Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Flavia Moore. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Flavia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
My mission is to break generational curses and to create generational wealth. This will open doors for all of those who are connected to me and coming behind me. I will provide them with the proper tools and resources to continue to act as a door keeper and hold the door open for generations to continue to walk through those doors that we have opened. The story behind my mission is the pain I’ve personally experienced. Instead of dwelling on my pain, I decided to turn it into my purpose, which is to “set my generation free” . I was abandoned ,a victim of trauma, battled addiction(I didn’t use I was a codependency which is still a battle ), I suffered from depression, anxiety ,heartbreaks, I’ve been homeless, some days not knowing where my next dollar would come from or how much was in my bank account. Of course I never went without food because I would always find a way to whip up some good stuff!
When it comes to cooking I could make Ramen noodles into a 5 star meal ! If we didn’t do anything we’d eat good everyday. Don’t get me wrong I’ve accomplished many things and I’m very proud of myself however it wasn’t easy I’ve faced many challenges but i’ll never let those challenges stop me! Instead they motivated me to push harder and turned me into the best mom and I’m here to ensure that my children are provided with a foundation to begin living the life that they deserve. Lets Go back to where it all started ,I set a goal in 2016 to take my children to Disney world every year because our first experience was so awesome that I felt that it was necessary to revisit every year . However after leaving Disney world’s magic kingdom in April 2017, my oldest daughter Malani’ (3 yrs old at that time) seen a commercial on television that Displayed a Disney cruise instead of the magic kingdom and realized she’d much rather experience the cruise ships with slides and dancing with Mickey and Minnie on a boat instead.However the cruise was much more expensive than a normal airfare so I had to figure out a plan .After not much time of thinking I said to myself ” what can you do effortlessly and get paid for it?) after a moment of thinking I said to myself everybody loves my food and I love to cook! so why not give it a test run I uploaded a picture of some seafood that I had previous cooked for my family (and i must admit it did not look the best at the time I posted but i still was able to have 14 people pre-order and pay for their food. ) This motivated me to give this “little test run ” my all ,fast forward to the first day of sells after uploading the picture of the very first seafood platter I prepared”the slammer”which included Snow crab. juicy lobster tails, sweet corn on the cob, smoked sausage, tender potatoes, Cajun boiled eggs,juicy jumbo shrimp all cover in famous garlic butter and magic dust , I had my social media audience raving! My phone was ring uncontrollably and my inbox was blowing up with messages from customers wanting to place more orders! I immediately sold out! Which lead me to the restaurant industry with no experience, no knowledge in the business world ,very little support , no financial literacy, no resources only faith. I quit my full time job with spectrum after just the first two days of selling seafood platters out of my kitchen and my second year cooking I one of my crabber’s (customer) Janelle was headingling for a music festival called the fem fest and they as her who would she suggest as a vendor and she choose me, while serving at the festival I met a lady named Bre after she tasted the seafood mac she said it was so delicious she came back and said “your food is so good my friend is the economic developer in pagedale and she needs your number so that you can get into a restaurant!” she stood there for about 10 mins waiting for my number of course I didn’t believe her because it all seem so unreal at the moment the following Monday I received a call from Erica H the economic developer .I was offered to lease a 2,900 sq ft brick and mortar& become apart of 24:1 footprint a community in Pagedale Mo 24:1 land trust serves and uplifts the low income community by providing them with many things that bring families/ people together such as ” good food” . of course any small business owner running their business from their home number 1 goal is to get into a brick and mortar at the time i didn’t understand but I was taken extremely too fast .Even though my restaurant(crawling crab) was awarded The Best new restaurant in st Louis (2019) also awarded the Best seafood restaurant (2020) thing quickly ran me over ,after we faced several challenges.I came to the realization of it, I didn’t know much of anything about how to run a business.I didn’t even know what a business coach was at the time or that it needed to systematize the business, working capital employee hand books, human resources and the list goes on, while explaining these things to others i quickly realized that I was the only one who really cared or believed in the vision which eventually caused me to be stuck working in the business and not working on the business because of my lack of knowledge of knowing how to properly delegate the business necessities how to separate working in the business from working on the business which eventually led to a forceful business closure in May of 2022. leaving completely bankrupt and devastated Immediately I began knowing how it felt to be alone, suffering from not having a strong support system or people who genuinely see and believe in the vision. I was lonely not knowing what to do or where to go. I had to experience this trauma and it was stressful & frustrating, just a very dull hurtful feeling that I would never want my children to experience . So my mission is to make my children aware of all of the things that I was not aware of. also to have insight on the many different resources that we have access to we just sometimes suffer from the lack of knowledge (the more you know the more you grow ). I will normalize generational wealth I believe in passing down Deeds car keys and LLC’s I don’t believe my children should have to” get it out the mud” because it can become extremely challenging when you’re trying to figure life out on your own it creates anxiety, which leads can sometimes lead to thing like to depression,feeling worthless, addictions,suicidal thoughts and so many other harmful things. This cycle is a generational curse. As long as I have something to do with it I will break this curse off of my generation and the generations to come everything I do will be fruitful and multiply. I am l doing this by teaching my children to know that financial literacy and things such as assets,passive income, index funds,trust funds,& life insurance are very important and they will help you leverage and open the gates for others. My Future generations will be born with assets.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I In the restaurant industry or any industry being an entrepreneur or an advocate fighting to make a generational difference, you have to practice, self discipline, self control, consistency being persistent with everything that do step into your boldness be confident ,also humble, accept the fact that isolation leads to elevation have self love, not care what “man “thinks but understand that God has called you for a purpose and as long as you are serving the purpose, he is going to continue to lead you as you walk into your destiny and he will bless you along the way. So do not allow what “man” (I’m saying man as in human being )discourages you, defines you or tells you what you are not supposed to be doing. Do not look for any validation from “Man”, because everybody may not understand the path that you’re on. Each person is led down a different path. You listen to God, trust your faith and continue to move forward.
What service/ product did I provide?
I provide the best seafood experience for seafood lovers. My Crawling crab employees were mandated to serve Hot fresh hand cleaned seafood that was platted to look very mouthwatering and presented consistently every time.
Not only did it look pretty,it was full of explosive flavors that tasted amazing as well
our ” Flavia’s famous garlic butter and Flavia’s magic dust (a house blend and seasonings) is what we used on top of all of our dishes and its unmatched flavor that could never be beaten, especially after it was paired with our soul filling music and ice cold slush that gave nothing less than a great vibe.
What sets us apart?
What sets crawling crab apart from other seafood restaurants is that we also offered other things besides seafood. Double dipped garlic butter rolls were definitely a fan favorite. Build your own pasta, nachos, monster potatoes, fried fish, fried seafood such as fried crab legs and fried lobster tails seafood fries… we had a huge menu that offered a great variety of things that were very good. Another thing that set me apart from the other seafood restaurants is we presented our platters looking the same every time we were consistent with the way that our food looked we didn’t just slap the seafood a bag. We also took the time out to clean our seafood and hand cut our potatoes
we were very friendly had excellent customer service each and every crabber that walked through my door was greeted within 3 seconds of entering the building .Another thing that we also did was when we got a “first time crabber” ( first time customer) our entire team acknowledged them and made them feel extra special by cheering and doing drum rolls loud and greeting them with a great rounds of applauds hooray.!! This welcomes each customer to the crawling crab family and allows them to know hat they were appreciated.
The thing that I’m most proud of?
The thing that I’m most proud of, I would say is my accomplishments, my strength and the ability to be able to survive in the restaurant industry as long as I survived with little to no guidance, learning everything on my own. I am so happy that I was able to gain access to all of the new information that I have & all the new knowledge that I have learned.
My restaurant won several awards. I’ve had food critics write articles about me and my journey as a restaurant owner and announcing that we serve some of the best seafood . My restaurant has faced the front page of magazines and has been featured on news channel 5 show me st louis I’ve sold out at many different events. I’ve accomplished a lot. I was the first person in my family to own and operate a restaurant. I am Also very proud I was able to take my forceful restaurant closure and bankruptcy to learn from my mistakes to teach my children the proper way and resources to use for a better experience on their entrepreneurial journey simply systematize the business and allow the business to work for you so that they will not have to work for the business. They need to know how to work on the business and not inside the business so that they can create passive income to continue to replicate and pass dpwn generational wealth,set their children up with a foundation and be financially free.
something that I will love for the followers and fans to know
I did not give up. I understand that the community is still raving and definitely craving for the food I served at crawling crab, however time is needed so that I can create a system that gives crabber’s the best experience every time without the business being solely dependent on me. Once I completely have everything systematized the way I envisioned it, crawling crab will be every seafood lover’s greatest attraction and they will be able to enjoy our seafood experience for generations ,with me working IN the business instead of ON the business. I’m not able to do that, the more I’m able to work on the business I can be able to give you guys exactly what I envisioned which is everything to satisfy you guys. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Absolutely. The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber is an entrepreneurial must read, for anyone that is looking to start a business or that owns a business, any entrepreneur. This book will have all of the answers for you And it will give you perfect insight on how to create a turnkey.
Ellie talks money.She’s a business coach with over 50,000 students, helped them funded,
She has helped people get funds for over a million dollars. Check her out on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. She took her $1,200 stimulus check and turned it into millions of dollars and she has great tip.She’s a single mother, who turned her divorce
and her having to move back home with her mother with her four children into purpose
By buying a ring light and iPhone with her $1,200 stimulus check in using it to record her knowledge to help women across the world get business started and funded she’s a great inspiration to me. I’ve also personally got a chance to meet her via face time and talk to her!
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
my advice for managing a team and maintaining high Morale is to develop a system which everyone understands. It something that color coded,or that uses shapes easy words and everything that will be very simple for everyone to easily replicate a system that requires little to no skill,but easily trained something that can be learned by a highschool student Communication is key Team meetings are very important. Newsletters are very important keeping all the staff members up to date so that they can present your company as you would and they can act as you will when they’re replicating the system.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crawlingcrab/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crawlingcrabstl
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQx6GkeUdPb5Mr2N3XKPYZw
Image Credits
– shay walls (mermaid seafood table) – crawling crab family photo counter clock wise Flavia,Malani,Makhi,Maleah,Makenzie