The Journey Of An Entrepreneur
Once upon a time, Nate was born in Chicago September 12, 1989, when he was 7 or 8 years old his family moved to New York City, where he spent 9 years of his life. Besides falling in love with the big city life, he fell in love with New York City street food as well. He grew up with 5 siblings, 2 brothers and 3 sisters , he is the oldest among them. Living in New York might be a challenge for some, the houses in New York were so close to each other that he used to put his back against the other building to climb to the roof . His father is a sales man at the Home Juice Corp, and his mother is a really supportive and loving stay at home mom, who always puts her kids needs as her top priorities, she is a strong woman and a great cook. " she always taught us to chase our dreams " he said. She is the one who got him interesting in cooking, she is one of the biggest influencers on Nate's life. He loves his parents so much, he is a family oriented guy .When he came back to Chicago one of the things he missed was the food he left behind, and the city life that he enjoyed so much.
"Cooking is a passion of mine" He said. He always catches himself in the kitchen trying to cook and experimenting with new seasoning, to create similar food to New York City. In high school he discovered that books were not his thing, his dream was to start his own business, he wanted to do something different, and not follow the status quo. After he graduated from high school, his family really wanted him to go to college and get a degree, and be a doctor. He tried it for a semester, but he really could not find himself there so he decided to drop out . His father was really disappointed but his mother told him to just follow his dreams, and do whatever makes him happy, after years of working at different jobs, different restaurants, he was able to put some money together and open up his own restaurant " New York Plate " his idea was to bring the taste of New York to the northwest Indiana area, and after hard work, sweat, blood, and tears he was able to open up his location in Gary, Indiana.
Opening his restaurant was the beginning of his struggles to success, bringing something new to an area where they never heard of this food before, promoting his menu and getting people to try it are some struggles to building any good, successful restaurant. He sells 11 different kinds of plates all named after places in New York. All plates are made different except for one common denominator which is the New York sauce , and the rice they cook in the restaurant for their secret recipe. They also added more food to the menu like seafood, sandwiches, gyro and chicken. Months after months, more and more customers are getting to know and try their food, Nate was really excited to see the customers happy, and his customer base started to build, they started to become popular, they became one of the most popular restaurants in the area, and he decided to expand out side the state.
Funny story he told me that his employee Daniel was in the lobby mopping the floor, and making a conversation with the female customers, he was so into the conversation not knowing the mop head broke off the mop stick, and he was not even mopping , he was just moving the stick back and forth on the floor.
In his free time, Nate is always doing research on new ways to promote and grow his business. Beside the restaurant Nate has a lot of hobbies, he is a gun collector, he likes to go to a gun range and test them out. He likes golfing , jogging, he likes to workout and he also likes to explore other cultures by trying their food. He likes to read success stories about other businesses and how they made it to the top because that motivates him.
Any regrets ? his only regret was that he thinks he should have started his journey sooner, other than that he does not have any regrets.
Once upon a time back in 2007, Nate met a very nice guy his name is Kice, he became his best friend and together they struggled for success, and his journey began the day he met him. Kice is one of the biggest influencers on Nate's work life . Kice was and still always there for Nate, he believed in his dreams and helped him accomplish them.
I decided to meet and talk to Kice. Kice is Nate's best friend he is also 30 years old, they go to work together and they go home together. Both of them work really hard to play hard at the end.I asked him what does he think of Nate, he told me that he knew Nate when he was 16. They are about the same age. He said they went to the same high school together and worked different jobs together, they are so close, he knows all of his family and Nate knows all of Kice's family .Kice also said that Nate has a big heart ,very generous, genuine and down to earth, he loves to help poeple ,and his work is his passion. He also said that Nate never gives up, if he puts an idea in his head he keeps at it until he accomplishes it, also quitting is not in his vocabulary. kice mentioned a story he will never forget when they were driving together to work with one of their co-workers during the years of high school, they used to work in Burger King, they were going to work " we were kinda late '' he said, so they ran a red light, trying not to be late, they got pulled over by a cop, but they started to argue with him that it was a yellow light, not a red light, their co-worker his name is Zuzu sticks his head out between the 2 front row seats and he puts his hand on Nate's shoulder and said " Don't worry Nate I got this " he said, " officer you are right it was a red light" Zuzu said, the cop found it funny that his co-worker snitched on him and he let them go with a warning. What a funny story, and by the way Nate has a great sense of humor, and he kept making jokes while we were talking.
Nate's work life taught him so many things, to sleep and wake up early and to depend on yourself "There is no body you can rely on more than yourself" he said. To treat people the way you want to be treated, he told me that the customer is always right you always treat them with dignity and respect. Smiling in their face showing that you actually care about their experience.
Nate is looking forward to retiring in the next 10 years. Nate kept saying that nothing in life comes easy, you have to work for everything, and the road for success has a lot of barriers and pot-holes. You have to study and know your product and always believe in yourself and never give up.
Nate made his dream come true, he will be expanding his business very soon. He will open up a new location in Texas this summer. He thinks it is going to be a huge success for his career.
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