Memo and Katie Murillo

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City, welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. We are super excited today to bring you an interview with Katie and Memo Murillo. They're the owners of Memo's Mexican Kitchen in Mount Juliet and their story is, it's a great story. It is just a story that I think anybody out there can learn from the day that hustle and hard work pays off, that you can follow your dreams like this is just one of those interviews with a couple that I just, I don't know, they're just so damn special.

01:10I really enjoyed talking to them today and I can't wait to share that interview with you. Coming up next, but I want to tell you right now, if you're watching this on YouTube, click the subscribe button, I'd love to have all of my YouTube subscribers, this video came out before it came out on the podcast, so we're happy to have you watching today. Go to Instagram and find us on Nashville Restaurant Radio and follow us. My personal Instagram is at Brandon underscore NRR and that is how you're going to see anytime I post something new or any of the fun stuff I got going on, that's where I post it. So find me at Brandon underscore NRR and we're going to start off today with an on brand with Sitex. Let's jump right in with that and then we'll be right on with Katie and Memo. So thanks for listening today. Enjoy. So we're very excited today to be joined by Tavares Taylor.

02:11Tavares Taylor is a territory manager for Sitex. He is going to come in and let us know what is going on, what is on brand with Sitex. There he is. What's happening Tavares? Good morning. How are you? How are you? I am fantastic. I love your bright eyed bushy tail, just ready to go. Ready to go. Ready to go. Are you always like this? Yeah, like I mean you have to be, especially like nowadays you have to just kind of keep that happy going. You know I think the general perception of Lennon is like a dude coming in the back door and dropping off Lennon and kind of helping Lennon, but like you guys always have just like fresh faces, positive attitudes, willing to want to help. Where does that come from? I tell you, I think it's a lot of, for me it's personal, you know, but at the same time it's also you know the culture that we have here at Sitex is amazing, so it makes it easier when you're working for a company that you love and doing what you love, you know.

03:17Well let's, I want to unpack both of those things. So why is it personal for you? What sucks you out of the sheets every day? Well, you know, God what gets me out of the sheets every day. I guess you know my why, you know, why I get out of the bed every day is because I love to help, I mean Lennon's first of all, I love what I do and second of all because I like making money and third most importantly I just love being able to wake up every day and you know have an opportunity and being in my position there's so many opportunities so I wake up like where am I going to go, who's next, like who can I help next kind of deal, so I love it. So this is like precisely why we do these segments because I think that people think Lennon company, Sitex, yeah they bring me the Lennons but there's so many people behind the company and they're such an amazing culture with what you guys do. What differentiates Sitex, like what makes what you guys do completely special?

04:18Well I tell you, I've been in this industry itself for about 10 years and what really really makes my company, Sitex, different than any of my other experiences is the integrity that we have and how we operate, you know, I go in, I hear stories day in and day out, all Lennon companies are the same. I can say without a doubt that is fortunately not true, Sitex when we operate, we operate with a level of integrity that just can't be competed with, you know, as far as our lack of ancillary charges, our total billing programs, you know, we are really trying to move forward in a direction to really develop partnerships instead of just selling, you know, Lennons and things. People need Lennons, you know, we just know nowadays people want to be helped, they don't want to be sold. You know, that's so important more so now than ever before and that's why I wanted to partner with you guys because I went through and interviewed every single Lennon company and you guys were just different, you know, you're just different every way.

05:25It was like I wasn't dealing with some company trying to get something over on me. It was really I felt like somebody wanted to come in and help my business succeed and that's just what I loved. It was just it felt right. I don't know how to put that into words like it's a gut feeling. I think you deal with so many people and all of a sudden you go, wow, these guys are different. There's just a different feeling about what they do. You know, first of all, that's great that you felt that way. But secondly, you know, when I really started to get into this industry, my grandmother had owned Powell's BBQ back in Winchester, Tennessee, when I was back in college and everything, and she had a Lennon program and, you know, it was just one of our competitors. And unfortunately, I just saw her just stress about it all the time. You know, she'd come in at one price and then by the time the year was over, you know, her price that she started at was triple, you know, and for someone on a fixed income and trying to, you know, balance and budget and things like that, it was just really more stressful than it was helpful.

06:29And that's that's really the site takes difference as far as like we just don't we don't sell people. They don't teach us to sell people. They teach us to be very authentic in what we do and create partnerships, you know, that are lasting. So if I'm listening to this right now and I'm a decision maker in a restaurant and I'm tired of my Lennon company coming in and saying, oh, hey, we didn't have enough linens for you this morning. We'll come back later and drop something off or yeah, these linens don't look that good. Or I'm sorry, you keep getting mold on your linens or any of the things that you hear. And you're frustrated. You're frustrated with your current linen company and you want to check out the site difference. How do people contact you? Is it as easy as just, hey, look, I'm just going to call this guy and you'll come out and do a full like an assessment, see how you can help him. Is that all is that all it is? It is literally that easy. You know, like being family owned and operated, you know, it's that easy.

07:32You can call me and my cell phone number. I don't mind to give that out at six one five five zero six eight three nine five. It's literally that easy. What we do is we come in, we do an assessment, we review what it is you need. Sometimes we get in there and realize people got a lot of stuff, but they don't. They're paying for what they don't need. The main point of our analysis is to make sure we're providing you with what you need. And if you order it, we're going to deliver it. You know, we know that you have a business to run. The last thing we want our customers and our clients to be worried about is managing their linen program. You know, we work with integrity. So we have an awesome sales team and an awesome service team here in Nashville. So we are completely and utterly ready to assist any way that we can. I 100% believe you on that. And I'm so excited that you're able to join us here today. Check them out at sitex-corp.com or contact Tavares. Call him today. Six one five five oh six eighty three ninety five.

08:33It is scrolling on the bottom of your screen right now. If you are watching this on YouTube or wherever you found this video, check it out. Tavares, thank you so much for joining us today on Nashville Restaurant Radio. Awesome, brother. Thank you so much for having me and you stay blessed. You too, man. Have a wonderful day. Awesome. I am so excited today to welcome in Katie and Memo Morillo from Memo's Mexican Kitchen. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Oh, thank you, Brandon. Thank you for having us. We appreciate it. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. The honor's all over here. Did I butcher the name? Is it Morillo? How do you pronounce it? Morillo. Oh, let's hear you. Come on, Memo. Morillo. Morillo. Yeah. Okay, so Memo and Katie, Morillo. There you go. Did I get it? Okay, got it. Thank you guys so much.

09:34I have been following you guys because you guys are amazing and you tag me in some of your posts that you do online. By the way, if you're out there listening to this and you want, I love it when you tag me in your stuff. You're posting stuff on Instagram, Facebook, whatever it is. Tag me in it. Let me see it. I love to share it. Love to do that kind of stuff and you guys are amazing at that and because I constantly am seeing you guys' posts, I'm familiar with your story and your story is really, really good and I'm so excited to share it today. Do you guys mind, can I just go through and tell your story and then we'll walk it back? Is that okay? Absolutely. All right, you tell me what I'm missing here, but Memo, you grew, and I don't know a whole lot about your story, Katie, but Memo, you grew up in Mexico. You had a father who was an alcoholic. He died of cirrhosis liver. You were 12 years old. Yeah. At 15, you came to America. Was it with your cousin?

10:35They actually was a friend of mine. We're going to get it on. You moved here to America at 15. You're here. You love authentic Mexican food. You were kind of drinking a little bit. You moved to Mount Juliet to stay with family. You quit drinking. You started working at El Rey Azteca. I'm paraphrasing here, guys. You saved up enough money eventually to buy. You were a dishwasher there. You saved up enough money to buy El Rey Azteca with some other investors. You meet Katie. You guys fall in love. You get married. You save up enough money to buy El Rey Azteca. Then you buy out your other investors. You decide, we did it. We own a restaurant. We're going to change the name to Memo's Mexican Kitchen. You're doing authentic Mexican food the way you had it when you grew up. You're going to open and it's March 2020. Here we go. Negative.

11:37Pandemic. Yes. So then you're like, okay, we're going to do this thing. You get back. You do to go while you can. You reopen. You're back at it. And now we have flooding. You have flooding and here we go. Now you guys are closed until June. Is that what I understand? And your second Cinco de Mayo, you're not going to get to be able to do. But you've decided to pay your employees. You're doing everything right. You guys are here. And I just, there's so much in that story. Am I off base on any of that? Am I right on track? Okay, good. So that's kind of the story here. And now I want to go back for, if you're listening, I want everybody listening to go, holy cow, I want to hear more about this. So let's go back to you being a kid and you're in Mexico. What was that like? Talk about your early days. I don't talk about your father, but like the early days of like cooking and food.

12:38What are your earliest memories of food in Mexico? So my dad's mom, they were farmers. So they farm all the corn. They farm all the chicken that they eat. They farm pretty much everything that they consume that they grow. And so being a farmer and understand that when you plant a seed, you have to wait for it to give the product. It was good. We grew up very poor and we grew up with nothing. But today I found out that growing up the way we grew up, go to the garden and cut a pepper, go to the garden and cut a tomato, or make the salsa, whatever salsa you want to make. Today, if you want to live that way, it will cost a lot of money.

13:38And so that's what we're trying to do here in Memos Mexican Kitchen. You know, I love the Andy Little who owns Josephine said, if you take a seed and you plant a potato and you water it every day for six weeks, and you go out there in the sunshine and you water it and you take care of it, by the time this potato is the size to use it, when you pull that thing out of the ground, you're going to respect it. You're not just going to like throw it around and mash it. You're going to respect that potato and you learn a respect for food when you grow it, right? We grew up, you know, if we go to the garden and we cut a pepper or we eat a tortilla or whatever we got out of the garden, my grandpa always made sure that we ate, you know, pretty much every single piece of whatever we put on our plate because, you know, he taught us to plant a seed, wait for it, and then you can eat it. But you have to respect the way you eat it.

14:40Not just put it in a plate and then throw it away if you don't like it. You have to respect what you put it in a plate. And food is one of those things that you just have to respect and it will taste a whole lot better. 100%. So Katie, you growing up, you're a native, right? You were born and raised in Nashville, am I right? That's correct. I love it. So what were your earliest memories of food? My grandmother's cooking. She could, unfortunately, mash some really good mashed potatoes and some really good country ham. I actually grew up on a farm in a little bitty town called Prim Springs, Tennessee. So my daddy was a goat farmer and we always had goats. I showed horses. But food was really with my grandmother. My grandmother cooked. She could throw down on some pies and mashed potatoes and turnip greens and chicken and dumplings.

15:45So when I was able to meet Memo, when he was a server, it was just brought back some of those memories. And to be able to have our own restaurant together, we can bring some of the native stuff from Nashville with the south of the border. So it's kind of cool. That's incredibly cool. And I was telling somebody the other day, we're talking about just ingredients. Why does food taste good? I was talking about Hal of our Loughlin table. And one of the things he told me is, you know, my vegetables taste really good because I use vegetables in season in the peak of freshness. I don't try and use vegetables that aren't in season that are grown in Chile. I like to use local farmers. So look how we're talking about utilizing the product that we're using as farmers that's fresh when it grows naturally just tastes better. So there's a little bit of your history growing up and then you... So Memo, you at 15, you moved to America. What was that like? How was that process? I'm sure we could do a whole podcast on you coming to America.

16:49Tell me about that story. So after my dad passed, you know, I was the oldest of six. So I kind of, on our culture, when that happens, if that happens, you kind of, you know, you're in charge of the family. And so yes, we decide that, you know, we're going to go to America. And, you know, America was always in my dreams. I always thought that this country will give me, you know, a lot of more opportunities to, you know, to live alive in a better way that we, you know, that we were living a life in Mexico when I grew up. And so when we came to the States, we arrived in Peoria, Illinois and I was in 98. And, you know, I didn't speak the language.

17:49I didn't have anybody to call or, you know, it was just me and my friend. And so we had a phone number, you know, that we were going to call and they were going to give us a job. And so, yeah, we end up in a Mexican restaurant, brand new. I end up doing dishes in a brand new restaurant. And so I just remember it was, it was, it was exciting. I was, you know, I look at it today and it seems like a rough times. And when I was there and I was able to know that I was going to be able to make money and send money to my family and support my family and all of that, doing dishes and have 15 types of dishes and big pans. And it was, I saw that it was a blessing because I was able to support my family and my job and that's where my dreams start right there. So at age 12, you lost your father and as the oldest of six children, the responsibility to take care of the family falls on you.

18:51You're the oldest of six children. Your father's gone and now you're 15, 15 years old. You moved to America because in America, there's better opportunity for you to earn money to essentially send money back to take care of your family at 15. Correct. What did you, did you ever have like a childhood? Were you ever able to be a teenager? Did you do stupid stuff? Did you go to parties? Like, was that, did you? Just forego all of that for that level of responsibility? Uh, not really on, you know, since I was little, you know, my dad always struggled with the alcohol and the bottle. And so, you know, at a young age, we understand that, you know, we had to work for our clothes. We got to work for a lot of a lot of the things that, you know, that we wanted. And so, yeah, that's tough. I feel for that. I mean, the level of responsibility that you have, I mean, so many kids and people in our culture just grow up and it's my child's birthday today and we're having a big old birthday party, you know, we're going to like this jump house and, you know, it's like a whole thing.

20:02But I'm like, I don't, it's just a, it's just a different culture. I thank you for telling that, that part of the story. Yeah, we, you know, I used to, when I was younger, I, if I wanted to have a pair of jeans or a pair of whatever, you know what, we have to find our way. So I always, my grandma had a tree of lemons and so I always go and cut the lemons and, you know, go and make a little bit of money. I had a, I had a, I used to clean shoes. And so I used to, you know, go to the square on Sundays and clean my shoes. And so on my way back home, I always pick up cans, aluminum cans. So I make money cleaning the shoes and selling a little bit of chiclets. And so on my way home, I pick up the aluminum cans and so on my mind, I had three incomes, if that makes sense. At a young age, I was able to pretty much buy my own stuff. So when I moved to America at 15 years old, I had a knowledge of, you know, at least go and ask for a job or at least go and, you know, try to make it.

21:14Well, my grandfather just passed away and he was 90 years old. And we were in California for his funeral. And we were all sharing stories one night. And the story he just told is very reminiscent of him growing up. Some of the stories we used to tell is because he was, he had a barbershop and he bought some real estate as a kid, but he didn't, and like all of those things, but he used to shine shoes when he was like 12. I mean, his father was an alcoholic and he had to, so his father remarried. His wife, his mom passed away and his father remarried. And he had to, or his parents got divorced, but he had to earn money to pay his mom rent so that his stepdad wouldn't know that his father wasn't sending child support. So he would go out and shine shoes and he would sell things and he would go and just hustle every single day. And then he was just a true entrepreneurial spirit in every ounce of the word. And it sounds like almost out of necessity. That's what you did too. Correct. So you will fast forward a little bit to use your dishwashing.

22:16You're doing all of these things. And what brought you to Mount Juliet? So when I, when I started working in Illinois and now in Peoria and those restaurants, you know, I was there for, so I got there in 98 and I left Illinois in 2005. So, you know, when I got to Illinois, and I was able to, you know, I turned 18 and then 21. And, you know, I started, you know, drinking and, you know, enjoying a little bit of the freedom that I had at the time. Like, you know, going to a bar in Happy Beer or being able to drive or being able to, you know, when I turned 21, I kind of lost track of, you know, what I was doing. It's almost like you became normal. Yeah.

23:16You know, I mean, everybody in the world when they turn 21 goes and does that. You've been an adult since you were age 12. Like, yeah, when you're 21, you're going to do that. I mean, no shame in that whatsoever. I struggled a little bit with that, Brandon. I was, I hate to say it, but I was, you know, a little bit, I was homeless. And so, you know, finally, I had a talk with one of my friends and he said, you know, you just need to go and see your family. You just have to go and where your family is. And so he gave me $80 because, like I said, I was homeless. I wasn't working. I was just, you know, just in a bar place. And so he gave me those $80 and he said, you need to go where your family is or you need to go. And so I had a sister here in Nashville that she just got married. And so I said, I'm just going to go with the only thing that I, you know, that I have here.

24:21And so I came to my Juliet and visit, you know, visit her and I like it so much. I stay here and, you know, when I was in Illinois, I learned the dishwasher and I learned the prep and I learned the kitchen and, you know, a little bit of the front. And so when I was here, when I came to Nashville, I was kind of, I'm done with the restaurants. I'm not going to be, you know, I'm not going to work in the restaurants anymore. I was kind of done. So I started working on construction here in my Juliet. And that's how I found out about El Rey Azteca. And so I went and applied for a job in there. But that's, that's how I came to, and the reason I came to Nashville, because yeah. So when you moved to Nashville, Katie, we're going to get to you in just a second. I promise. I bless your heart. You're sitting here like, if you're watching this on our YouTube channel, you see Katie's patiently just like, this is a good story. I love hearing it. I want to get to your love story.

25:21And there's a lot involved there too. I'm just covering the backstory here. You're good. You are so good. It's okay. So you were drinking, you were enjoying the early twenties, like most people do, but you, that responsibility doesn't go away. I mean, it's still there. And I think that we're a lot of people who are 21 can fall back on their parents when they do something stupid. You didn't have that option. You didn't have the option to just go, oh, hey, look, mom, dad, this happened to me. Bail me out. You had a friend who gave you 80 bucks and you moved in with your sister. What did that $80 feel like at that time? How much money did that feel like when they gave you that 80 bucks? Was that like a million dollars? I really, I thought I'm going to go and spend these $80 on alcohol. Wow. But that's how deep I was into it. And so I said, you know, I got in the boss and I went about a ticket and get in the boss and came to Nashville.

26:24So you quit, did you quit drinking when you moved to Nashville? So when I got here, I, I started working on, like I said, on construction and I still drink. And so, you know, I went through a hard time and, you know, I just, my sister and everybody just, you need to quit drinking. You know, you live with so much better. You have so much to offer without the drinking. And so I did, I did. It was so hard to drive from home to the restaurant and pass a gas station and not be able to stop at a gas station. It was, it was hard. It was, I know that feeling. You know, it was like, I told myself, do not look into the gas station. And when I was about to pass a gas station, I had to look at the gas station. I had to look that way and stop and get a six pack. And that made me so angry.

27:25It made me so mad that I couldn't control what I, what I wanted to do. And so that was right there. It was, it was one of the signs that, you know, you need to stop this stuff. I didn't, I didn't. So you're sober now, right? Yes. Congratulations. I love that. So am I. One of the things, the first, I didn't think I drank that much. I didn't, you know, I was completely, my mind was completely gone. And once I quit drinking, probably three, maybe a month after, they call it a pink cloud when you first quit drinking. Maybe a month after I quit drinking, every time I went to Bellevue, I like to drink high gravity, 16 ounce beers. I love Bearded Iris and all these other beers, but I would go to Red, which is a liquor store in Bellevue. And I would always buy eight, 10, 12 beers. And they're like almost every other day and I would just go there. And it was hard. I'd be in Belle, every time I'd drive through Bellevue, I'd find my car going, I need to go to Red.

28:25I need to, and I would just start driving there. I'm like, no, no, I don't, I don't. And it dawned on me. I went, damn, I really did. Like, I really did have a problem. I would constantly be thinking about driving to Red and going to get my beer. It's like, I don't think about it anymore, but like it was a thing for a while. I totally understand what you're saying. So you get this work at El Rey Azteca. When did you meet Katie? So I started working in there in 2006 as a server. And I used to do construction through the week and then working there on Saturday. I mean, Friday night and Saturday night. And so I did that until 2011. And in 2011, we bought a restaurant myself and four partners. I wanted to buy it myself, but I couldn't, I didn't have all the money. So, you know, went to the bank and then gave me a loan.

29:25And so I had to went different direction and find four investors. So it was four guys and myself, which they were selling investors. I was doing all the work and they were just, you know, they were just investors. And so when we bought a restaurant in 2011, I met Katie, she used to come in for lunch with some of her workers. And so we met in 2012. Okay. Now, Katie, what was your, when you would go eat there? Because you worked, what did you do? What was your job right behind it? So I did residential property management. So I managed apartment communities throughout the Nashville area. I did that 16 years. And so I was managing an apartment community directly behind the restaurant. So it was pretty convenient to go over, grab lunch, grab to-go's.

30:29I had a lot of meetings with contractors and employees and that kind of thing. And I always noticed Memo. I always thought he was nice looking and handsome. And so a couple of weeks later, yeah, we're still pretty in love. Nine years later. The look on his face is cracking. He's just like, yep, I'm a handsome dude. It's me. Oh, you should talk to the stash. When he has a stash sometimes, you'll have to look back at some pictures. The mustache, okay. Yeah. And so I never really made any flirtatious notes towards him or really waved or anything. I always try to keep it professional because most of the time I had people with me. So I went with a girlfriend one night and we sat at the bar. Well, that's it. You came up and started talking? Yep. He was behind the bar making drinks and we were communicating quite intense.

31:36And I said, you know, we should talk one night or hang out or something. And he was like, yeah, I'll give you my number. And I was like, oh, no, I'm going to give you mine. And if you want to call me, call me. I like that play Memo. I'll give you my numbers. It's like, that's not how this works. So how long, how long until you called her? We are going to take a short break to hear from our sponsors. When talking about what chefs want, really the question is, how do they do it? No fees, no fuel charges, no surcharges, never. This allows you to order as much or as little as you need as often as you need. Seven day delivery, access products every day, trimming your waste, increasing your valuable shelf life and allowing you fresher product. 24 seven customer support, call, text, chat, email, anytime from anywhere.

32:42They take a team approach to serving you at 800-600-8510 or whatchefswant.com. They have a very, they have very diverse product lines. So their chefs have access to thousands of items across many different categories that allow them to receive fresh products daily. This type of flexibility helps chefs with the ability to offer and test new menu items with ease. They have hundreds of trucks on the road every day to reach their vast market. Their focus is tight urban areas where groups of restaurants and chefs are located. Additionally, they have trucks from coast to coast bringing products to farms and artisans across the globe. You can order through your phone app or online. They truly are what chefs want. Check them out at whatchefswant.com. NOSI College of Art has a brand new culinary arts program. Chef Anthony Mandriota, formerly of the Art Institute, is leading this program for fall classes. They're taking registration right now.

33:45So if you're one of those people who is in a career, not really happy with it, you want to do something awesome and you want to get professional training to further enhance your career, NOSI College of Arts culinary arts program has your name written all over it. Go to nosi.edu where you can see virtual classrooms. You can actually go and check out the kitchen or you can set up a meeting to come meet Chef Anthony Mandriota and tour the kitchen to find out exactly what their curriculum is going to be like. If you want to be an executive chef, you want to be somebody who can take their career to the next level, NOSI College of Art is for you. Check them out again at nosi.edu today. How long until you called her? I think it was that same night. That's what I'm talking about.

34:46Yeah. So that night you call her, you set up, where was the first date? We went to Papalo, what we did? No, we went to Wintry. Oh yeah, it was a golf day. I was in my early stage of playing golf, so I was proud and so I took her golfing that day. You took her golfing on the first date? That's awesome. I don't think I've ever heard that. We were trying to, it was a date, but we were just trying to hang out together. So the first time that we hang out, it was the first memory that we have, that golf run that we did. Okay. I didn't play golf again. How did you play? And everywhere we went, in and out of the honky tonks, because I always have a DD. We were in and out of the honky tonks, all these musicians were saying, oh, your wife is so beautiful. And he would like step two feet away and be like, she is not my wife.

35:48She is not my wife. Nine years later, I am his wife after dating a year. So it worked out. You guys, did you date it for a year? And then you got, how long after you dated, did you actually get married? A year later. We met in August and we got married in September. Nice. Of the next year. What day in September? So we married on September 16, which is Mexico Independence Day. Yes, it is. So I hold my independence on September 16, that year, 2012. So that's why we did that. I celebrate September 16th, every single year because it is Mexico Independence Day. Yes. Yes. And two, because I got married on September the 16th, 2005. We shared anniversary.

36:51I love it. That's why I asked, what day in September? What do you got going on here? Same day. Congratulations. That is so awesome. Thank you. So yeah, so we have that in common. This is fantastic. So we go to Mexico like all the time. We've been in Mexico 10 times since we've been married. But we go for our anniversary a lot of times. And while we're in Mexico for our anniversary, it's always a party because it's Mexico Independence Day. Yes. Yep. It's a good time. All right. We'd love to celebrate Mexico Independence Day a lot more here in the US. That's got to be a big day at memos. We got to make a big deal. That's awesome. It could be because it's so sad. Cinco de Mayo. Obviously, the big Mexican holiday. Everybody, the Americanized Mexican holiday. You guys haven't got to do yet. Yeah, we're two years in the road. All right. We're going to get to that. How did you propose? I always like asking the proposal stories. So I was striving, I think.

37:57And I was thinking about proposing and getting married. And I really didn't want to get married. I don't know. I bought the ring and I had it in my pocket. And I missed several opportunities. And I was like, I'm going to do it today. And then I didn't do it that day. And I was like, I'm going to do it the next day that we have. And I didn't do it. And so I kind of, we were just driving. And I was like, you better do it. And so we were just driving. And we stopped in a light and I asked her. That is the best. Are you serious? You're just... Yeah. So we stopped at a red light. We were going to dinner. And he was like, get this out of the glove box. And I was like, what is this out of the glove box? And so I opened it up and there was a ring. And I was like, oh my gosh, there's a ring. He was like, yeah, you want to get married? It was pretty sweet. Where were you?

38:57What were the cross streets? Do you remember the red light? Where were you? Belinda Parkway and Mount Juliet Road, South Mount Juliet Road, right over I-40. So every time you guys are at that light, I'm sure that you are at that lifetime time. Do you guys always share a moment when you're there? We stop in there and look at our lives and look at what we have done. What we went through. And sometimes when we stop at that light, it's a red light and we think about those things. And that's what keeps us going, that light and that memory. Oh, I knew I loved you guys. This is awesome. I love this story. So you get married September 16th, 2000. Did you say? 13. 13? Okay, 2013. And you saved up enough money through being the manager or the owner, but really the owner operator at El Rey Azteca.

40:02And then you decided, hey, look, we've saved enough money. Let's buy out the other investors and let's go back to my childhood. The flavors that I remember my grandmother making on the farm as we pull a pepper from the garden and anybody knows you pull a pepper from the garden. That's the best damn pepper you're ever gonna eat. But you pull a pepper from the garden. You want those flavors in a Mexican restaurant. You want to do it in that same location, but you want it to be memos, right? It's gonna be your place, y'all's place. How fun was it that dream coming to fruition? Like what was that process like together? Katie, you're done doing your other job now, right? I stayed until 2017. So we bought out our last partner in 2017, but over the next couple of years from 13 to 17, every year we were actively buying out partners. And then we had one last partner that was just continued to try to stay invested.

41:09And we finally pretty much said, we're ready to buy you out in 2017. And so that's how it transitioned. How did that conversation go when you guys got married to sit down and say, we want to do our own restaurant. We want to buy these people out. What did it take? There was the budgeting. Are you guys on Dave Ramsey? Like what did you guys have to do? The sacrifices you guys had to do to pay everybody out and still live a life like being newlyweds. What was that like? It was a lot of, I remember we sat down and we said, we want to do this. We want to do things the way that we feel and that we know is best to do. And so that's why I'm into today. I'm driving my little Honda, my little Civic that it has 220,000 miles and spend $20 on gas on a Honda a month.

42:14And that's how we save to buy the last investor just sacrificing some of those things and living under our means. No debt, no debt at all. We didn't take a vacation for five years. All of my bonuses from corporate, we put in our gold fund. So it was hard, but it's possible. The American dream is still alive. It just hard work and sacrifice. That's it right there. What you just said, hard work and sacrifice. This is why Yelp reviews piss me off so much. You talk about this whole story and people who are out there saving and sacrificing to live their dream and some asshole comes in and just completely tears you apart.

43:15It's not a service to every other diner. It's you being a dick. It's you hurting people. I know so many restaurant owners like, I don't read them because it's painful for restaurant owners to read. This is your life. You didn't want that to happen. I didn't want this bad experience to happen. You can call me and let me know what this experience is. I love it when people talk on Yelp. How great, Yelp is a great system. I love the idea of Yelp. Just when people go on there and tell the positive things to let people know that this place is amazing. To let people know that there's a husband and wife who've sacrificed for years and years to live their dream and their dream. Something didn't go right, let them know. They wanna fix it. I promise you, they don't want you to leave having a bad experience. Yes, you've gone through all this. You changed the name to Mamos. You're gonna open in March of 2020.

44:16Were you guys affected by the tornado that hit March 3rd? We did a little. The tornado moved the hood a little bit to move it a little bit to the right. We just have to go up there and fix it. But we were able to fix it in one day after the tornado. But right after the tornado, that's COVID. The recovery team, they were in our parking lot. All the police officers and all of that was in our parking lot for the first day or two. Helping the volunteers and helping people that were displaced, which we were grateful for. It was all right in our parking lot. Which people can't come and eat. There's no parking. It's tough. It also deters people when there's all this FEMA activity going on. Two weeks later, March 12th, March 13th, the day I did my first podcast, because everything closed.

45:18Everything closed. It was a whole thing. And then March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, restaurants are told, no more indoor dining. So you guys are, what day did you actually open the restaurant for business? It was opened June 21st, June 20th, somewhere around in there. So we were closed from March 20th, somewhere around in there to June 20th. But when did you originally, the first day that Maymills was open, when was it? August the 10th. We revealed the new name on August the 10th. Okay. Okay, perfect. But you guys weren't open very long before the pandemic started. Yeah, actually the restaurant has been there, Brandon, since it's been there. It wasn't Ray Azteca since 1998. Yeah, but you rebranded Maymills in August 2019? No, 2020, right after the pandemic. In the middle. So you're in the middle of the pandemic, you guys changed.

46:19You know, we decided, let's do it. We're not going to continue to wait. I don't like to wait. Let's do it. So we did it in the middle of the pandemic. So you opened a brand new concept, middle of the pandemic. And okay, we're going to get through this thing together. Hard work. You have people, I imagine, who work for you, who are loyal, who are dedicated, who worked throughout all of this. Didn't, you know, they probably could have been furloughed and taken money and not worked. Because look, I'm not, that's not a knock on anybody who did that. I understand there's a lot of people with pre-existing conditions and you don't want to get the thing. And being a first, you know, being on the front lines is a whole thing. I'm not knocking people that did that. But you have people that said, I'm in. Let's go. Let's do this together. You rebrand as memos. We're going to do this thing. Let's go. Things are going well in the restaurant at this point? I mean, are you picking back up through the pandemic?

47:21Well, it was before we closed for the flood. It was, we were doing pretty good. Thank the Lord. We're always, you know, it's my community supports me and our, you know, our cities around Manjulia support us. And so, yeah, we were actually, you know, we would close. We were doing 50% capacity and we would close for 14 weeks. And, you know, we did the numbers from 2020 in 2019. 2019, we had all these overhead and, you know, big sales. And so we went to 2020 and we learned a lot of new ways to do things. And so at the end of the day, our bottom line from 2019 and 2020, we missed it by $1,500. So, you know, it's all about you have to adapt to the situation and do new things and try new things. It may not work, but it may work.

48:22And so, you know, it's. You guys are hustlers. I love it. You're doing things the right way. It's kind of old school and I love that. So, yeah, I'm big on managing budgets. That was, that's my financial background, Brandon. And so for me, it was just all my old budget savvy kicked in and was like, okay, how are we going to do this? What are we going to do? Well, we're going to, you know, call our vendors and ask if we can re-sign new contracts to get better pricing, reach out to credit card processors, go down to reducing your trash. You know, just all of that got back into my system and it was like, okay, if you don't have this coming in, then you can't have this going out. So learning to manage those expenses along with your sales and pricing things exactly like they need to be priced. Knowing what you're putting on the plate, what your return is and how to manage that.

49:27That's amazing. That's the, you know, how many restaurant owners don't do that effectively. I think everybody tries to do that to some degree, but really to negotiate with your vendors and utilize your vendors as a partner versus somebody that you beat up all the time. Like I like to beat up the vendors one time. I always do. I do a negotiation. I go, we're going to, we're going to have a battle one time, but then we're going to be friends for the length of this entire thing. Once we agree on everything that this relationship is, then we move forward. And it works out really well. I think the vendors appreciate that versus trying to buy from five different people and beat them up. But so you guys got this thing going, you're doing okay financially. Tell me about the weather. Tell me about the rains that happened in, it was April, wasn't it? For the end of March, March 29th. Yes, the end of March, it's going to start raining. We got severe weather coming. That's the week I was in California for my grandfather's funeral.

50:28So I missed it all. I landed and my street was blocked off because I couldn't get to it. I had to drive all the way around. What happened? Did you guys get completely flooded? I mean, it doesn't, what happened in the storms? So we, we got three inches of water, two inches of water in some spot. The most, the most we have on the highest spots, it was three and a half inches. But since it was water from coming from the outside, then it could have been contaminated water. It could have been, we don't know what it, what the outside was. So, so because of that, they have to, they have to do all the repairs that they're doing right now. It was categorized as category three. That's correct. So when it says that category three, they have to do certain, certain stuff and, you know, certain procedures to, to, to the, to the business. To mitigate it. Yeah.

51:29So they basically came in and did four foot flood cuts throughout the entire restaurant. So we had to disconnect all of our equipment. We had to move all of our equipment out, have gas providers, plumbing providers. Coca-Cola had to come and remove all of our equipment. And then we're closed until, until June. So you guys made the tough decision. You recognize that you have these people that you care about so much. Who are your employees? Who are in a great restaurant, employees or families? These people, you spend so much, you spend way more time in a restaurant with these people than you do your actual family. Unless you're married and working in a restaurant, then it's just all the time. But you decided, hey, we want to continue to employ you while this happened. This is a terrible thing. Don't please, don't go get other jobs. We want to continue to pay you. You're paying your staff to this day, right? Yes, sir. That is correct. We have taken all of our employees and paid them PTO time for their average hours worked in the month of March.

52:37And we have taken our servers tips and took an average of what they made in tips. And now that is coming out of our payroll. And the way we've been able to do this is just hard work and dedication and living below our means. I don't even know. I feel like you're speaking a different language in today's terms. I don't know if people understand those things. The hard work, dedication, living below your means and just taking care of people and your community. Your community has certainly come around. What does the city of Mount Juliet mean to you guys right now? You know, Brendan, when I first come here to Mount Juliet, I share my story with very few people, few friends, customers and stuff. And a lot of people have given me advice not just on my life, but on my business.

53:38And so the city of Mount Juliet is a great community. And I feel lucky that I have some of the friends that I have here in the city because they have some of the values and some of the things that as a kid, my grandpa put on me. And so, you know, I always like to look up to people that they have and they have done, you know, good stuff and good things on the community. And so Mount Juliet has been a blessing in my life. And that's why we're doing what we do. And then we'll continue to do what we do to bring to the city good, authentic Mexican food and educate the people here in the city, you know, what Mexican food is. All that to the city.

54:41So how are you guys? You guys have a Venmo set up, I believe. If people out there listening to this want to help contribute to continuing to pay your staff and for whatever, you guys have flood insurance that takes care of all this? No, we don't. So anything that your community has continued to rally, what is that Venmo? It's help dash memos Mexican kitchen. All right. And I'm going to go ahead and put that up on the screen right here. Then I help dash memos Mexican kitchen. So if you are listening to this, if you want to throw in $5.50, whatever it might be, if you can help out, I know you guys aren't asking this, not while you're on the show, you're not saying, hey, look, send us money. But I am. I am saying that the city of Nashville is an amazing city.

55:42And for people like yourselves who have sacrificed everything, you guys didn't go out and get a PPP loan and buy new cars. I mean, you guys are genuinely putting us back in the business, back into your city, back in your community. So Venmo at help dash memos Mexican kitchen. And you can send them anything at all would help support them. We'd love for you guys do it. The Nashville restaurant radio listeners to help them out. I'm going to do that here in just a moment myself. But how much has that helped you guys use your community? We have not checked the funding. We are going to wait until the very last minute when we reopen and replenish our operating account with our Venmo account. One of our customers actually set everything up for us.

56:43So she has all the control as to who is donating, how much they're donating. We prefer not to see that. We just we're kind of humble people. And when people want to give, they'll give. Absolutely. I'd like to talk about our food, though, our food at the Mexican restaurant that we have. Let's do it. I'm in. So we've heard this amazing story. I'm just I'm just over here like, wow, I'm I'm so impressed with your resilience and your your attitude, your love for each other, your love for this business. And I'm just impressed. I'm just I just loved hearing that story. Thank you for sharing that story. Let's talk about food. What's all that you start? Tell me where you want to begin. It's your it's your your food. I'm excited about coming to eat there. I can't wait for you to reopen.

57:44I just I think, Brendan, here in a lot of a lot of places in Nashville. I just think that that the Mexican industry and the Mexican food and the Mexican market is how it has been devalued so much that you can go to McDonald's and get a cheaper or you can go to, you know, you can go to McDonald's and get and get based eight dollars, nine dollars for whatever. And you go to a Mexican restaurant where you're going to sit down, they're going to bring you chips, they're going to bring you salsa. And, you know, at the end of the day, it can be cheaper than then go to McDonald's, to the drive through and get it and get a burger. And so I think I think a lot of a lot of people have the idea of Mexican food being crispy tacos and being enchiladas and being a combination number four and being a burritos and all of that, which is what it is. But there is way more to the Mexican food and the Mexican industry than than crispy tacos and enchiladas.

58:53That is Mexican food. It's right behind the Italian food. So it's Italian and then Mexican. And it's not it's not value that way on our on our society and on our world these days. But that's that's my goal to to change that and to to educate people on what truly Mexican food is, you know, you don't have to have all this all this education and knowledge. At the end of the day, if you if you do it with the right way and you do it fresh and you do it and how your grandma and how your other grandma and how your family did it, that is truly a Mexican Mexican food. And, you know, it's not just food. It's also culture. You have to have culture and understand the culture of, you know, whatever you eat. And Mexico has so many regions of Mexican food that it's it's people have no idea how rich the Mexican industry and the Mexican food and the Mexican spices is.

59:56And so that's that's our goal to to bring a little bit more of that heat international and educate people not only on food, but also on culture. So there's been a couple of people throughout the pandemic here that have really focused on that. Edgar Victoria from El Abrije has done an amazing job doing pop ups, talking about his childhood growing up in Oaxaca and the actual the mice that he would get and making his own corn tortillas with these heirloom corn tortillas. And then Julio Hernandez with Mais de la Vida has done an amazing job making his own tortillas, setting up pop up shops all over town. And I thought those were really the only two people who were taking Mexican roots and doing Mexican food the way like because I've been to Mexico a lot of Mexican food taste. It's amazing. I love the culture. But when you talk about what you guys are doing, what a gem in Mount Juliet that you guys are doing what they're doing in a brick and mortar every day.

01:01:03Anybody can go get like if you live in Nashville, not Juliet's not that far away. Now you can pop right over. And you know, we get we're getting a lot of people from Nashville. They're actually coming in and, you know, trying trying and see what we're doing. And so I just think that the more people the more people follow and the more people will do what we do. And, you know, since I got the restaurant in 2011, I've always been trying to change, you know, the mentality of the customer and the mentality of what people think about Mexican food. And I want to bring the value of Mexican food so we can all make money, not just not just certain people, you know, if we value and we truly understand the Mexican food, you know, it can be very beneficial, not just for us, but for a whole lot of people that that they're in the industry right now and a whole lot of people that will follow behind us. And I just think that, you know, Julio and Edgar, they're doing a tremendous job. And the more people that we get and more like that, the more people they understand that it's not just crispy tacos and enchiladas, the more, you know, I mean, you know, sometimes we make a new dish every week, an authentic dish that nobody has.

01:02:19So, you know, sometimes I can make something like a cochinita pibiu from Yucatan or albondigas from another state or, you know, just and I have some people that told me that's not Mexican food. And I'm like, hey, I am Mexican. I know. Don't tell me how to do my stuff. You know, we talking about Yelp reviews, we got a Yelp review, negatively Yelp review off of our albondigas soup. They called it a mystery meatball soup. But albondigas soup, which is very authentic and very traditional. So you're not going to get if I go there is not just going to be like an elevated Taco Bell, which is, I mean, I hate to say it. I mean, that's what most people who live in Nashville, they go to Mexican restaurants and they get elevated Taco Bell. It's the crispy tacos, rice and beans. I'll do a combination number six, which is a cheese enchilada, crispy hard taco, rice and beans. And like, this is it, man. I love this. It's a Speedy Gonzalez. You know, there's all these different standard combinations and lunch specials. You're not. I'm sure there's some elevates. Do you have to have that to some degree for people that come in? But if you want to eat authentic Mexican flavor that is different, like Horachas and like really great Mexican food, one of my favorite things in the world they used to do is I used to be a district sales manager for U.S. foods. And I used to go and we do the orders early in the mornings. You know, sometimes you go at 10 a.m. into a Mexican restaurant while they're doing family meal. And I loved that was my favorite place in the entire world to go was any of the Mexican restaurants while they're doing family meal, because they're cooking authentic Mexican food for themselves before the shift. Not one time was I ever at a Mexican restaurant where they cooked something that was on their menu. Right. Right. The menus at these

01:04:20Mexican restaurants, the typical Mexican restaurant in Nashville is this is Americanized stuff we put out there because this is what you guys eat. It's not what real Mexicans eat. It's not what they were eating. They're eating really the food they ate was spicier and it was amazing. So they'd always make me a plate when I would go in there and I'd be like, yes, this is my favorite time of the day. This is the best. And so I'm excited to come in and eat some different style. We have some customers in there that, you know, obviously, like you said, we have to have, you know, a little bit of the burritos and enchiladas because we still have customers that come in and, you know, that's, and so we're doing every week, we're doing a dish or two that is that we don't have in the menu that it's, you know, that is, it's going to be something, you know, that nobody's doing here in Nashville. And so we have a lot of customers that they just come in and they're like, order me, order me whatever you're doing. I don't want to know what it is. Just, just get it. That's how much need, that's how much of need of, of, of doing the real stuff is it is, you know, right now. So, you know, we, that's, that's, that's our goal. And that's, that's our vision.

01:05:34And that's what we will continue to do. And every one of our servers on our team, they, they will always allow and tell you what the specials are of the day of the week. And they will teach you the palate process of the flavors that are in that specific dish. And so I think it's allowed people to understand what the culture of Mexican food is and be comfortable because they know what to expect. We've done tacos de lingua. We've done capriotadas. We've done albandegas, pasoles, sopo con fideos with a chihuahua cheese quesadilla. We've done enfrijoladas. We've done a lot of different things that Memo's grandmother, there are her recipes, huaraches, torta algadas. I mean, I can just keep going on and on and on of the things that we have tried and the things that have worked and how much people have really been receptive to the ideas of real Mexican food. Listen to your, listen to your phonetic, your phonetics here and how you say those things. Do you speak Spanish? Yes, I'm fluent. Did you learn it when you met him or did you know this before you met him? So I managed a property on Nolensville Road for 10 years and that's how I learned to speak Spanish. It was charades in the beginning, but now I read, write and speak fluently.

01:07:06Wow, that's impressive. So this is like the, this is the amazing fun jewel of this interview is really learning that you guys are doing some of the best food in the city and it's in Mount Juliet and here's, here I can tell that I can see your challenge now. I can see your challenge that you're in Mount Juliet, which isn't, I love you, Mount Juliet. I'm not, I'm not downing the city of Mount Juliet. I really am not, but there's a, there's a simplicity with food there that, hey, look, this is what we want. This is the way we like it. So we've always done it and introducing something new into Mount Juliet that's different than everything else that is elevated. There's a massive educational and cultural component to that. That is, that is, if I was in meetings every week, I would go, how do we continue to educate the people when they come in here and create and build excitement around education and wanting to learn? Cause it's, there's one thing about going out to eat where there's just literal nourishment, right? I can go to McDonald's and order food and leave full, but when you talk about nourishing a community, it's creating experiences that are different. And when I go eat there, I'm not just going to go get, like I said, a combination number four, rice and beans, I'm going to leave there. I have the potential if I want, if I open my mind and I walk into your restaurant, I have the potential to leave their nourished mind, heart, body, soul. I've learned something about somebody else's culture and I've experienced something different from my everyday life that I can now take out into my normal life, my world and go, wow, I had no idea that existed and now I do. And it's right there and I can go do that whenever I want. Yes. Did I just encapsulate kind of what's going on there? Absolutely. That you just, you said it perfectly. Okay. That is special. It's a challenge to educate, you know, and bring

01:09:13our culture and educate people on what truly Mexican food is and telling them, you know, crispy tacos is not this, Cinco de Mayo is not really a Mexican Independence Day because that's what everybody thinks. And so, you know, Cinco de Mayo is this, the day of the death is this, it's not just skeletons and all of that. It's actually celebrating life and celebrating disease and celebrate the people that that tie you and the people that you root. You have to remember where you come from. And that's why the day of the dead to me is so important because you remember your ancestors, you remember your grandparents, you remember, you know, your grand grandparents. And the day of the dead, is that the day after Halloween? The day of the dead is November 2nd. Okay, so a couple days after Halloween, right? That's right there, right? Right there. Okay. And so it's, the day of the dead, it's, you know, it's a beautiful celebration that you have to celebrate your ancestors. And so as a kid, I remember going with my grandpa and sat around the grave of his grandpa and his dad and so he told us stories about, you know, what they did, what they did when they were younger, you know, some of the sacrifices that they did, some of the good things that they did.

01:10:47And so, you know, as a kid, you, you, you take all that and say, wow, I'm really, I'm coming from, from a good, you know, good genes, good, good people, good. And so that make you, you know, I didn't realize how much that was going to help me in my life and through my life until, you know, into these days that I'm actually putting some of those words that he taught us and some of those things that he, that he, you know, teaches into, into, into work. For example, being, being honest, being kind, you know, give, give everything that you have. If you want to give, give the best, you know, some of those things, some of those things that you do it today, if you, if you don't, it's very, it gives me a memory and think, you know, my people from 200 years ago or 300 years ago or, or 150 years ago, they were the real deal and I have to follow and continue to do that.

01:11:53I'm just so amazed by you guys. I, I, I'm learning so much here just about that story just told. I know we're, we're out of time here and we're, we're going to get moving on with our days. I want to do another follow-up here with you guys. Like as soon as you reopen and we got to do something special for September 16th, like we'll collaborate somehow and do a fun Mexican Independence Day. I love that. I mean, we work together and do something really fun because man, you guys deserve a celebration. I mean, just the level of time and energy. I always say this podcast isn't about food. It's about food people and you guys are food people. I mean, you guys are the reason why I do a podcast like this so that you can share stories like this and just thank you so much for taking the time today to spend this much time and to tell me all that you've told me and the whole city of Nashville and the country and the world. I end up every show and I, I don't know if you guys listen to the podcast or not, but at the end of the show, I always let the guest take us out. Whatever you want to say to whoever you want to say it, I don't care. As long as you want to go, I'm going to let you guys take us out. The floor is yours.

01:13:13We want to say that Nashville radio, restaurant radio will continue to be successful and we are grateful to, for people like Brandon that not only help me, but help a lot of businesses and a lot of business owners and a lot of people that are in the industry. And so for the rest of the world, and so for that, Brandon and his radio deserves a big cheers. Thank you so much. Cheers. Thank you. Thank you for having us on the show. Thank you for Mount Juliet for supporting us. Thank you to our employees that are our work family. Without them, we could not be what we are. Without memo and I showing up every day, cooking food, prepping food, serving food, being on the floor, teaching people, educating people what real Mexican food is. Just be open-minded.

01:14:20And thank you so much for having us on your show. Thank you Nashville for allowing me to grow up here. And I'm very proud of Nashville. I'm proud to be in Wilson County. I'm proud of Mount Juliet. Thank you so much. I don't think I could say it any better. That was amazing. You guys are amazing. I wish you nothing but the best of luck and we will talk soon. Thank you Brandon. Have a great day. You too. Thank you. And there you have it. Thank you so much to Katie and Memo for coming on the show and being so vulnerable and telling their story. I especially like the story of how they met and how they got together. If you want to help support them, please help donate on their Venmo. And when they open in June, we will let you know when they open in June. Go support them. Go in and dine. I think the food's going to be absolutely amazing. And I've already talked to them. We're going to try and collaborate on a September the 16th party of some kind. We're going to do something really, really fun to celebrate these two amazing people and celebrate everybody out there. So we're going to have a big anniversary party. It'll be 16 years for me and I guess 10 years for them. I don't know. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Anyway, thank you for listening and I hope that you guys are being safe out there. I love you guys. Bye.