We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carlos Mojica. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carlos below.
Hi Carlos, thanks for joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
The idea of opening a restaurant really came after the fact i worked in restaurants and had some background knowledge from working in a development kitchen.
In high school, there was an option to take a culinary course , and i thought well lets give it a try!
not knowing i was going to end up a chef .
my school would go to cooking competitions and i honestly thought it was rewarding to cook with my team and on top of that seeing others smile and enjoying the food a teenager just cooked under time pressure, my parents still have the vcr tapes.
The first step that allowed me to open Guiso Latin Fusion was talking out the idea to my parents, my dad has always been a savvy business man and i will forever be thankful to my parents for believing in the process.
meanwhile for a couple months i was developing recipes at home, cooking for family and friends.
Something we had to look into and a very important decision was the future location of the restaurant. I still cant believe that Healdsburg was going to be the place where we would open a business. I reminisce to the time my parents worked in town and i would play soccer in the plaza.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Carlos Mojica, Chef at Guiso Latin Fusion in Healdsburg, CA. I officially got into the restaurant industry back in October of 2015 .
Although i am an Italian trained chef;
We decided to open a Latin fusion restaurant because there is more to Latino food, showcasing the culture of central and south america through flavor.
My culinary team and front of the house work with our guests to better serve them while they dine with us,
What am i most proud of ? my team! i try to encourage them to learn and find passion in what they do.
every latino, when they have guests over ,we share with you all that is available in our home, so
To all future patrons, followers and fans you all know that once you come to guiso, you become part of the family.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The most important of all word of mouth, this helped build our reputation for the past 8 years.
We are at a point that we are just beginning to be more active with our social media followers, i dont have enough fingers to count the times tasting rooms, and new guests have helped us recommend Guiso as a new favorite spot or hidden gem.
Have you ever had to pivot?
We welcomed our daughter in 2022 and having a child will teach you how fast time goes by, i didn’t want to miss out on anything.
This changed the way we are open for business, i realized my team was also loosing valuable time with their families.
closing Sunday and Mondays where something we had to rearrange, in order to spend time with family.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://guisolatinfusion.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guisolatinfusion/?hl=en
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/guiso-latin-fusion-healdsburg
- Other: Opentable to make reservations , reviews. https://www.opentable.com/guiso-latin-fusion
Image Credits
image credits fernando A image credits marilin s