We recently connected with Osman Medina Omana and have shared our conversation below.

Osman, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Yes, sure! I’m definitely happy being a business owner. Being a business owner allows you to have “Freedom” but that’s not always true, your body may sometimes rest, but your mind is most of the time just thinking about how to improve the business and take it to the next level. Sometimes it could be stressful and you may want to quit, but you have to keep going and that’s the only way that you can succeed. And yes, sometimes I wonder how it would be to have a regular job, but it is just my nature, I have always been an entrepreneur since i was a teenager. To be an entrepreneur is not for everyone, some people simply can not deal with the pressure and uncertain situations, but for me, that’s the best part.

Osman, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Osman Medina, I am an immigrant who came from Venezuela to escape from the political situation, with my wife Katherine Guillen we have always been entrepreneurs people. We used to have a business in our country, but because we moved here, we had to start from zero again. She and I started working as servers, and we both learned a lot about the restaurant industry. Where my wife was working, she knew the owner and they wanted to sell the business because they needed money, she told me, and I had some savings from my business in Venezuela, plus all the money that I had saved from my job, so immediately told her that it was our opportunity to start being business owners in this beautiful country.
To be honest, it was risky because the business was not being run in the right way so we knew that we had a lot of work to recover the restaurant, that was on January 2020, and since that we have been working really hard and we can say that we feel really proud of what we have achieved, the numbers are going really well and our idea is to continue growing the business and open more locations in the near future.

Let´s talk about the place that changed our life from being an employee to a Business owner. Our restaurant is called Mango Latino grill, located in Lawrenceville, where you can enjoy delicious Latin dishes made with Venezuelan hands which are characterized by having a lot of flavor in their meals. At Mango Latino grill you will have a unique experience with delicious food and a cold beer. We also have a mini market where you will find a variety of Venezuelan products that will give a special touch to your meals, and also a variety of Venezuelan sweets and chocolates that are characterized by being unique and delicious.
We will be waiting for you to come to the place that we have created with love and hard work. And we Promise You will take a Little piece Of Venezuela in Every bite.

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

As we already told you before, we bought the restaurant on January 2020, just 2 months before the pandemic started. When we decided to buy the business we evaluated any situation that could complicate our journey but we never picture a global pandemic… so you can just imagine how hard was for us to deal with not only being new business owners in a new Country but fighting with a global pandemic and survive without dying trying. It was hard, however, we decided to take that problem and change it for an opportunity. We started offering free deliveries and keep working while all the other restaurants in our area were closed, so we gained many new customers and when everything came back to “normal” we were so much better than before the pandemic. I think this is a very good example of what resilience is.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Yes, we do! we are a restaurant and we also have a minimarket inside the restaurant with all the best Venezuelan products, it is very important to always try to grow your revenue by adding many different ways to sell to your customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mangolatinogrill.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mangolatinogrill
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mangolatinorest
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mango-latino-grill-lawrenceville