We were lucky to catch up with Sofia Moreno recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sofia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your business and how did you resolve those issues?

The food & beverage industry is not for the weak. If your not worrying about rising food costs, new innovative food concepts, social media and equipment breaking down during a rush. You are trying to keep a fun and productive work crew. Unfortunately this career is not for everyone (even though everyone should work in a service industry job at some point in their lifetime). Occasionally you get an employee who just isn’t cut out for the position and decides that they have better things to do and leave with out saying anything. This is not the ideal situation for a G.M. but the job still needs to be done. As business owner and active G.M., I play a lot of roles in the restaurant and if that means I need to throw on an apron, bus some tables, do dishes and mop floors, so be it. Anything to show my staff that I’m also part of the team and will do what needs to be done to run a successful business.

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?

You may say I was born for this role. A Chicago kid who would do her homework at a booth while her mother waitressed and father cooked in the kitchen of a local diner. Fast forward 10 years and two thousand miles away. This Chicago girl made it to a lucky Las Vegas, where mom started a printing company and father transitioned to G.M. of a local diner. Working hard and wanting independence I started helping my father out as a Hostess at his restaurant. It wasn’t long after that dad needed a server and well I was the next best thing, “Just say Hi with a smile and take their order, you can do it” dad threw me onto the floor and my serving days began. I loved meeting new people and most of all making cash but I didn’t realize this was my calling until many many years later. I dabbled in other careers in my early 20’s but nothing stuck. Until I started working at one of the Best World known Casino’s on the Las Vegas strip. I worked for this Casino for over 14 years and loved it (well most of the time) and met some of the best people, made the best friendship’s and learned the art of excellence and how to run a successful company. My kindness and customer service has always been a priority in my career choices. Unfortunately my body was not having the many years of wear and tear of 1’inch heals and heavy trays. Dad was also needing more help at the restaurant as well as thinking of his retirement. That’s when I decided that it was time to give up my casino life and return to help my father with the diner. This is when I really started to learn the business, the bad, the good, the ugly. This is a tough industry that many people take for granted. People don’t see the behind the scenes of running a thriving business, the call outs on a holiday weekends, the kitchen equipment expenses, the running late delivery order’s, the constant solicitating calls and most of all the fact we are not machines and are not perfect, we are human’s and are only trying to make others happy by providing a service with love. It is important to me to have a good team of employees, who I can trust to help our business thrive. Our diner is like eating breakfast at your grandma’s house. Our dishes are made from scratch with fresh ingredients and delivered by some great servers that truly care about their customers.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

It was 2017 and my body was breaking down and it was time for me to hang up my heals and discover the new role in management. I had been diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder and Ankylosing Spondylitis a non curable disease. At the time I thought I was domed. I knew I had to make a big change and that change would not only help me but my father and his business as well.

This was not an easy transition to give up (the casino life). A so called 9-5 job that allows you to have cash at hand, to a job that has no set beginning or end. It took some time to adjust to the income, but the relief on my body was immediate. Before I knew it things were falling into place and I was relieved that my new career in management was my forever future.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

This question is a little tricky, I did not officially buy a business or sell my business. My sister and I inherited two well established restaurants. However after many years of operations one of our locations landlord decided to raise our rent three times the current amount. This restaurant location was not in the best area of town and was having a decline in sales due many economic hardships (covid and rise of industry costs) and the not to mention the constant construction that closed many roads and made it impossible to get to the restaurant. So the new adventure had started, do we close and say goodbye to our loyal employees or find another better location restaurant and start over?

We choose to look for another spot. This was hard, it was not as easy as finding a home with any realtor out there. Restaurant space in the city of Las Vegas is very limited and competitive. We found a great realtor that did his absolute best keeping us calm through the months of searching for a space that fit our needs that wasn’t already in contract. Just as we were losing hope and dreading closing our doors, our realtor Joe found a great space in the South West valley of Las Vegas.

After that the process of closing one and opening begun. Again many up’s and down’s. Getting rid of and moving years of equipment. Closing accounts and organizing new accounts. The constant waiting for vendors and workers to show up and complete jobs.

Not to mention the sleepless nights of not knowing if business will be successful in new area of town. Many adjustments had to be made, the food ordering had to be limited, staff had to wait for open shifts and business demands to pick up.

Marketing strategies and social media became a must. One day at a time was all we could do. However we knew once people knew us , knew our location and tasted our food things would be okay.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Theblueskillet.com
• Instagram: @blueskillet1
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Blue-skillet-100063719195120/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-blue-skillet-las-vegas-4?osq=blue+skillet