We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adolfo Jimenez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Adolfo thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

What they get wrong is exactly what they get right. The restaurant / food industry is dominated by large chains. We know them because they bombard us on TV and we see their bright signs on every street corner. We even see them in other cities because their creativity ends where their expansion begins. I say they are right and wrong because. They promise consistency, which is nice, but there are no surprises. When things are too safe and predictable, they cease to be an experience. They become routine.

Adolfo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was always fascinated with restaurants. It’s surprising that I didn’t go into the business right out of high school or even sooner. My early career was in the hotel business, which is where I met my wife. I was what we called a Roomie, meaning I focused on filling the rooms. My wife, Abby, was a foodie. She focused on catering for events and groups.

As we started a family, we decided we needed to take more control of our lives and we started several businesses with varying degrees of success until we started The Cafeteria Company, which is the umbrella under which we currently run our businesses.

We define our work in simple but serious terms. We try to provide the best service and value for our clients. We try to always make our customers happy, and we try to be the best we can be. The rest is nonsense.

Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?

I had a small party rental business that did quite well for many years. Back in 2009, we hit a rough patch and I decided to liquidate the assets of this business. However, I kept the name and website and all the branding. We didn’t make a great deal because we were, for lack of a better word, desperate. We sold the assets cheap. The takeaway is to always do everything in your power to avoid such situations. As Benjamin Franklin said: Necessity never made a good bargain.

A silver lining to this story: In November 2022, we relaunched this business, which is called HoneyBee Party Rental. Our daughters are now the proud owners and are running this business.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I must admit that we don’t have nearly as many followers as we should on social media but the ones we have are loyal and earned. We never paid for followers and didn’t even offer incentives for people to follow. What we do is put our QR code on everything from our business cards to our Food Trucks and we are not shy about asking people to follow our Instagram or Facebook. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no, so… ASK!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bubbashangoverdiner.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/bubbashangoverdiner
• Other: www.foodtruckdeepcleaning.com