
13:58 It's beautiful. Yeah.
14:00 When you think about where you are right now as a new father
14:05 and somebody that has.
14:08 So much attention, so much, so many people asking about your shop,
14:11 when are you going to open up more shops?
14:13 How do you how do you manage what what what the what the next step is?
14:17 And first, I don't want to be in rush.
14:22 I don't want to do something and don't do it like perfect.
14:26 You know, we have a big plan.
14:28 We have a big plans.
14:29 I work with really like.
14:32 Really serious people in the industry, and we're trying to grow it.
14:36 I don't have any partners.
14:37 I don't have anyone with me to put money.
14:40 And I'm trying to create kind of like, let's say, a chain out of breakers,
14:47 but something very personal, something very unique, very quality.
14:51 I don't want to have like 200 location.
14:53 You know, if I have in five, six years from now, 40 location, I'm happy.
14:58 I don't need more than that.
14:59 Yeah. And the most important is to keep it this quality.
15:02 You know, usually when you rush and you open another space
15:06 and you're trying to do everything by yourself and you don't bring
15:10 the right people with you, that's where you're going down
15:14 and you're not like going up.
15:16 And I don't want it to happen.
15:18 I want to keep it and do it right.
15:20 I want to bring the right people to the team.
15:22 And I want.
15:25 I don't want investors.
15:27 I started a dishwasher in 15, 16 years ago.
15:32 I'm 31. I start to work in the kitchen when I was 16.
15:35 And I left school.
15:38 I tell my mom, I'm dead. I don't want school anymore.
15:41 I want to be a chef.
15:42 They like, are you crazy? What are you doing? Blah, blah, blah.
15:44 I'm becoming a dishwasher.
15:47 Yeah, I'm becoming a dishwasher.
15:49 Yes. Dishwasher for the first year.
15:52 And then I make my way up, learn the kitchen, work with some chef.
15:56 And more experience traveling the world,
16:00 been through a lot of stuff.
16:03 And I know what is it
16:06 to be the guy who work hard.
16:10 And then those guys who put the money, the investors coming
16:15 and like take them cut out of what you're working hard for.
16:18 So what I want to build, I want to create a team
16:22 that grow in the business and they will open more locations
16:27 without put any money in it, but still be a partners.
16:31 So I want all this breakers thing to be like
16:37 operate by active partners
16:41 which grow in the business.
16:45 And so this is basically the plan.
16:51 And yeah, many people talk to me about like, can I put one?
16:56 Can I can can can I give you money to can I franchise it?
16:59 Can you sell me the product? Can you do this?
17:01 No, guys, this is.
17:04 Not what I'm looking for. Yeah.
17:07 And but we're getting a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of people talking to me about.
17:12 I can only imagine.
17:13 I mean, the amount of press, it's amazing.
17:16 Usually you'll find when something's as hot as the concept is,
17:21 you'll find some negativity.
17:22 And I can't find I literally went on every social media platform possible.
17:27 And you name the foodie reviewer, the blog site, the entertainment site,
17:32 the Jewish site, everybody is saying the praises.
17:36 And I guess how do you how do you deal with somebody
17:40 that does get disappointed?
17:42 Have you had any negative reviews?
17:44 It's not happened a lot.
17:46 Mm, not really.
17:48 I don't really have a negative review.
17:50 Sometimes one customer tell me the cheese is too salty.
17:53 Well, take another take a different break.
17:57 It's OK. Like nothing like crazy.
18:00 Never. We never got like crazy review, like bad review.
18:04 The line is too long.
18:06 What can I do? Tell people go home like.
18:10 And I never got like.
18:14 There is there is no room to make too many mistakes
18:19 if you do everything right, you know what I mean?
18:21 Because it's not too complicated.
18:22 If you see the operation from inside, it's like pop, pop, pop, pop.
18:26 It's like everything. It's organized.
18:28 Everybody doing one thing.
18:30 Do it perfect.
18:32 Everything work with time. It's like.
18:34 We do we we create this crazy system of preordering,
18:40 so people call to preorder in advance, like just for example,
18:44 look at this last Sunday, like yesterday.
18:48 We sold like around 300 burricas
18:51 in preorder before 9 a.m.
18:54 before we already opened the store. Wow.
18:57 So so people coming, standing in line, the line is getting longer and longer.
19:01 And then those people who already preorder come from the side and like,
19:04 hey, I'm here for pickup and we just bring them the food outside.
19:07 Amazing. So, you know, we give this solution to other people.
19:11 If you really want and you don't want to stand in line, just preorder your food.
19:16 Are you going to be using any technology to help you
19:20 with the preordering process or right now?
19:22 I don't know.
19:23 Maybe we will need to build something just specifically for us.
19:27 And. We don't do delivery service so far.
19:33 Yeah, everything it's only pickup and preorder over the over the phone.
19:37 And. I'm still like, think about everything.
19:42 I just don't want to make and ruin the product, you know,
19:46 I want the product to stay like here.
19:48 For sure. How do you how do you because you have you get to a capacity, right?
19:53 Because of the equipment and because of the space, because of the space.
19:57 Yeah. Yeah. So I guess.
19:59 How do you deal with those capacity besides selling out?
20:04 That's it. There is no there is no other way just to grow,
20:08 just to take another kitchen and do some like like a commissary kitchen,
20:14 you know, to me, I'm still thinking about everything and dealing
20:18 like with how to expand and how to do it.
20:20 But I want to stay in this concept of like, yeah, I'm selling out.
20:25 When we sell out, we sell out.
20:26 I'm not like, you know, money, it's not everything. Yeah.
20:31 It's something, of course, we're here for money.
20:33 Like that's why we're doing the business.
20:35 But but but to see my my employees finally, my cooks finally happy.
20:40 This is much more than money for me.
20:42 You know, to know that you can build something
20:45 that people really like and happy to work for.
20:48 This is something different.
20:51 What does your family say now?
20:54 From from the from the dishwasher that made it.
20:58 They they're proud.
21:01 They're proud. Yes, they're proud.
21:03 They're happy.
21:05 When when were they the most happy when you
21:11 when you first got your first restaurant or or with the burricas?
21:14 If you ask my mom with the baby, she don't care about the baby.
21:18 That's that's grandma. Yes.
21:20 You just care about that.
21:21 And she always ask about that.
21:23 And they're really happy with the burricas.
21:26 They see what is the different like with burricas.
21:28 I can be home every day around like 5 p.m.
21:31 Yeah, I'm home at 5 p.m.
21:33 I don't need to butter myself in anything else. Yeah.
21:36 When you have a restaurant, you know that I don't need to tell you, but.
21:40 Yeah. Like you running after your tail all the time, all the time.
21:45 All the time.
21:47 Yeah, I think I would love for you to talk to the entrepreneur
21:52 that's thinking about opening up a restaurant.
21:54 You know, we have ideas of what it means to be in the restaurant business.
21:58 And the reason why I love talking to people like you is that
22:01 you've been there and done that.
22:03 But now you're doing something that's totally different.
22:05 I'm sure you never dreamed when you were, you know, washing dishes,
22:09 when you would open up a restaurant that you'd have a takeout window
22:13 that was 700 square feet that was actually had more potential
22:16 to build the life that you wanted, the legacy that you wanted outside of,
22:20 you know, a 5000 square foot restaurant with, you know, 50 employees
22:25 or however many employees it is.
22:27 That's not the world that we live in.
22:28 People want they want connection.
22:30 They want connection to something that's meaningful.
22:32 They want something that's tasty, something that they don't have to,
22:36 you know, bend over backwards to go and get.
22:39 You've created that.
22:40 What advice would you give to somebody that's wants
22:43 wants to get into the food business, wants to be a food entrepreneur?
22:46 Do not be rush.
22:49 Don't be rushed for it.
22:51 It's not that easy like it's look like you need to deal with so many things,
22:55 so many aspects.
22:56 And and if it's customer, if it's like the quality of the food,
23:01 if it's like the quantity of the food, if it's your employees, you need to keep
23:06 you need to be on top of everything all the time.
23:09 And it's not easy at all.
23:11 At the end of the day, you still want to make money.
23:13 So you need to keep your labor.
23:16 Right.
23:17 What I would say people really, really those day people
23:22 don't want stuff complicated.
23:25 They want stuff simple.
23:27 They want every detail.
23:28 They like everything simple.
23:30 They like to know what they get.
23:31 They like to stand and to buy something that
23:35 they don't need to think three times.
23:37 OK, what I want, the menu is so big.
23:39 What I will choose, what I will get to find something that people really want.
23:44 People really like and touching most of the people.
23:47 You can never touch in everybody, but in most of like 90 percent of the people,
23:52 it's enough and.
23:54 And yeah, I don't know if like
23:59 if someone without experience will come and open a restaurant,
24:03 those those days, especially those day.
24:05 It's insane. It's crazy.
24:08 It's not something that I would like wish to to to my enemies, you know?
24:14 Yeah, it's just hard.
24:17 You know, it's hard. It's hard.
24:18 It's hard. It's like to sell your soul to the devil.
24:20 It's something like that.
24:22 Yeah, you have to be there all the time.
24:23 You have to make sure everybody happy all the time.
24:25 And then on top of that, you have the yelp that me as a restaurant owner hated.
24:30 You know, we give they give power to people.
24:33 Anonymous, not supposed to have power and they can destroy your business.
24:38 It's you know, it's it's it's it's not easy.
24:43 It's not easy. It's not easy.
24:45 And think about it twice before you do it.
24:48 Tell me about the power of social media.
24:52 What what you what you and your wife have been able to tap into.
24:56 This is it's something it's something
25:00 we. We meet with break us, not with the other place like we
25:07 we have a nice account for size with Kitchen and and and we used to be more
25:13 on social media, but. It's a huge power.
25:17 People really, really on social media, there is specific people on social media.
25:23 It's not like our regular customers, you know, for me to see
25:28 people that not Israelis or Jewish stand in line for break us
25:34 for me to see article on Chinese newspaper
25:38 for break us in Chinese, you know, I put it in Google Translate
25:43 to read what they tell about the break us and.
25:46 To explain the Chinese people what is break us,
25:50 they compare it to other Chinese pastries, which is.
25:53 It's something else, you know, it's taken to another level
25:58 to see and I don't know someone that don't really know what is break us.
26:03 Like I have this Japanese customer which already become my friend
26:08 coming every week or they're like, oh, yeah, I want the three cheese,
26:13 I want to potato, I want one of the dessert and make me two Turkish coffee,
26:17 one with cardamom, one with one without cardamom like.
26:20 You don't even know what is Turkish coffee before
26:23 you don't even know what is break us before and is already like.
26:26 Yes, daily customer, you know.
26:29 This is amazing.
26:29 This is something that like this is something the social media
26:32 bring to the table, you know.
26:34 I think when I think of break us,
26:38 it inspires me because my wife is Bulgarian.
26:42 My grandfather was so my wife is 100% Bulgarian.
26:45 She's moved here.
26:46 There's a lot of Bulgarians in San Diego.
26:49 There's a lot of Bulgarians in the United States.
26:50 There's so many dishes that mean so much to them,
26:55 but there's really no Bulgarian restaurants outside of Las Vegas and Chicago.
26:58 And the Bulgarian food is amazing.
27:00 The Bulgarian food is amazing.
27:01 But no matter where you are, whoever's listening to this,
27:04 you know, the entrepreneur grateful that this reaches all over the globe.
27:08 You have to have the courage.
27:10 You had the courage to lean into something that was so specific
27:14 to Israeli culture to think, well, maybe, maybe there's enough Jewish people.
27:21 But what you're saying is it's not even about Jewish people.
27:24 It's Americans from all different backgrounds that are coming
27:27 to learn about your culture, learn about your food,
27:30 and now are writing about it in Chinese newspapers and Japanese.
27:34 Like, how amazing is that?
27:36 But you have to have the courage to know that what you enjoyed as a little boy,
27:41 what you bring to funerals, what you bring to weddings.
27:44 Maybe that's not just for my home country.
27:48 Maybe that's also for America.
27:51 I guess it is for America.
27:54 People love it.
27:55 And a lot of people get upset with us.
27:57 And they said, "Burekas is not Israeli."
28:00 And that it's Greek or Turkish or Bulgarian, which I agree.
28:06 But if you take a look back, like to the
28:12 and back in the days, you can find the same food
28:17 in different cultures, different names,
28:22 same ingredients, and people just don't understand that it's not mine as Israeli.
28:26 It's not yours as a Turkish.
28:28 It's not her as a Bulgarian.
28:30 It's all of us food.
28:32 And if you can find great Bulgarian
28:35 burekas in the Bulgarian cuisine,
28:38 and you can find it in the Israeli cuisine and in the Turkish cuisine.
28:42 And what we did is just like Israeli interpretation of Turkish burek,
28:47 which Turkish burek, Bulgarian burek, you know,
28:51 it's food.
28:54 It's everybody.
28:55 It's not yours or mine.
28:57 It's, you know, you cannot label it under any nationality or any like people.
29:05 It's everybody.
29:09 Have you had any mentors in the hospitality space?
29:13 Any stories from somebody that taught you?
29:17 And there is one guy, chef I grew up with in Israel is currently have like
29:24 these 20 something restaurant in Israel for smoke meat, barbecue.
29:30 And it's called Reuben is the name of the place called Reuben.
29:35 You know, the Reuben, the Reuben sandwich, the one with the pastrami and
29:39 and the corned beef.
29:41 So, yeah, when this chain in Israel is a very talented guy
29:47 he teach me a lot about cuisine, about the hospitality.
29:51 And his name is Barel Raz.
29:56 And he's a chef.
29:58 He's amazing guy.
29:59 We're still in touch.
30:00 Or we we talk like every second week.
30:02 And he was also very like surprised about what Burek did.
30:09 He's still in shock about it, because when you like when you're coming from the business
30:13 and you give advice to somebody, you tell him, OK, you need to have an option
30:19 for everybody, like if I want to come and eat and I don't eat like carbs, you know,
30:24 so I need to have an option for a salad.
30:26 So you need to have an option for everybody.
30:28 Yeah. In this specific concept, you don't have an option.
30:31 You have one pastry.
30:33 So he was like in shock when it was that.
30:36 That's successful, but I guess that's what people looking for those days.
30:42 They kind of tired of too many options.
30:44 And. Yeah.
30:49 What is what is branding mean for this branding?
30:53 Yeah. And we're working on it, by the way, right now, we're working
30:57 with this amazing artist from Israel.
31:00 She's our friend. She's doing all the branding for Burek.
31:02 So very soon we will comes out with beautiful branding for the
31:08 for the concept of Burek.
31:10 And branding, it's it's a way to tell your story.
31:15 And basically, it's a way to tell your story, you know, it's a language
31:20 for your business and a language for your product.
31:24 And. It's so many things,
31:30 it's such a big.
31:34 Well, for you, for you, the the authenticity is shown
31:39 when you look just at what you've created in 700 square feet.
31:43 I mean, when you look at the videos on TikTok and anybody that's listening,
31:47 go and look up Burek us in Sherman Oaks and see the videos that,
31:52 you know, these people are posting of this incredible, this incredible box,
31:57 this pastry box that you've developed, but the way that people are so excited
32:02 to stand outside in the line.
32:03 And I think, you know, that goes to the power of storytelling.
32:06 It goes to the power of what you and your wife have created
32:09 because people are so excited to share the story.
32:12 You know, they're so excited to to share this joy
32:17 that you're bringing in a box, right? Yeah.
32:20 And. Yes, yes, they are excited.
32:26 We try we try to keep it authentic as we can. And.
32:31 It's basically a takeout window, but we still have some space to sit.
32:36 So we take meal cards, we throw them on the on the floor outside.
32:41 And people actually like sitting on a meal cards, eat burricas.
32:45 And this is the most authentic thing you can ever see.
32:51 You know, like I used to grow up as a cook.
32:54 And eat my lunch on the meal cards, you know, we never sit on the table
33:00 and eat our lunch, you know, we just bite here, bite there,
33:04 sitting on a meal card, blah, blah, blah, two seconds and go back to work.
33:08 Yes. And to see those people like the rich people,
33:13 the average people to take everybody together, no matter who are you,
33:18 how much money you have, you will sit on this meal card together
33:22 and we will leave these burricas together.
33:24 It's bring everybody to the same level and it's show them like,
33:28 how authentic is it? And.
33:32 And I think it's part of the flavor, it's part of everything, you know, it's.
33:37 It's part of the concept.
33:41 When when did you learn what hospitality means?
33:44 Just experience, just experience, there is so many different
33:51 hospitality is like my favorite.
33:54 My favorite hangout with my wife, it's a Michelin restaurant.
33:58 Like we like for us, it's a party, you know, to go to a Michelin restaurant to see.
34:04 I'm really like I can sit in a Michelin restaurant
34:08 and we take notes and we are we trying to understand all the small details.
34:13 And this is really like where I'm coming from.
34:16 This is my biggest dream.
34:19 Eventually, when I don't need any more money, when I will be fine and happy,
34:22 I can create one of those. And like.
34:27 Even those days, I have a huge garden in my house, I grow everything,
34:30 I'm doing everything on my own.
34:32 And but this is where I learned like hospitality.
34:36 What is it and what is the details you can get in hospitality
34:43 in a Michelin restaurant?
34:44 You can understand how like how detailed you can do.
34:49 You can get. And.
34:55 And yeah, it's just about that, just about experience.
34:57 I never go to school or something like that, by the way, this is like
35:03 maybe it's something it's extra, but I never go to school to learn how to cook
35:07 and I never go to school to learn hospitality.
35:10 It's just about experience.
35:11 You know, people those days, it's funny, but everybody says, yes,
35:17 everybody like coming to your place and I'm like, blah, blah, blah, blah.
35:22 They never show what they are.
35:24 They always asking.
35:26 They always want without any like proof of what they know and what they can.
35:32 And it's kind of like this generation.
35:35 There is too many chefs, but there is not enough cooks.
35:39 You know, I have 30 cooks.
35:41 I have 30 cooks who follow me, who work under me.
35:44 And I never call myself chef, you know.
35:46 Never, ever. Like it's something you need to earn.
35:50 It's not something you need to call yourself.
35:52 And. You know, it's funny.
35:58 Why is it important to tell your story?
36:02 What is it? Why is important?
36:05 And because you you you were hesitant to come on the show,
36:09 to talk to our audience and your absolute your story is absolutely phenomenal.
36:13 I'm so grateful for you, for your wife, for your family, for sharing,
36:17 because that's we have the opportunity now, you know,
36:20 because of platforms like Entrepreneur, what Toast has been able to do for us,
36:24 for for me and my barbecue restaurants to have you on.
36:27 You know, I'm I'm fortunate that I get to sit here with you
36:32 and through a virtual space, but we get to connect with anybody that's listening.
36:36 No matter where in the world you are, if you have dreams of being in the food
36:39 business, the hospitality business, the restaurant, it's such a hard business.
36:43 It's such a hard business, first of all.
36:46 And first of all, if this is what you want
36:50 and you decide that
36:51 this is what you want, hospitality, food business, whatever it is.
36:57 And you need to understand what you're going to lose
37:02 and and what you're going to earn.
37:05 And after you did it and after you find something you love and you agree,
37:13 like find something you love and let it kill you, you know what I mean?
37:17 You should know you can get killed.
37:19 You know what I mean? Yes. And you need to know like.
37:21 I'm working the when I opened side the restaurant six years ago.
37:28 I opened the restaurant
37:32 with five thousand dollars in my bank account.
37:34 I had. The restaurant opened for six months with no sign,
37:41 like I don't have the money to do anything, I work 16, 17 hours a day
37:47 with my wife, she was on the register.
37:49 I've been in the line.
37:51 I had one guy work with me, help me wash dishes.
37:54 I did everything. We did everything in the restaurant.
37:56 Like it's not a magic.
37:58 You need to work hard for it.
38:00 You need to work hard and
38:01 and to be like consistent commitment to something.
38:07 It's to do it every day.
38:09 We don't look without look to the sides, without listen to anybody.
38:13 You know, you need like, you know, when when you walk with a donkey
38:16 and you put those things on the side, you don't want him to look right.
38:20 Just to walk and walk.
38:21 This is what you need to do in order to be success.
38:24 And in order to build something and to understand the community,
38:28 the customers to really live.
38:31 The business, this is what you need to do,
38:35 and it's a matter of time, then it's a matter of time after you do it.
38:39 It could take a month.
38:41 It could take two months, could take one year, two years.
38:43 But eventually it will happen because you're consistent.
38:47 You know, you fix yourself.
38:48 You change stuff.
38:50 You are working. You're working hard.
38:51 You're taking care of everything and it will come.
38:54 But this is what you need in order to be successful in this business.
38:58 I love it.
39:00 So anybody that's listening to the show every Wednesday and Friday
39:04 on the social audio app Clubhouse, we meet with restaurant owners,
39:08 content creators, sales professionals, marketing professionals
39:12 from all over the globe.
39:13 Please join us.
39:14 It's at 10 a.m. Pacific time, and that is the digital hospitality room.
39:18 We'll put a link in the show notes, but we also give a social shout out
39:21 to people that listen to the show.
39:23 So your story matters no matter where you're listening to this show.
39:26 Heather Cox, she joins us.
39:29 You can find her at Heather Cox codes on all the socials.
39:32 But recently, Dean Labay asked for help.
39:36 So Dean is 62 years old.
39:38 He wanted to go to the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago.
39:41 He is on disability, is not able to go, but he asked the community
39:45 and the community responded.
39:47 So we all pitched in and got him to Chicago.
39:50 He's going to go. That's upcoming here.
39:52 But thank you to the community.
39:53 Thank you guys for listening to the show.
39:56 Uzi, do you have somebody that you'd like to give a shout out?
39:59 This is going on entrepreneur.
40:01 I'd love for you to I know you.
40:03 Everyone wants to shout out their entire team, but
40:06 there's somebody in particular that's gone above and beyond recently
40:10 that you'd like to give some special attention to.
40:13 My wife, obviously, she's amazing right now.
40:17 You know, she's she's working harder than me.
40:20 And of course, my guys, you know, my people that with me every day,
40:25 every morning, even if they seek sometimes and they don't want to come, I just like.
40:29 Thank you for everything.
40:33 And so I have some quick questions I need to ask you about your smartphone.
40:39 So are you an iPhone user or an Android user?
40:41 iPhone user?
40:43 I used to be Android, but an iPhone user.
40:45 Yeah. How when did you switch?
40:48 When I came to L.A., when I came to us, I'm like, everybody use iPhone.
40:51 I have to do it.
40:52 What was the first social media platform you were on?
40:56 Eater, eater, eater, L.A.
40:59 OK, what was the do you post on social media personally?
41:04 Sometimes it's very hard when you really work.
41:08 And sometimes when you really work, do you prefer phone calls or text messages?
41:14 And phone calls, phone calls.
41:17 Do you prefer email, email or text messages?
41:21 Text messages.
41:23 Do you hate email?
41:26 Oh, yeah. I miss so many emails.
41:28 Do you listen to Spotify or Apple Music?
41:33 Apple Music. Yeah.
41:37 Apple Music. What's your favorite app?
41:40 My favorite app and.
41:44 What's my favorite app?
41:47 I don't really use phone a lot, you know, let me see.
41:52 Let me open the apps.
41:55 Let me open my phone.
41:57 I would say like Instagram, WhatsApp, like
42:01 wherever I can communicate with people, you know, wherever you can communicate
42:05 with people. Well, we're going to put links in the show notes, but please
42:09 follow Baraka's follow side street kitchen
42:12 anywhere else that people can can find you, Uzi.
42:15 My personal Instagram and just my name and.
42:21 How do you spell it? Go ahead and spell it for us.
42:23 You see, I. It's my first name, last name, it's wise, one W.
42:28 I. Z. M. Beautiful.
42:31 Well, Uzi, I can't wait to come and visit you in Los Angeles.
42:35 I will surprise you with Baraka's in San Diego.
42:37 Oh, beautiful.
42:39 Well, I can't wait.
42:40 My wife will be very excited.
42:43 My son, my daughter, we would be honored.
42:45 We'd be honored to stand in line to come and eat as well.
42:48 So when we do make it to Los Angeles and anybody that's listening to the show,
42:52 if you guys want to reach out to me, it's at Sean P.
42:54 Walsh FSH, a WNP WALCH EF.
42:59 That's Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, all the all the platforms.
43:04 We're grateful that you listen to the show.
43:06 We're grateful for leaders like Uzi that are transforming the industry.
43:12 You're just getting started.
43:14 I can't wait to see what you build in the next five years and 10 years.
43:18 And congratulations on your new baby boy.
43:20 Thank you so much. Pleasure to meet you.
43:22 Thank you so much for your time.
43:23 And thank you to Toast for allowing us to have incredible conversations like this.
43:27 We appreciate you guys and catch you next week.
43:29 Thank you for listening to Restaurant Influencers.
43:32 The best way that you can help us with the show is to subscribe and write a review.
43:37 We love the opportunity to connect with you no matter where you are on the globe,
43:42 no matter what restaurant you are running.
43:44 Please send us a DM on social at Sean P.
43:48 Walsh FSH. If you are interested in toast, if you want to improve your digital hospitality,
43:53 please send me a DM. I will get you in touch with a local toast representative.
43:58 We appreciate you listening to the show.
44:00 The best way that you can help the show is share it with a friend.
44:03 And we will catch you all next week or we will see you on one of the digital
44:07 playgrounds that we call social media.