Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Santos Aviles. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Santos thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?
One of my passions and something I’ve seen has deteriorated over the years is customer service. My employees have clear instructions that ALL my customers must feel welcome and valued!! Food is an exercise of love. The same love our mothers showed us when they nurtured us and raised us is the same love people associate with food. My love and passion for what I do is what shows in my meats and sides. I only hire people who have that same love and passion either for smoking my meats, cooking my sides, or treating my customers in the front of the restaurant with great customer service. In that context, we have gone out of our way multiple times to go beyond our normal procedures to make sure that our customers know that we care for them. We had a customer who came in very sad and was ordering a meal for her husband who was terminally ill at the hospital down the street. He had requested our food as one of his last meals. We handled that we the most care and comped the whole meal. She broke down in tears but it is the least we could do for her in that time of need. We had a family that had pre-ordered for Thanksgiving last year and were involved in a wreck the week prior to Thanksgiving. The husband wrote to me asking to cancel the order and to sell the turkey to someone else. I immediately wrote back and said you have a free turkey dinner waiting for you here regardless. I have more stories like that. This Thanksgiving, like last year, we are hosting all first responders in our immediate area. Fire stations, police, CHP, and Sheriff stations can come to our restaurant to pick up dinners to take back to their stations. I can’t forget about the heroes in our society that are working on Thanksgiving while we celebrate in our homes.
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?
I had been early retired for 5 years but at 47 I felt I still had something to contribute. Early retirement is overrated, especially for someone driven like me. I told my wife that I wanted to get back in the game but it couldn’t be for money because I would burn out quickly. It needed to be something meaningful and rewarding. She said you like to barbeque and you should look along those lines. Within two weeks of her saying that, I was on a plane to Arlington, TX to train with some of the best pitmasters in the state at Hurtado BBQ. Within a month of arriving back in California, I had found my freestanding location in San Bernardino. This without having ever sold a plate of food in my life. It just felt so right and somehow I could feel I had found my calling. I haven’t worked a day since!! I really enjoy what I do. The day before we opened I told my staff that we don’t sell food or BBQ, we sell a complete experience. That includes very good meats and sides in a clean and welcoming environment. All those components have to be there or the experience will be less than.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Social media presence is everything nowadays. You must invest the time and effort into making videos and good-looking photos to keep your audience engaged but more importantly, you must pay influencers to come to your restaurant to try your food and post on their pages. There is one foodie from Los Angeles that after he came, we sold out for 3 months straight! The value of social media can not understated. Your business will not grow if people don’t know you exist. I have found social media is more precise in getting customers to find out you exist. The beauty is that you can document the results by seeing the number of following growing on your page but more importantly the increase in foot traffic at your location and people confirming that they heard about you on social media. It’s that easy.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My whole life is a story of resilience!! From being threatened with death by the revolutionary forces that gave us less than 24 hours to leave our house in the countryside in El Salvador with nothing but our clothes on, to migrating to this country not knowing a word of English to not being able to go to college straight out of high school (I graduated with honors but couldn’t attend USC, UC Berkeley or other tops schools I was accepted by because I was not a legal resident). To then attending Cerritos College after I became a U.S. resident and then transferring to USC on a full scholarship and graduating Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi. Then I was accepted at USC for graduate school and received a Spanish teaching assistanship teaching lower division Spanish for three years. But as it pertains to the restaurant, I opened mid-pandemic in a low-income area. Some of the locals doubted I could succeed in San Bernardino. The first 6 months were brutal. I went through countless unpleasant situations. A very vocal but thankfully small segment of the local population was not happy I was selling barbeque in the area. I even received an anonymous death threat!! Every single one of those unpleasant situations only made me stronger. Negative forces like that feed me and motivate me even more. I was originally planning to just open one or two restaurants but thankfully to that resistance, I think I have enough motivation to open 100!!! I just received keys to my third location and there is nothing stopping me! :)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.spiritoftexasbbq.com
- Instagram: #spiritoftexasbbq
- Facebook: Spirit of Texas BBQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/spirit-of-texas-bbq-san-bernardino-3