We were lucky to catch up with Jose Arevalos recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jose , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We believe kindness is contagious and so we’d love for you to share with us and our audience about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

After several years in business there have been MANY acts of kindness shown to us. That’s the benefit of being part of a small community. But one thing that sticks out – the day after the governor closed businesses for indoor dining during the pandemic – one of our guests showed up with an envelope of cash for our staff asking us to make sure they had their groceries and any other expenses covered. For the first month of our closure – this happened a lot – people would drop off gift cards for our staff or tip 100 percent on their take out orders. It brought us to tears more than once – knowing that our guests not only cared about our small business but also our staff that we too love like family. It’s really easy in this industry to get bogged down with all the negative things – bad reviews, horrible interactions with customers, rough days – so it’s good to have these moments to hold on to.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Jose is a 20 plus year veteran of the culinary industry. But his love for food began at a very young age – watching the classic cooking shows – “Julia”, “Jacques Pepin”, “The Great Chefs” and riding his bike to the store to get ingredients to cook for his sister.

After culinary school in California – he set off to Chicago and began his career as a line cook for the largest privately held restaurant group in the country. He worked his way up to executive chef running one of their largest and busiest kitchens in River North.

After meeting his now partner – Nikki Grant- while working together in Chicago – they decided to leave the city and head to the country. purchasing The Woodstock Cafe – bringing their own brand of food and hospitality to Nikki’s hometown. They are now in their 6th year of making pasta, serving the community and creating a space driven by love and hospitality. While Jose runs the back of house – Nikki focuses on all things front of house including the market and wine shop inside the cafe. With a focus on female and small production winemakers with bottles not found in big box stores.

In his spare time – which is few and far between – chef Jose is an avid golfer. Having played since his junior high years – he would probably tell you that his love for food is only matched by his love for golf.

As partners in life and business – chef Jose and Nikki are big eaters and love to travel. As polar opposites – they would tell you that food is their common denominator and the one thing they have in common. It’s this passion for food, wine and hospitality that takes them on many travels – exploring the culinary arts of other cities and countries. They both find value and importance in constantly studying and learning about food and beverage.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

To date – our entire story as business owners has been one of resilience. Beginning with year one – when we worked seven days a week for 11 straight months before taking a day off. It was just the two of us – so some days Jose was in the shop making pasta – by hand – for close to 18 hours. We had big plans but lacked the infrastructure so we did it ourselves. To taking a huge toll on us.

Years two and three brought the Covid pandemic. Forcing us to cut our staff by half, reduce our hours, close for indoor dining and completely alter our business model. While we found great value in having to pivot quickly and get creative with our business it wasn’t without stress. We moved to a completely different model of doing business with a focus on Jose’s pasta take and bake dinners for families, home delivery as well as curbside delivery. This would also be the best time to mention that it was the small town community that rallied around us and supported our small business and our staff. We wouldn’t have gotten through it without them.

And the year 4 hit with the promise of better things – and then jose sustained a horrible knife injury – severing two tendons and a nerve in his left hand. Forcing us once again to look at our business – asking questions like – “will jose regain full use of his hand again?” “Will he be able to shape pasta or roll out dough?” “Will we have to sell the business and find new jobs?” Thankfully after finding the best surgeon, closed for 10 weeks of dinner and LOTS of physical therapy (thanks, BB!) Jose regained full use of his hand. Secretly, he’s just happy he can still swing a golf club!

Year 5 – thankfulky was rather quiet and we are hoping for no issues in year 6! But with all things bad – good things arise. We know we can get through anything together and resilience is definitely one of our better qualities.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

We purchased the Woodstock cafe in January of 2019. Neither of us had any experience in something like this but thankfully we had great friends, family and advisors that guided us the entire time. It took a full year to purchase the business. And after a loan from the local bank, the rest was initially financed through the originals owners. Part of the reason we wanted a place outside the city was we weren’t sure how to navigate the “investors” waters and this provided the opportunity to not have to do that – giving us control over the business. About a year and a half ago, we were also fortunate enough to purchase the building helping to secure our longevity as a business in the same space.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Woodstockcafeva.com
• Instagram: Woodstockcafeva
• Facebook: Woodstock Cafe

Image Credits
Woodstock Cafe