We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jeff Smedstad. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jeff below.

Jeff, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

When I walked into my meeting with the first landlords for Elote I looked at the space and town and knew right then and there what it was going to be…. a place to throw a nice party every night in the red rocks of Arizona. I handed them a check right then and there and went to my car and sketched Elote Cafe on a piece of paper. It was just something that came together that fast and felt that right. I was open 6 weeks later.

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?

Elote Cafe is a restaurant where we focus on providing a relaxing and insightful view of food and drink. Our focus is to bring a unique dining experience to people representing both the southwest United States as well as the interior of Mexico. We want to make people happy and hopefully provide a brief escape from the everyday world while showing them new and unexpected food and drink such as huitlacoche or a single varietal mezcal or perhaps a taste of Chimayo chile.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I sold a restaurant that I co owned, I felt my heart was not in it and therefore I was not putting my heart in it. I later started Elote Cafe and have since felt that I could put 100% into Elote, that commitment is vital to success.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I am a hands on owner that is here most everyday and feel that helps build a strong reputation through commitment and example to both my crew and customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elotecafe.com
• Instagram: @elote_cafe

Image Credits
Jill Richards Photography