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

Tal, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you manage your own social media?

Yeah I manage my own social media for the restaurant. I’ve gone through a few iterations with the IG page and have simply found that I’m just happiest with the product when I’m the one running it. The truth of the matter is, I run the restaurant’s profile the same way I would run my own personal profile. Since Mazal is more or less just an extension of me, I feel like the social media should be the same. I’ve taken a really casual, less corporate approach with what I post and how I post it. Although it’s not consistent, I’ve gotten some good feedback on the less serious content like restaurant/food memes that I make, photos of the team in action, and just general concepts that I think are funny. As far as lessons go, I think taking risks probably does more harm than good when it comes to a company social media account. I think it humanizes the business and makes it easier for a customer to form a connection with the brand.

Tal, 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?

I sort of fell into the restaurant industry. It wasn’t necessarily a personal lifelong dream, it was a concept that my dad had that I essentially took over. Contrary to his initial plans for the spot, I wanted the restaurant to be a little more elevated in terms of menu offerings, have a full beer and natural/organic wine list, and be dine-in solely for dinner.

One of the things I’m most proud of with the restaurant is how we’ve managed to maintain authenticity as a family establishment. There’s always at least me or my mom who are at the spot, either cooking or running food and taking care of guests. Anyone who’s been to Mazal a few times will begin to recognize us and vice versa; we take great pride in developing a personal relationship with anyone who comes through the door, too. Might sound cliche, but I really do appreciate when people choose Mazal versus literally every restaurant option in LA. After 3.5 years of being open, it still blows my mind that people come, so when people do, I try to make a point to say hello and at least thank them for trusting us with a night out.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I think one of the most important pieces of having a team that works well together and keeps high morale is actually finding a group of people who love each other. When looking for new team members I ask my staff if they have any people they’d be willing to stake their reputation on and vouch for. So every new person who’s hired has essentially been more or less vetted by someone I already trust. One of my staff actually noted to me the other day how Mazal is by far the most drama-free restaurant she’s worked at, and I’m super proud of that. So I’d like to think that the morale is maintained by virtue of people wanting to come to work and see their friends. On slow nights/weeks, it’s still a relatively enjoyable place to work so long as everyones happy to be here. I do as much as I can to help the team wherever they need it too, to make their work lives somewhat easier. I figure if they’re happy with each , they’ll be more motivated to pick up each other’s slack

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

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Contact Info:

• Website: www.mazal.la
• Instagram: @mazal.la

Image Credits
Simi Malek – https://www.simimalik.com/