Manolo González Vergara emprende con nuevo negocio de alimentos llamado “Toma”
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00:30Well, it all started because it seemed to us that there is no better type of food for an amusement park than empanada, because it is so easy to eat, you don't even have to stand up, you can eat it with one hand, you can have a drink in the other hand and you can keep walking and it's like, it hits perfect.
00:50When this opportunity came up, we said, this is it, this is perfect.
00:55And I think it will only be available for a while, right? For that Halloween season?
00:59No, no, no, no.
01:00Tell us what it's about. I think it's called Halloween.
01:05Right now we are in a pop-up on Halloween, which is their Halloween event, which at night becomes like a haunted house and they scare you. I don't understand why, but people like that page.
01:18And we are also going to have a pop-up at their Christmas event, the holidays. We will be there throughout November and December and then starting next year, we will have our own kiosk there already fixed forever.
01:34And we are talking about the park in Tampa, correct? In Florida.
01:37Yes, yes, yes, yes, in Tampa Bay.
01:39For the moment, because we know that Busch Gardens is in other cities in the United States.
01:44So, well, let's also talk a little bit about the beginning of this company, of this brand called Tomah.
01:51It is a gastronomic company and I was remembering that it was, I think in June or July, when we saw you with your mom, Sofia Vergara.
02:01On June 7th.
02:02In Los Angeles.
02:03Yes, yes, yes.
02:04So, tell us a little bit, because what I was seeing is that the brand has already expanded to Florida, I think Illinois.
02:11Tell us briefly about the history of Tomah, and why is it called Tomah?
02:17We are growing very fast. Well, first it is called Tomah because my mom is called Toti and my mom is called Manolo, so Tomah.
02:27And it took us about three years looking and finding that name, because all the names that we liked were already registered or already existed.
02:36Or it was very difficult for the American to pronounce it, or it was very difficult for the Latino to say it. It was difficult.
02:44And this started about 2020, almost five years ago. And this started because I've been cooking all my life.
02:56When I was little, I learned to cook with my grandmother, watching television, watching Food Network, because I like it.
03:02And there is always a party, an event, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and I cook. Like for 40 people.
03:09And they've always said, oh, when are you going to open a restaurant? When are you going to open a restaurant?
03:13And I was like, never. That wasn't something I thought I could do.
03:19It wasn't in your plans. No, zero. I love to eat, but I didn't study that. I studied cinema. It was like a hobby.
03:29And the opportunity came up with some partners from SBE, EC3, owned by Sam Nassare, who are the owners of everything.
03:41Katsuya, Sam's Crispy Rice, Sam's Crispy Chicken, Umami Burger, from thousands of brands, from LSLS.
03:51And he was a very good friend of mine and my mom's, almost all the time.
03:56And he said, I think now is the time for a Latin restaurant.
04:02And that's where it all started. And that's where I went, taking all the recipes that I knew about the family,
04:09or that I invented, or Colombian things, and we evolved this into a empanada restaurant.
04:17We started with empanadas, and then we started to have more typical things, like arepas,
04:23rice with coconut, things with more Colombian flavors.
04:26At the beginning it was more arepas, because everyone could eat an arepa on the go.
04:30And it was very important for us that it was an accessible food for everyone.
04:35It wasn't just a very expensive restaurant, you know, because we weren't interested in that.
04:42So we made it as accessible as possible.
04:46We are already in markets in the frozen area, starting next year.
04:53And we are now in farm stores, which is like a chain of convenience stores in Florida.
05:00We are collaborating with Bodega, which is a chain of Mexican restaurants.
05:07And we are already looking for partners here in Los Angeles and New York.
05:13We already have Busch Gardens.
05:15We are growing and taking our empanadas around the world.
05:20In addition, last week we were already available in Spain, in Madrid,
05:24in a service station called Cepsa.
05:28Just to finish, what's next for you? Tell us.
05:34Toma. We are still in Toma.
05:37We have very big plans for next year.
05:40We are going to be in stores all over the United States.
05:43We are expanding to Europe and Mexico.
05:46There is a lot of delicious food coming.