Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brian Noguera. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brian , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career

To better prepare students for a fulfilling life and career, I would focus on making education adaptable. Here are a few key changes:
1. Emphasis on Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving:
Life is about making decisions- from the second we wake up til we go to sleep – we on average make 35,000 conscious decisions each day – thats mind blowing.
Why: The future is unpredictable, and having the ability to think critically and solve complex problems will be far more valuable than memorizing facts.
What: Incorporate more project-based learning, real-world challenges, and scenarios that require students to apply knowledge creatively. This could be across all subjects, not just in isolated “problem-solving” courses.

2. Personalized Learning:
Why: Everyone learns differently. Tailoring education to students’ individual interests, strengths, and challenges would help them feel more engaged and successful.
What: Use technology to support personalized learning paths. For example, AI-driven platforms could help students learn at their own pace and guide them in areas of interest while ensuring core skills are mastered.

3. Financial Literacy & Practical Life Skills:
This is the big one for me! If I had learned from my parents or a mentor – early on about money habits – game changer- learning math 101 , algebra , calculus – has its fundamental principals but the latter is so much more important!
Why: Most students graduate with minimal understanding of personal finance, managing debt, or budgeting, yet these are crucial life skills.
What: Integrate practical lessons on budgeting, taxes, investing, saving, and credit into the curriculum. Additionally, basic life skills like cooking, time management, and emotional intelligence would prepare them for adulthood.

4. Career Exploration & Real-World Experience:
Why: Many students aren’t exposed to real-world careers and the wide range of possibilities until it’s too late.
What: Create more internships, mentorships, and shadowing opportunities throughout a student’s educational journey. Allow students to explore various fields, meet professionals, and understand what different careers entail before they make big decisions about their futures.

5. Interdisciplinary Learning:
Why: The real world doesn’t divide knowledge into neat categories like “math,” “science,” and “literature” – everything is interconnected.
What: Encourage interdisciplinary projects that blend subjects like science, art, and technology. For example, a project could involve designing a sustainable product, requiring knowledge of biology, chemistry, design, and economics.

Lastly – Lifelong Learning & Adaptability:
Why: The pace of change in the world is accelerating, and the job market will continue to evolve rapidly. Being able to learn and adapt is essential.
What: Promote a mindset of continuous learning. Provide access to resources that encourage self-directed learning, such as online courses, workshops, or maker spaces. Teach students how to learn new skills independently, especially with the advancement of technology and automation.

These changes would help students become not only well-prepared for their careers but also well-rounded individuals capable of thriving in a rapidly changing world, making meaningful contributions to their communities, and leading balanced, fulfilling lives.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am son of immigrant parents – who forged there way to the US for a better life. My mother who was a teacher in her homeland left that behind and started working odd jobs, house keeping mostly to put food on the table – my father also worked odd jobs – limo driver – airport shuttle driver, sales jobs and insurance jobs. Looking back i owe everything to them – they truly showed me the definition of perseverance. I was raised in San Francisco CA since the age of 4. I grew up in a concrete jungle – if you will – always competing on and off the filed. When you look at business at its core – thats what it is – vying for a competetive advantage. Its cutthroat – its survival of the fittest! Ive always been driven. Super focused. I played sports growing up and that competetive nature – I took with me to the business world. After graduating college – and playing collegiate sports – I decided on majoring in Exercise and Sports Science – knowing I wanted to be involved in sports at some level – sports trainer, coach, physical therapist ( I tore my acl 3x and went thru surgery / post recovery PT) working for a college team or school or a professional team. I got my chance to work at an elementary school as a PE teacher, coach youth soccer, high school and college as an assistant – then worked for a pro soccer team in sales. All those experiences led me to becoming molded to take on such a challenge of owning a business. In 2012, after being let go of my full time job – thats wen everything changed. Started the side hustle while maintaining a part time job – to put food on the table and keep our baby boy in diapers and gerber, After juggling both gigs for about a year – I went all in on the side hustle and that was the game changer – looking back when I was 15/16/17 my first 2 jobs in high school was in food – like most kids I think – a sandwhich shop and a french bistro- bussing tables – and eating well! Never would have I thought Id be a restaurateur. The idea came from friends who were themselves were selling at the local farmers marker – they introduced us to that world and we saw a need for french crepes as a breakfast/lunch item. The idea stuck and we ran with it – basically showing ourselves how to make crepes -we went on and perfected the craft of creating, making and setting up nice crepes. Id say it took us about 1-2 years to really hone down the craft and boom – we got our 1st truck – 5k a beat up truck – but she did what she needed to do – get us to events – make money – and serve yummy crepes to customers. I tell everyone this story – our 1st day of sales was around $350 at a food truck event for 3 hours. It was amazing! The rest is history….
What Im most proud of – is not settling – going on and taking the risk – not knowing what was to come but taking a leap of faith – many other things Im proud of but thats the fundamental factor – believing in one self – believing in the project and accepting everything that comes with that – the good and the bad – and always looking forward and staying positive in teh process.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

In 2022 – I decided to purchase a franchise with Roxberry Juice Co. We were in a position financially and decided to diversify. After meeting the owner we thought it made sense to learn from a turnkey franchise because I was thinking ahead – if Maize was to franchise in the near future we could learn a lot from being franchise owners ourselves. The aquisition process was pretty straight forward – it was meeting with the owner and his son – who runs operations for all the franchise owners – it was filling out a lot of paperwork and more importantly – financially being able to complete the project ( the franchise fee was 40K – plus the buildout of 250-300k. It was a big investment to take that risk hoping we can learn how to operate a franchise but more importantly to create another stream of revenue. After the initial meetings and deciding that both parties was the correct choice to be a franchise owner the wheels started turning to get started – because we already had the experience with Maize and the Regent St buildout – we hit the ground running. We had trainings to do – to learn the process – it was a few months of intense learning – while the buildout was being completed. We opened 6 months after the start of the process so it happened pretty quickly.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I love telling this story – the beginning of this business story is quite unique! We started at a local farmers market – we bought a canopy $100, a few tables $50-100 , two crepe machines $100 each. A few kitchen utensils and misc things that totaled $100-200 – we were all in at about $500 to get going and that came from our regular jobs at the time. As we got going – what we generated as revenue we used to reinvest and grow – which took us to opening up our 2nd farmers location – all that helped us buy our first food truck at 5k. An older truck but she did the job for about 1-2 years which led is to our first 140k in rev for 5-6 months of events. The first few years was about working hard and earning every dollar to reinvest. In 2019 – when we opened our first location on regent st – that was a huge financial risk – and more capital then what we had to give. The first storefront on Regent st had a proposal of $400k to open its doors- so we needed to go out and raise money. We did so thru an SBA loan – friends loan – self injection of money – We were all in at this point and could not look back. Raising capital is a tough job. Looking back – the best thing you can do and this is advice for the young entreprenuer is to be self funded – work hard as hell – invest and save and repeat – going out and raising money can be beneficial and it has its positives – but remember that raising money can mean diluting equity and finding the right partner sometimes is tricky. As we have continued to grow from one truck to 3 – we have been able to self fund – our 2nd storefront was also self funded – we were lucky to inherit a 2nd generation store front – meaning a restaurant closed and we took over the lease and inherited 90% of the existing space. The cost to take over was pretty minimal compared to a new build out. Now – that we have plans to continue to grow – to one store per year sometimes the cashflow is a bit tight and we must go out to raise money thru traditional funding ie. banking or private equity firms or thru partnerships….

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.maizetacos.com
• Instagram: maizetacosut
• Twitter: maizetacosut
• Yelp: maize tacos