We recently connected with George Rivera and have shared our conversation below.

Hi George , thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

The restaurant business was brought to me at a young age . My parents decided to take the risk to open up there own restaurant when I was nearly 14 years old . When I first walked in to the kitchen floors I wasn’t aware that it would be my first and only job I would have in my young life .
I knew my parents had big ambitions to make this small run down restaurant in the city of Compton a big success and i wanted to a part of it .
So at a young age me and my even younger brother Daniel ( age 9 ) put on our aprons and started helping out as much as we could every evening after school.
I have fond memories of my brother and I
Washing dishes , getting orders , cleaning up , and when old enough to drive doing deliveries out in the streets of Compton.
Before cells phones where around I got to know the neighborhoods and streets like the palm of my hand . With out any goggle assistance or map apps ,Driving the streets with a easy notions of where I was heading never to be lost . That’s were the love of the community became apparent to me . I enjoyed making my customers my friends and growing relationships with each one of them .

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Discipline is very Important part of working in a family restaurant. Many 14 hours a day 7 days a week . Come with the territory of being a business owner. When my parents started the restaurant it was no easy task. Our family had to put in work and scarfafcice to eventually get the results we are now proud we’ve accomplished . We started in the early 90’s in the city of Compton. The first 6 months can make or break a small business but with hard work and determination we began the process of starting relationships with the community and our small Mexican restaurant because a hit , good old fashion word of mouth was our best advertisement.
Over the years of Compton giving us love and support we had to relocate Because of our lease agreement we had to find a new location .
And my parents decided to move to the city I was born and raised, Long Beach .
The blessing of having the opportunity to own our own building and not to deal with a lease, to this is day is the best business risk and decision our family business has made .
In Compton and now Long Beach we have made many close relationships with our customers which we consider our friends.
Everyone who come to our doors if you give us the opportunity you will become like one of our own family members.
We like to make you feel like your home that mom and pops are cooking for you .
Leaving the restaurant with a full satisfied tummy and a warm heart.
We are coming close to being in business for 30 years and the most satisfying part of this journey is seeing people we saw growing up now bring there own kids to the restaurant and seeing a new generation develop right in front of our very eyes . It’s a proud feeling of unity and fellowship we have developed with our community.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The year was 2019 Business was booming, our dine in room was constantly packed, the banquet room was often booked for private events on the weekends ,and our off site catering was on a roll . We we’re moving forward at full strength . Everything seem to appear we we’re building for greater success. But it all came to a stop..One year before the pandemic I got hit
With the news I had Liver failure and had
90 days to live . I was put on hospice and was counting the days to live .
Our family was devastated. All the hard work and sacrifices to run a business was sideswiped by the realization that Health is the number one priority.
With the help of God and the power of prayer many locked doors unlocked and many dead end roads opened up .
The power of faith and prayer is why I’m here today . I was given a second opportunity in life . I’m a grateful transplant recipient that plans to make the most of the gift of life . Never to take life for granted.
So when the pandemic did hit and our dine room was shutdown, banquet room was closed and all of our off catering went down to zero .
We took it with the mentality that we got this . We had just gone through the darkest days of our family business we also shall over come this too.
And we did . With the love and support off our local Long Beach community we survived the economical difficulties the pandemic brought to many small businesses owners .
We will always be grateful and for the love , support, and sincere prayers we received in our darkest moments from our customers, friends, and community.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

When the pandemic did hit it was a huge economical blow for not only our small family run businesses, but In particular all dine in restaurants. So many restrictions were put in and every week the rules would change .
I remember one particular day we only make $49 dollars in the whole day , a 12 hour shift and in retrospect we didn’t make enough to pay the electricity and gas for the day .
Some of the more stressful days where when the city allowed us to do outdoor dining so we invested in outside tables , chairs , lighting over priced patio umbrellas and outside heaters those two items were in so high demand from all restaurant owners wanting to make there own makeshift outdoor seating areas that they cost us more then ever imagined and that if you could manage to get your hands on those items everything was out of stock.
When we finally had a small makeshift
Patio set up outside our restaurant. The word came from the city that all outdoor seating was to be canceled until further notice. It was deviating
Now what to do with all our investments.?
I remember seeing our banquet room once full of happy customers , now seeing that same banquet room used as a storage.
Even after all this misfortune we where more then blessed . My mom would constantly reminded us ,”it will be all okay as long as we got health.”
My dad also would encourage us by saying ,” for every problem there is a solution as long as we have health.”

After me being in hospice a year ago and fully recovering my parents were absolutely right with health on our side we can over come any obstacle life brings our way.

Contact Info:

• Website: Riverasonline.com
• Instagram: Riveras7thst
• Facebook: Rivera’s Mexican restaurant
• Yelp: Rivera’s