Working Your Way Around Obstacles

Lizeth Rodriguez - January 9th, 2024

Ever thought about owning  a business? Javier Soria, the owner of Las Maracas, a Mexican restaurant located in Knights Landing, did not have a steady ride at first; however, after a while of overcoming obstacles, it became easier to self manage a business. 

During his first opening he struggled most with finance and having the patience to find the right employees. “It was mostly difficult for me to hire the staff. it took about two months to find the right cooks and waiters that I found suitable for the job”. After he found the right staff he claimed things became easier and was confident in the success of the restaurant. 

Overcoming problems is never easy, whenever something didn’t work out the way he intended, he came up with alternative solutions. “Giving up was not an option for me, my family has always supported me and given me the motivation to continue which has always kept me going,” said Javier. He was not ashamed to admit that at times it felt like there was no hope, but in the times of need he saw through it all and found a way around the obstacles he faced. 

Javier’s biggest fear was that there would not be enough customers and all the effort everyone put into the restaurant would go to waste after the opening. He claimed that all the workers were prepared and when the opening day came, the lack of customers had lowered their expectations. “ Before the grand opening everyone was excited and in the end we had only gotten about what? A total of 8 customers. It really made us lose a little bit of hope,” said Javier This set back caused some loss of motivation.

They planned to advertise as a way of gaining customers.  Advertising by putting posters up and posting through social media has helped them a lot. They were getting customers from other towns to come by the restaurant and before they knew it tables were full and the workers were rushing around. By the end of their most popular day everyone was tired, “We came back home tired and sleepy, but our hearts were full and before we knew it, everyday became like that”. After all the hard work put in, Javier and his family's dream of owning a successful business came true. 

The restaurant was doing extremely well and after a couple years Javier and his family had decided to open a second location right in their hometown, Woodland CA. Javier anticipated Setbacks to happen however there were many obstacles that put them down, there were issues with the plumbing that had to be fixed immediately. Once they finally opened, things were slow, he stated, “ We were doing all the right things, we got customers every once in a while but not enough to pay the new staff, we even had to let some people go”. Things started to look up after a while, five weeks in and the second location is doing better than before. 

After the setbacks that Javier faced he realized that there will be many obstacles that he will continue to overcome but he will keep going on just like before. Expanding locations wasn’t something planned but he was glad it was possible and the restaurant Las Maracas will continue to grow.