Today we’d like to introduce you to Mauricio Crespo.
Mauricio, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Casa Lago Tasting Room truly started in Jacksonville, Florida. Even before we had a name, we began by hosting dinner parties in order to meet our neighbors. We received such positive feedback from our them that they started bringing their friends – it quickly turned into a weekly event. These dinners eventually grew into private tasting events that specialized in modern, innovative menus for select guests. These events catered an experience that I felt, truly could not be found in traditional restaurants. Our guests loved it! Soon enough, we brought that concept to Miami and began hosting invite-only, underground dining events all over the city.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
In the beginning, it was very tough to do everything yourself. It required a huge amount of energy to plan and implement every part of the process, which included menu planning, photography, advertising, cooking, cleaning, bookkeeping to maintaining client relationships and cultivating our audience.
At first, nothing came easy! We didn’t know the first thing about marketing or advertising our product. If it wasn’t by word-of-mouth, we really didn’t have a real means of reaching out to new clients. The hard way taught us to acquire the proper equipment to handle complicated dishes.
I remember one time, I cooked for 19 hours straight for an event scheduled the next day, because the dishes were so ambitious: (i.e: a cauliflower soup that changed colors from cream to red as you were eating it.)
Every event has taught us how to marginally improve our operations and has afforded us the ability to invest in equipment and materials to improve our techniques and quality of dishes.
Every week, we meet and take a hard look at where we are as a business and where we want to go. In the end, we’ve learned to keep going even when the going gets tough.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Casa Lago Tasting Room story. Tell us more about the business.
When we started doing underground dining events, we took risks and dared our diners to be adventurous with their food. We created stories through the menu and explained why different components in each dish related to one another. We invited them to see food as more than just something to eat, but as a storytelling device where each dish had an aspect for them to consider and appreciate. This is still at the core of our business and plays a role in what we bring to every other facet of our mission. We believe that food should make sense, and the diner should feel connected to what’s on the plate. That is the biggest value we bring to our customers-reconnecting with food.
From these underground dining events, we’ve been approached by clients that believe in that same mission and want our involvement and values in their varied projects. We’ve had clients who want to host their own private events and share our food with business partners or family members in a private scene. We’ve also had clients approach us for help designing menu and concept for their restaurants. Further believing in the idea that good food is innovative and should connect with the person eating it.
Our online audience has also reached out to us in order to help them replicate experience they encountered at our events. And to that end, we started publishing articles on our website that feature our unique dishes and giving our readers the means to create them at home.
At the end of the day, if our readers feel accomplished creating these inventive dishes at home and share it with their families- we’ve done our job in helping them love food.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I think in life you are presented with unforeseen challenges and you will be surprised by what you find in them. When we first started, and I was alone in the kitchen wondering how I would manage everything, my mom, Jackie seeing how much help I needed, would dress beautifully, host and welcome our guests, making them feel at ease in this new dining concept that was so experimental back then. At the end of the night, after the guests were gone, she would help me clean and wash dishes still in her nice clothes. She just jumped in to help. No questions asked.
I remember when I started dating my now fiance, Alicia, she was finishing Nursing School last year when her father, Robert, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. We had to put all our projects on hold and focus on that situation. It lasted almost a year and by the grace of God, he showed remarkable signs of recovery. It has been the toughest and most transformative year we’ve been through. If you are interested in learning more about Robert’s story, here is the link: http://www.casalagotastingroom.com/roberts-story/
Now my fiance is a nurse, my business partner, and goes with me to most of our events-even though her job is demanding and requires so much of her energies. I can honestly say I’m incredibly lucky by the quality of people that surround and are part of our business. I am also very fortunate to have Carlos in our team, he has been with us from day one, and has been integral in our visual design language, and our artwork- without his help, almost everything we do would not have been as polished or refined. The latest addition to our team is my brother Enmanuel, currently studying filmmaking, has taken on our video initiatives to provide better content to our community of readers. I truly believe myself to be lucky to have every member of my team, they make the company better and provide more quality content for our customers and readers.
When I first started, I had no idea the wealth of talent and resources that the people around me possessed, and it was only after the leap of faith, and putting in the initial effort that these people came to invest their talents in Casa Lago Tasting Room.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.casalagotastingroom.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casalagotastingroom/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/casalagotastingroom
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/casalagotasting
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