In this episode of Building Texas Business, I sit down with Pete Mora, founder of Fajita Pete’s, to talk about his journey from running a full-service restaurant to building a scalable, off-premise food concept focused on delivery and catering.

Pete shares how starting small and keeping the menu focused allowed him to maintain quality and simplify operations. He explains that by limiting the menu and designing the kitchen accordingly, they were able to keep costs low while serving large groups efficiently. His approach helped transition from dine-in service to a streamlined catering and delivery model.

We also discuss the importance of hiring well and establishing effective systems. Pete admits he learned the hard way about managing people and the value of setting expectations early. As the company grew, building a culture based on respect, structure, and direct communication became essential to maintaining consistency across locations.

Finally, Pete reflects on what it takes to be an entrepreneur. He emphasizes being prepared for challenges, not romanticizing the journey, and staying committed to the long haul. His advice is to set small, achievable goals and surround yourself with people who complement your weaknesses. It's not about doing everything yourself, but about building a structure that supports the growth of your business and your team.

Show Notes

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About Fajita Pete's

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INTRO

Chris: All right, pete, welcome to Building Texas Business. Thanks for taking time to come on the show. I've been a big fan of your food for years, so really excited about this opportunity.

Pete: Well, thank you. I know you told me that the babies grew up eating some of it, so those are always my favorite stories when we get to see multi-generational type of business. We've done some kids from kinder through college now. That's how old we are, that's how long you've been around, I love that I hope my daughters listen.

Chris: They don't listen to all these. I think I know that to be true, but they're going to listen to this one. Hayden and Holland grew up on Fajita Pete's. For sure, Fajita Pete's, tell us what that is what you're known for, fajita Pete's.

Pete: We're a very small footprint restaurant. 98% of what we do is off-premise. That's our thing. It's either pickup delivery. Catering is a huge part of what we do. By catering, we specialize in corporate catering. Okay, so office lunches, like here at your firm, people call us up 30 people, 11, 30, 14th floor, 29, 25, richmond, you know and then we just show up. They, they like the ease of it. We do three types of deliveries. We do with the warmers, with the servers if you need them, or just drop off and get out of your way which is the most?

popular one, but we specialize in a very limited menu so that way we can feed the hundreds of people we do every morning on catering, and then at night we turn into a delivery company, kind of like a pizza company. You call us up, feed us for four. Boom, we show up at your door with the food.

Chris: And I can attest that you show up fast.

Pete: Yep, yeah, that's from those small menus, so we specialize. There's very few things I'm good at, so I try to do as little as possible so I can be good at those things.

Chris: Yeah, keep it simple, stupid, exactly, I love it. So I would think keeping the menu narrow like that helps you with controlling food costs and inventory and managing kind of the cost side of your business.

Pete: Yeah, business-wise it's good on a lot of levels. The fixed costs, like you said, the rent. So the menu decides your kitchen layout.

So, it decides your equipment package. It decides how many feet I mean you can get very granular with these things. It decides how many feet you need between the equipment, how you lay everything. Our menu specifically allows you to get high ticket items in the small area you know fajitas and group type of events. So we got a high ticket average for the restaurant industry and that's because our items are sold for families or for big groups like this. So it allows you to crank out a lot of food in a short amount of time and allows you to keep it fresh, and it's also a menu that transports well you can compartmentalize everything and it arrives the way you want it to it makes sense.

Chris: So let's go back to the beginning. What was the inspiration for you to start this in the first place? At the beginning.

Pete: Well, I waited tables to school. I went to. I'm from, naturally from columbia, south america, when we moved here. I grew up inief. I went through high school here, I went to U of H, got into the entrepreneurship program at U of H and that was a program that taught me how to really think about what I can do and scale. Having waited tables, I said well, restaurants really allow you to find out very quickly if you're going to make it or not. And my mom always told me we didn't bring you here to fill out applications, we brought you here to do something.

Chris: Wow, I love that yeah.

Pete: So with that mentality I was blessed enough to get out of the entrepreneurship program and run into the Meyer family. You know Meyer Land, meyer Park, sure, and we were able to get a very good deal on a restaurant that had been closed for a few years. Mr Meyer was very gracious, allowed me to go into his office. I learned a lot through that negotiation and we started a full service restaurant right out of college, 60 tables in Meyer Park, and that really taught us a lot. I mean typical immigrant story. Right, we made the tables in our garage. You know, walk through the snow in the Houston summers, all that stuff Uphill both ways.

Chris: Yeah, exactly.

Pete: So that experience was very good, and I always mentioned the full service restaurant because it led to what ended up being Fajita.

Chris: Pizza yeah, it's part of your journey, right yeah?

Pete: Taught me. The first year was just survival. Second year was figuring out. Okay, now that we kind of know what we're doing because you never know you kind of know what you're doing. Now how do we add revenue? And that's how catering became a topic.

Chris: Okay.

Pete: It got to over the six years we were there, where we grew the catering business to where it was doing more than our lunch business, and so when it was time to renew a lease, it just didn't really make sense to have the 6,300 square feet we had. Right, we took a leap of faith and went to a 1,200 square foot kitchen in West University and, thank God, it worked out. Yeah, you know, and that's kind of, we were able to keep what we liked from the restaurant business and do it in a way that allowed me to keep doing it, because maybe if I was still in full service I wouldn't be in the business anymore. It was just a very you know, starting at 23, and it was just very hard to get it going yeah uh, but it taught all the lessons I wouldn't learn.

I mean, you learn, you know how they say. You learn more the first six months out of college than you do.

Chris: The four years in right, yeah. So what was the name of that first restaurant?

Pete: Poblano's Mexican Grill.

Chris: Okay.

Pete: It was in Westmire Park. Now they tore down that area. There's a Coles there. It's a nice development.

Chris: Yeah.

Pete: I'm very grateful to the people in that area. They were very nice to us. We still deliver to them a lot. You know, we have people that come by the kids. Like I mentioned earlier, we've been able to feed kids from since they're little to college, and when they're in town they come and say hi. So so it's been a very good community based business from the beginning, and I think that's what allowed us to really get the roots down. That allowed us to, you know, withstand all the problems that come with a new business.

Chris: Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about those early days. You just said, and kind of alluded to it, those first six months out of college. You feel like you learned a lot more than you did in the four years in college. Anyone in any business starting out on their own there's a lot of headwinds. There's lessons learned. What were some of the things that the challenges you faced that you might share with the listeners to say now you know I went through this, you're likely to go through it too. Here's what I did to help and maybe something you experienced that someone might learn from your experience, to avoid Anything that you share from that perspective.

Pete: I think at the beginning, with the restaurant business, you're in the people business right, and the biggest issue that you don't get practice at is managing your employees, your team, your coworkers. I think that was a big eye-opener because maybe people you run into people that don't have the work ethic you have, so you have to learn and I was, you know, young and my mom always told me start when you're young and dumb, because if you're smart enough, you won't do it. If you were smart enough, you wouldn't do this.

Chris: Well, there's plenty of people that have come on the podcast that have said you know, yeah, you're never really ready, you just got to take the leap. It's like having a child.

Pete: Yeah, you're never ready, it just comes, comes and now you have to figure it out. So, dealing with a crew setting up, the importance of setting up systems from the beginning and not willy-nilly as you go, which I did at the beginning, that's a problem. I said well, we'll figure it out.

Chris: Follow your heart.

Pete: I think during those trying times at the beginning, it was that developing systems, figuring out how to be a better leader to the people, and also all that while controlling cost, and what really helped me through it because businesses fail from being undercapitalized or mismanaged and what helped me through it is that we were always able to live very below our means to really withstand those pressures that came at the beginning.

Chris: Okay, yeah. So yeah, it's good insight. You talked about the challenges of you know work. You're managing a team. There's challenges in building the team right Because you got to get it right and you're going to run across times where you make bad hires. What are some of the things that you've learned over the years? To try to? You know perfect that either the interview process or whatever to make sure you're hiring the right team members that can kind of buy in and get aligned behind your mission and your beliefs.

Pete: I think it's hiring. When you hire out of necessity, you're already at a disadvantage. You just need bodies, right. I think, hiring at the right, getting the right person even if you don't have a spot for them, and making a spot for them Somebody that you think can be good for your team. 85 percent of the employee issues are solved at the hiring table. Yeah, you know, you need to get better at picking people who represent, and now people when they're applying, they talk very well, right, so you've got to get used to looking through the through the BS.

That's the hard part yeah, and, and we're in the industry where we're talkers right, the end is the restaurant industry and also understanding and being compassionate that most people that are in the restaurant industry didn't that wasn't their goal originally.

We get a lot of people that end up in this industry okay, so you have to be understanding of the path they've been through yeah, I didn't think about that yeah, and so so you have to allow them a growth path within your company, allow them a system that shows them respect and treats them like people, because I hear horror stories about how people get treated other places or and it's just the industry word, sure. So I think having that empathy and looking at the same time, looking through the BS and making sure the person you're hiring has somewhat the same values and goals, or at least providing a structure to where it's very clear what you expect from them, I think that's the only fair way to hire somebody Right, because at the beginning I was hiring people and I didn't have a structure, so that's unfair to them because I figured out, like I'm doing current.

Chris: Right, right, right, you're living and breathing it. Yeah, someone you hire may not.

Pete: No, they need a job yeah, and so learning that that immaturity I had at the beginning, that was key as well and it was unfair to the employee. So really creating systems becomes a way to be more fair to your employees. Set clear expectations, trackable expectations and achievable expectations. I think that's key to them.

Chris: So you have this restaurant right, full service for six years or so, and you make a decision that's pretty significant to kind of really change up your entire business model. What was it that kind of you know led you to get the I don't know confidence or the ability to take that risk Like?

Pete: everything else. Necessity Necessity Right, because you're signing an extension of a lease and it feels like a plea deal.

That's not a good that's a good sign that you shouldn't sign that extension. You know Right, good sign that you shouldn't sign that extension, you know so. Then, luckily, some of my um. Greg lewis is a gentleman who found the spot for me at west you and I'm always very grateful to him. He was just a customer of mine. He said, hey, there's a spot. If you really think about doing it, there's a spot that's available, you should check it out and so I'm very grateful to him.

Always he does a lot of real estate here in houston and um, it was a leap of faith in that. I knew that in 10 years I didn't want to be doing what I was currently doing. So I always think if you don't want to do it in 10 years, then don't do it today, because what are you doing? So I said I like this part of the industry and it was also more scalable. The model I was creating was more scalable and coming out of the entrepreneurship program, I mean, you go there to scale businesses. They teach you a lot of things. So I said this is more scalable. With my small brain, it was easier to fill in the spreadsheet and really explain to myself and prove to myself that it was going to be more profitable in the long run.

Chris: It's interesting. I wrote a note to come back to this because when you were talking about full service to what you're doing now, it struck me that what you're doing now is way more scalable than a full service restaurant. It's tough and there's plenty of great examples in town that are still very successful restaurants, but those full service restaurants seem to have a. They gain up, the ones that sustain, develop a personality, typically around that founder and entrepreneur right who's there, and we have lots of great examples. I frequent them a lot but they're tough to scale. Maybe they go to two locations, but it's like it's hard to get beyond that personality of that person and what you've done is is may created something that still has great quality food, has your stamp on it, but doesn't require you to be at all the locations for it to be successful and I think that comes from the, the low operating cost, the simplified menu we spoke about earlier, all those things you know.

Pete: I do think that the full service there's always. There's great restaurants here. Like I said, I was born in colombia. I learned how to eat mexican food at ninfas yeah you know, and, and there's a lot of amazing restaurants here in houston. People always ask me well, what do you think about this place? They're great.

There's a dude, we're blessed in houston there's so much good food and it's just to me. I tell them it's just an honor to be even mentioned. Like they say oh well, I like your food. I compare it to this restaurant. I compare that. You know that's crazy yeah now it's to think of how it's scaled and how how people know we're actually starting to go from the. What the heck is a fajita pizza?

Chris: oh, there's a fajita pizza right, which is a weird turn yeah, you know, I don't know how to tell a different mind. Yeah, yeah, so so you, yeah, so you start this new concept, you start to it. Let's talk through what were some of the challenges you faced in scaling the business.

Pete: I think it was educating the market. Right, it was really letting people know because at that time in 2008,. You either got pizza delivered or Chinese and that's it. Yeah, so really educating the market that we do delivery. They're like, oh, okay, so for like 150 people or no, no, no, we do. And you would tell the customers would come in, it's a little room like this. They would come in multiple times and then until while they were there, they saw drivers going. They go oh, you deliver to houses.

And it was just an education time because Uber wasn't really big. No, third-party platforms, so that was a very difficult thing. I also put the tortilla lady right behind the counter so I could see her hand-rolling tortillas, because also, when you go to smaller locations, people assume it's a lesser product. Right, it's an inferior product. So I said, well, let's put the lady right here so they know, because they're used to going to the restaurant and seeing the ladies make tortillas the good ones, you know and so they were like, oh, I get it, y'all make your food. It was just a big education process, educating the markets always was the hardest thing at the beginning.

Chris: Talking about the tortillas, your quality of food is outstanding, my opinion. Thank you. I think other people agree. One of the challenges for a restaurant, I would think, in the scale, is maintaining the quality and the consistency. Is maintaining the quality and the consistency what? And you? You talked earlier about putting systems in place, but what? What are you doing to make sure that quality and consistency is there, because you're now all across the state of texas?

Pete: yep. So it was very difficult to begin. Like I said, we we used to trim in house marinating house. It's a. I mean, we can get into the weeds on processes and procedures, but you would always maybe go to another store where they added sugar instead of salt to the marinade. So you're like, oh, we can't do that. Very early on I realized that I needed more system, more structure, and one of my goals was to grow. But I knew I couldn't do it the way I was doing it. Then we got to the point where we could marinate our stuff centrally and distribute it to our food distributor who takes it to the stores. So that was one thing that saved some concern, because that's the biggest heartache is the worst thing you can hear is I don't like that one as much as that one.

Chris: Right, it's just different, right? Yeah, that hurts yeah.

Pete: So it's developing relationships with manufacturers that can actually do your recipe the right way and deliver it to the customers.

Chris: Sorry, yeah, go ahead. You've been talking a lot.

Advert:

Pete: Well, you go back to getting a good team around you, right? So when I started to grow, I ran into one of my partners, joey Aguia, who had a lot of operational experience in the industry. He was a franchisee for multiple concepts and, because I don't want people to think this all came out of my brain, I had a lot of help along the way and I would stop you because that is such a great point.

Chris: Rarely has anyone just done it on their own right. You surround yourself and maybe we'll talk a little bit about that in a second, but I think it's a great point we should pause on, it's knowing what you're not good at. Yeah.

Pete: And luckily.

Chris: I'm so bad at so many things that it was just finding people all over the place that could help me. Well, I doubt that part but I bet you know.

Pete: So innovation so you were talking a little bit about All right. So innovation was going to these manufacturers and our recipe is citrus-based. So technology really caught up to what we do in that not that we do anything special, but the way we do it was very hard for technology to be able to put it in a stable way that could perform the way we expected. So along the way we got with further processors who marinated our product and that was a three-year process to really get it right. So that's innovation on their side right.

For us it was our technology, our apps, our ability that helped us survive through COVID. Actually Our ability to do curbside, to be quick and responsive, the way we package our things, the way we set up our kitchen, which took a couple iterations, and to really limit steps and increase customers service through speed and convenience and, like I tell people, the three C's you know convenience, a consistency and quality dad joke, like my daughter says that joke and and so. So those three things really helped us to speed up our service and match. So the problem there becomes matching your service through technology and through your processes on the front end. So really investing into that at an early point helped us keep a little bit ahead of the curve along the way. Okay, so those type of innovations.

Chris: That's great. Head a little bit ahead of the curve along the way, okay. So those type of that's great. So, as I mentioned, started in houston and one spot in west university. Uh, you've now expanded throughout the state. What are some of the advantages that you've experienced or see in being a texas-based business and maybe it'll kind of spread across the state? I?

Pete: think that that well, I came to Houston. I don't you know, being here, you don't realize how big it is and how competitive it is, and, as I think being in that competitive environment really helped us, you know you gotta. I mean, you can't sell fajitas 23 years in Houston and not be good.

Chris: Right.

Pete: There's 10,000 restaurants that do a great job in Houston, so I think that was one of the things Having access to big providers, distribution, the ports, being close for our produce. You know being close to the border, so I think that being a hub allows you to control costs, develop business and really grow strategically. Having so many people here law firms, business professionals to help you along the way, you have everything you need in Houston, In Texas, you know, by professionals to help you along the way. You have everything you need in Houston In Texas by default, so I think that was really an advantage. Although it's hard to make it, I think you have the tools you need if you're lucky enough to run into them early.

Chris: Okay, that's good. So, when you think about the restaurant industry, what are some of the headwinds that you feel like your company or the industry may be facing today, or that you see around the corner that you're trying?

Pete: to. Right now. I think there's a crunch. People are spending a little bit less, right? I think we all see it at the grocery stores, we see it everywhere. So a headwind is how do you translate your value proposition to the guests? We're a community-based business, so we tell people teachers, preachers and coaches so that is part of the value proposition you have as a brand. But people still want to. I mean, it's all about the meat and potatoes, right? They want to get a good value for their food. So the headwinds are figuring out how to provide value, control cost and still deliver the quality that the customer deserves. Gotcha.

Chris: What was one of the? When you think about struggles or lessons learned, what was one of the maybe failures or mistakes you feel like you made along the way in those early days that you overcame, but it taught you a lesson that you'll never forget.

Pete: I think it was really like we mentioned in the beginning hiring problems. At the beginning it was a lack of maturity. It was a lack of having systems, like we mentioned. I think, maybe underestimating what I did in that well, if I did, anybody can do it and maybe making bad decisions on people I could put in key situations, and those probably came because my systems weren't good enough also. So I think really underestimating what you do as an entrepreneur is a problem that we all have. Underpricing your services is a problem we all have. And trying to compete with my full service restaurant, trying to be everything to everybody, having 70 items on the menu that was the biggest lesson. I said no, there's too much waste. It's too hard to be good at everything else. Let's just be good at one thing and replicate that. So I think those lessons really got us to where we are in learning how to trust other people in areas that you're weak at.

Chris: I said well, going back to being the best at one thing, it's almost like the GE mindset, right? Yeah, let's be. If you can't be the best, let's not do it.

Pete: Yeah, I got any color you want, as long as it's black. Yeah, you know so that's the way you, that's the only way I could figure out how to do it.

Chris: Yeah, the kind of going back to the people and I agree with your emphasis on so much of it is in the interview process, hiring process. You usually learn that the hard way, right. And then you get to what do you do when you realize you made a mistake? And what have you kind of learned over the years about when you realize you've made a mistake, how to handle that and how to move?

Pete: on. I think you have to be fair to the person. You have to let them go. You have to get rid of the people, right, inform them of why it's probably not a good fit. Most of the times, people just fire themselves.

But in this situation where you make the mistake, you just have to be fair. Let them know what their strengths and weaknesses are, because I would want somebody to do it to my son. Sure, let him know where he messed up so he can be better next time. Say, hey, it ain't going to be here, but if you get better, you'll do better there. So having those clear conversations those are tough conversations to have, sure, they are, but they're important because they're part of leadership is not when you're with the person you know. Good leadership extends to when they're gone from you and in the lessons, like a lot of the leaders I've come across, I say the things they say still 30 years later because they're good leaders. So they don't have to be next to you to be a leader. So we, as people who are in charge of businesses, we have to understand that the leadership style we need needs to be forward thinking, right.

Chris: But it's a great mindset to share. So let's talk a little bit about leadership then. I always like to ask people how would you describe your leadership style? How do you think that's evolved over the last?

Pete: almost 20 years. I think it's like people, I'm very relaxed leadership style. I'm really not very confrontational. I need to get better at those things. But I take everybody's opinion. It's very disseminated the way we make decisions. It's never hey, make the call, pete, right, no, no, we talk about it. I involve everybody. People that maybe even ask why are you asking my opinion? Why do I? Whatever, I think it's very important to always take the opinion of people actually in the front lines, and that's the reason I like having my store, my original store, always because I'm making decisions for a store in Chicago, well, I need to feel the pain of that decision, I need to feel the weight of it, and if I wouldn't do it at my store, why would I do it at theirs? So it keeps you honest. You have to be with the team. I guess is the question for leadership.

Chris: Sounds like kind of that servant mindset.

Pete: Yes.

Chris: I'm not going to ask you to do something I wouldn't do myself Exactly.

Pete: And then, once decisions are made, expect everyone to know, get behind it, move forward. Yep, exactly, I think that's important part of especially the industry we're in, because people you, you deal with hourlies, salaries. Now with the franchising corporate staff is a different employee than at the store level, but everybody has a, a trigger. You can. You can touch people in different ways, but you have to take the time to know what motivates them. So you have to to be in it.

Chris: Got to be in it. So we've kind of been talking around this, but let's go right into culture, right? So all you're talking about hiring the right people, telling them and being clear about expectations, giving them motivation and incentive to do that job. You know, how would you describe the culture that you believe you have at Fajita Pete's? And then what are you doing to make sure that, as you scale the business beyond that one location, that it is resonating in those other?

Pete: locations. We need to do a better job of culture building. You always need to be doing a better job of culture building. I think it's by example, like I told about the leadership side. So we try to communicate directly with the teams. If there's issues, you communicate directly with the frontline people that don't expect a call from you, but it lets them know hey, somebody's watching, and not only when there's issues. When there's good things happening, you need to communicate that to them, because it's like putting deposits in a bank account right, every interaction you have with somebody is that you're putting a deposit or you're taking a withdrawal and if you go and only withdraw, they're not going to listen to you. There's nothing there. So you have to build that up.

So those interactions are part of what we do as a culture. We need to incorporate probably more team meetings, as we do. We did at the beginning and now, as the company grew, we have multi-unit franchisees who kind of have a good vibe going on good culture within them. But I do think getting back to more scheduled team events is going to be good. We just had one a few months ago. So those things that allow people to see that you're in it with them. You're going through the same issues it's not just you and you have that support system. I think those things are critical.

Chris: I like that and I think the team building right Creating opportunity for them to connect and build relationships so that the team within the team has a connection, feels like they've got each other's back will end up being a better product for the customer Because they're taking pride in what they're doing and want to help each other be successful.

Pete: You have to believe your own BS. You know what I mean.

Chris: If not, because part of the service that.

Pete: You have to believe your own BS. You know what I mean. If not, because part of the service that we try to teach is genuine service. So you have to have a genuine. Like I tell people, don't learn my spiel, but learn in your words. Say the same things in your words, because I don't want it to sound rehearsed True.

But, it's a tough thing, as we grow so fast, to really you go through six months at a time in the blink of an eye. So it's something that we have to be more intentional on and keep building that Right.

Chris: There's so many things going on right. That's a good point as an entrepreneur, just how you juggle and manage because you're trying to keep the business going, trying to grow the business, you're trying to maintain relationships up, down and all around. But you got to. I think it comes back to systems and processes. Right To say we're going to have quarterly team meetings or whatever they're going to be, so that there's a scheduled cadence to doing the things that help create the connectivity.

Pete: Yep, that's part of growth. I think it's just taking stuff off your plate, putting in the right, because on top of all the business stuff there's also life.

Chris: you were a great education at U of H and the entrepreneurial program. So what? What type of advice, being where you are now looking back, for someone out there that maybe is thinking about starting on their own, like you did years ago? What are some of the one, two, three things you might say as advice to say, if you're thinking about starting your own business, regardless of the industry?

Pete: What's some something you might say as advice to say if you're thinking about starting your own business, regardless of the industry, what's something you could pass on to them? I think you have to have. You have to go in it with open eyes and understand that it's going to be. You can have the best intentions and you can do everything fault, but it's always your problem. So I think that's having you have to know that going in and thank God, now there's industry. You hear, hey, I started a business, sold it in five months for X amount. That's awesome, but that's not everybody. So be ready to.

If you're not planning on keeping it, don't start it. Be ready for that. So I buy a couple of little commercial real estate properties. Are you going to flip it? If I'm not willing to keep it for 30 years, I'm not going to buy it today. Now will I flip it? Probably.

But you have to go in with the mentality If you're not going to keep it, don't start it. And, like the good things, set yourself small goals, because you always have the big picture as the entrepreneur, as the founder, sure, but set small goals and celebrate the wins, right, you know. So I, I think it, once you achieve those smaller goals, those milestones. You really need to celebrate them for you, because we have, I tell people, entrepreneurship is almost a disease, right, right, and you don't recommend it to everybody. It's not for everybody. 100 so, and there's nothing wrong with not being an entrepreneur now. Now there's a culture that everybody needs to be their own boss and side hustles, and not for everybody. There's nothing. There's entrepreneurship that they teach us in the entrepreneurship program also how to grow within the company Interesting, how to add value to your boss.

Chris: I hadn't heard of that. That's great yeah.

Pete: So that's a very important part, because not everybody, it's not for everybody.

Chris: It's not, and that's a great point, right. Everyone thinks, and because of those, the the things that get the headlines right someone starts a company, a year later, they sold it to whatever it sounds easy, we're making it.

Pete: You know the media romanticism about it yeah, but it's not for everyone.

Chris: I mean, we're all different, we all have different strengths and and we said this earlier, you know in the podcast, in this episode it's not easy, it's not for everybody. So just because you can't do it, that make you a bad person. You have, you could have a very significant role within a company, even if you haven't found it uh, I would think that's a great thing on your resume is failure right, right that that that I mean.

Pete: that's how we all learn, absolutely, you know. And another another thing is people who have done things. If you can move one rock out of the path of somebody coming behind, then that's also our responsibility. Right Now, will they listen or not? Because I remember 23,. You knew everything, you know, yeah, so, but you have to be available to those people as well available to those people as well.

Chris: Okay, so you said you moved from Columbia. Yes, sir, what's your favorite thing about Houston or Texas? Is there an event you like to go to every year, or sporting event or cultural event?

Pete: About Houston is that there's a lot of live events. So I like live stuff, I like sports, I love the Astros. Go to the Texas games, rocket games, I like that. If you wake up at, if you you're one in the morning and you want to eat food from any country in the world, you pick it. There's a restaurant here in houston for it. Yeah, I like that. There's a good international community. I mean, there's bad things, always the traffic and everything, but that comes with it, right. So I like the opportunity that it's there, because then you can learn from different things, you can apply what you learn in other areas. So that's what I like about it Just the broadness of it, the availability of whatever you can think of and the access to different people that come from maybe not a similar background, but we all have mothers, grandmas, fathers, brothers, sisters. So you end up realizing that the world is not as big as you think and we're not as different as we think.

Chris: Very true, very true. So I'm 90-something episodes into this podcast. I've asked every guest this question at the end. When I ask you even though it just seems a little bit odd, but I ask my guests, what do you prefer? Tex-mex or barbecue? You with the fajita restaurant? It seems like it's not a fair question.

Pete: It's not a fair question, because my favorite type of food is chinese. Okay, so no. But houston has a great uh text mix scene and and I think it's just awesome when people come here you've seen the interviews they come in for barbecue text mix, but there's so much more in between, sure, you know? I think it's. It's such a beautiful, it's a good city.

Chris: It's a great city to be a foodie. Yeah, because it's also where it's such a beautiful part of town.

Pete: It's a great city to be a foodie. Yeah, because it's also where it's at on the map right. You can access different produce products that match other cuisines, so then you end up getting more authentic food, like you would if you went there Now. It's not equal apples to apples, but it's a very good representation of whatever that culture is trying to portray.

Chris: So last question you've mentioned is it's it's not being an easy being an entrepreneur, run your business. So what do you do to kind of for yourself, to kind of recharge, relax?

Pete: Spend a lot of time in the afternoons with the family. The funny thing is cooking, which we do all day. But you know, go home, clip a branch of the rosemary plant, make some steaks for the family, spend time, go to live events. I think recharging that social battery. Being in crowds, I like that environment. That's part kind of the restaurant kind of gives you that. But you know, going to different live events, concerts and sporting events is really kind of the way to charge up and it allows you to be in the moment and, even though you never clock out as an entrepreneur, it allows you to kind of disengage for just enough.

Chris: Yeah, you know until you're driving out. Nearly right, yeah, so well, pete, this has been great really your stories amazing and inspiring. Like I said, I've been a big fan of the food for four years before you, so getting to meet you has been a real pleasure.

Pete: Thank you, thanks for coming on. Thank you, brother.

Chris: Appreciate it.T

Special Guest: Pete Mora.