We were lucky to catch up with Chef Gabriela Camargo-Shirley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Chef Gabriela, thanks for joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?
I’d love to say I am happy all the time but that would be a lie. For good or bad I started being the boss at a very young age (I like to tell myself I’m still young haha) so this is pretty much all I know. Do I enjoy it? Hell yes! I wouldn’t change a thing but oh Lord! It can get tough at times and there’s also times when I wonder if I’ll able to get through…
It’s hard for me to think of being employed again, sometimes I would like to work for a company where my only responsibility is to fulfill the duties of my position and work ends when I clock out. I also think how great would it be having all the employee benefits that you get from being a W2 (insurance, vacation, sick days, family leave, overtime payment, etc) and most important being protected under the US law. And even better, not carry the ”burden” of keeping the circus going… You know? If you fail at your job you get fired, you lose your practitioner’s license at most but when you run the show, your decisions affect not only you but the people that work for you and their families that rely on you.
During the pandemic I think it was when things got tougher… I had to shut down my dream business in Mexico and I was feeling very emotional, then I decided the best bet was to come over to the US but that meant leaving my family, my friends and my home for 24 years behind which made things more challenging.
Opening a business and trying to stay on float while you take over one that has been open for a while added up. The day I moved in was my 25th birthday and the real challenge was to win the staff, they don’t know you and suddenly you come to be the boss, they’ve been working there for x amount of years/months and a ”kid” as they called me comes to the picture. Everyone was wearing a mask so it was harder to read each other, I didn’t know what they looked like for the first month or so and that was a bit weird, you know? The one thing I knew was that all this people and their families relied on the paycheck I had to write every week so I couldn’t let them down even though we were struggling with sales being low and everyone getting sick. When you’re the boss you just can’t do that. See, I’ve always had a very solid work ethic but I feel like I learned a lot back then, I struggled, I cried, I screamed and there were nights where I couldn’t sleep wondering if the decisions I had made that day would lead the business to bankrupt and drag everyone else down with me… But you’re the boss, they can’t see you hesitate. Everyone always saw me smiling, working and pushing on, they still do, but it’s not always the way I really feel. Staff, vendors or clients see that side but they don’t know what’s going on behind that smile, they don’t really have to. I’ve had different coping mechanisms and those haven’t been the best choices, there’s prices I’ve had to pay and I sometimes wish I didn’t have that pressure. There’s days where I’m working pretty much 36-48 hours straight and I just want to leave it and have a 9-5. I would’ve liked to work at Louis Vuitton I don’t know why. But right now on my condition of immigrant I can’t have a job so that’s not an option for me.
There’s always that fear of failure, at least for me, and even after 6 years it doesn’t go away, you know? It’s always there. I’m a perfectionist and I’m very competitive. And business aside, it affected my personal life, my relationship, my physical health and my mental health at some extent… But at the end of the day, this is my ”regular job” and I love what I do. When I see happy customers, happy staff and being able to give back to my community, to non-profits and homeless people on the streets makes it all worth it. That’s what keeps me going, knowing that I can change lives, that I can make a difference and be a factor of change and I couldn’t do it working for someone else.
Chef Gabriela, 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’m a chef/restaurateur. I come from a multicultural family and they’re all foodies so I’ve always had a passion for food. My grandma has a catering company and I started ”helping” when I was around 3 years old. I grew in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico near the coast and my father would take us fishing to the ocean since I was young. I was probably 8 years old when I learned how to fillet a fish and the first catch of the day was breakfast. My Father would give us all sorts of exotic things and we grew up not being scared of trying new things.
One of the main things about me is I’m very driven, stubborn and somewhat ambitious, if I like something then I want it and if I want it I’ll work to make things happen. Once it happened, then I want more haha. I’m never satisfied and I’m always looking for ways to be better than myself. I’m my toughest judge and my hardest competition and that for sure is my blessing and my curse.
Now that I’ve stablished in the USA, I want to be an ambassador of my hometown, of my family, my culture and my community, my new home Denton, Texas. I love that through my businesses I can connect with people and also give back, support non-profits and homeless people. It’s very satisfying and makes me feel I’m right where I need to be.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I learned this from my father. A few years ago when I was younger (please note I say ”youngER” and not ”young”), I saw him walk away from a VERY GOOD deal and at that time I was upset, as anyone else would, right? My first thought was ”Daddy doesn’t want to take us to Disney”, I remember very well. He was always very open to talk about business ever since I was a kid, and I loved to know what was going on, I always found that fascinating. So I knew more or less how much money was involved and in my mind I found a few too many ways to spend it so then not having it seemed like not having any of the things I wanted, which would probably not have been the best things to want anyway hahahaha but please explain that to a teenager, not any teenager but Gabriela as a teenager. I don’t wish that to anyone :)
Anyway… I was almost furious and I asked him why, his response was ”I’d rather go to bankrupt than doing something I would feel ashamed telling my kids about”. Of course my thought process was ”Well, you can tell me, I won’t judge” right? but it wasn’t until I went through something similar that I understood the power and wisdom behind his words. I saw him bulletproof his integrity and the moral he had in front of us and the people that works for him, his clients, everyone in general and Gosh! I admire that man!! I saw first hand that it works, so I’ve conducted myself with the values and integrity I declared for myself and each one of my companies, and that has forged a very strong work ethic and good example for my employees, associates and vendors.
I was pregnant 3 times, out of those 3 I only knew about the first and yes, even then I asked myself what would happen if I did X, Y or Z at that moment and one day she would come and ask me the common questions a kid would ask: ”Mommy, what do you do for work?” and my biggest fear was and still is having a child with my personality because I know Karma exists and that kid would want to know every single thing like I did and how could I lie to my daughter, right? If I can’t be true to my family then what moral authority do I have? How can I expect reliability from my staff? You’re just not the boss if you don’t lead by example.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
As a small business, my main focus is my community. You don’t have a business without clients and who are your clients? PEOPLE. Which people? The people that surround you, AKA your community.
I live in a city where I have no family so I can’t rely on them supporting my business, they of course do from the distance but they’re not my clients. I don’t have childhood friends here that would bring their significant other or their kids to eat at my places because I didn’t grow here so I can’t rely on them coming in.
On the contrary, I’m one of the new-ish restaurateurs in town and I compete with the ones that have been here forever and people would default to, right? People went to school with them or they went to the same church, they worked together or they were their servers at some point. They are known names and faces that people easily recognize VS a stranger from another country that just came here a year ago. Denton is very community oriented city, they love supporting local businesses but most important they love supporting the community… My first months in Denton were almost depressing. I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t know who to go to if I was looking for this product or service… It was frustrating, you know? How could I think of starting a business in a place where I don’t feel like I’m a part of or that I don’t fit in. I thought at some point of opening up in Forth Worth or Frisco so I could justify not fitting in because I lived in another city but the thought felt like giving up and I don’t do that.
So I decided to reach out to the Chamber of Commerce and I joined. Then I attended to every event I could, I made myself be noticed and walk towards people I thought I should know. I started working with non-profits, schools, joined UNT’s Alumni Association and Diamond Eagles Club, being a part of galas, events, hosting a free networking event every week and of course building a presence in my city’s Facebook group, going to other local businesses to support them but also introducing myself.
When I first met someone, I’d see who they knew and put a target on them so I could introduce myself. A lot of people wear nametags so that’s a great conversation starter. First off, you see their name and the company they represent so you can know if it’s someone you could potentially work with. And if their name is I don’t know, ”Adam” and your brother’s name is ”Adam” as well you have a great line ”Oh hi, Adam, What a coincidence, my brother’s name is Adam as well. By the way, I’m X and I’m new in town, nice to meet you”. Yes, that works. Your welcome.
That’s how I went from knowing anyone to be now known and people identify me, my business, my brand are seen and relatable. I know more people, I built a clientele but I always make sure I talk to every single customer and I remember their names, faces and what they order so next time I see them they know I care about them and I appreciate their business.
We live in an era where people want to know more about who’s behind the business. They want to see us human, know our story and that enhances their experience. So that’s what I do. It works financially but it’s helped me built a relationship and a bond with my clients and in some cases even a friendship. If you have any questions about this I’m living proof. I opened 4 companies in a bit under 6 months thanks to that, I was on the top 3 for the category Minority Owned Business on the Denton Small Business of the Year Awards, I became an ambassador for the Denton Chamber and I was just awarded as Ambassador of the Quarter. I still have a long way and a lot of things to learn and a lot more to get done (my website/blog that’s on the works for example). I work every day to grow and be better but I think I’m in the right path.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/ChefGabrielaAssemblage
- Facebook: Facebook.com/ChefGabrielaAssemblage
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriela-camargo-shirley-b72469254/
Image Credits
Brittanie Nicole Photography