A Conversation With ... Shanie Valdez

El Escondite opens May 4. What are your offerings in this restaurant, and what’s your vision for the space?
Our goal is to be very family friendly. We have play areas for the little kids, and we’ve got play areas upfront for all ages. It’s hard to find places around here that you do feel like your kid is in a safe environment, even if it’s a teenage kid and you’re sending them on their own. We’re going to serve Mexican snacks, very traditional. A big thing that we’re also going to do is ceviches and aguachiles, all fresh made daily. Another big thing that we’re going to try to push is our homemade hot sauces and mild sauces. A lot of restaurants around here have their own hot sauces and mild sauces, but most of them are just the same. We actually have one that’s made out of peanuts. It’s called salsa de cacahuate, and it’s a mild peanut hot sauce. That pairs really well with the elotes street corn that we’re going to serve. And then we have another one, a black sauce, salsa negra. It’s more of a salty, peppery flavor. We’re also going to serve paletas, which are Mexican popsicles. We’re going to serve fresh fruit cups. Eventually, my goal is to be able to sell full-size tres leches cakes. We’re serving oysters, too. We also make carne seca, basically our version of beef jerky, but the texture is different. The 10 drinks that we have on the menu right now are just things that we’ve learned over the years from traveling to Mexico, to California, to Texas. It’s all premium tequilas. The agua frescas, fresh waters, we’ll rotate the flavors on those. We’re also going to do a tequila tasting flight as well. We’re also making crepes in front of people; we have a build-your-own crepe.

You launched your first business, El Cafecito, just 14 months ago. Why did you want to open another venture in the same area as the coffee shop?
I’m just an entrepreneur, and El Cafecito is doing really well. We had the money to invest in something else, and I truly believe in investing. My husband, [Cristhian Valdez], was working his other full-time job, and I was doing El Cafecito and he was working for somebody else, and we just didn’t see the point in working for somebody else anymore when we can just build something again of our own and trust in God that it is going to work out and follow his path.

What have been the big surprises to you in business ownership?
My biggest surprise is the capabilities that I have. It takes a lot, and it is a lot of hard work and dedication. It’s 24-hours, seven-days-a-week dedication. If I’m not opening El Cafecito, I’m waking up at 5:45 in the morning making sure somebody’s clocked in, opening it up every day. It just made it so much easier to open this place, too, because I know how capable I am now of doing something as successful as I did with El Cafecito. I’ve worked in restaurants since I was 16. I’ve seen the behind-the-scenes and talked with business owners and restaurant owners, so I kind of had an idea. And then my husband, he’s also been part owner and manager running El Charro in Ozark, so we had experience from that, too.

What skill of running a business have you most had to develop?
Managing employees. Customer service – I’m really good at. I’m really good at taking the steps to where I need to be to get licenses and insurance. The hardest part for me is managing employees and being able to keep the friendship/manager relationship different because I’m just such a type of person that I just love everybody and just want to be friends with everybody. And you have to have that fine line with friendship and management. I think I’ve kind of found it. I don’t think I’ll ever be perfect with that, but that’s just who I am. I don’t have a high turnover at El Cafecito. I have a really good manager over there who helps me run everything.

What about the costs of opening a brick and mortar? Have you seen those shift?
Everything is expensive. If you go buy something, don’t think hundreds; think thousands, because it’s that expensive every time you have a project done. I just kind of expect it now. And what I think about is that they’re business owners, too, and I’m supporting their business too, because I usually only do anything local with the people who helped build this place. The people who did this mural, the people who did my glass, the people who did my flooring. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it because it’s also supporting that business, and they’re going to come right back in and support us.

The U.S. Small Business Administration says 20% of businesses fail in their first year, but you’re opening a second business just after hitting your one year in business mark. What’s your advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Everyone wants to do the same thing, copy each other. You just got to be unique and just do what you love, what you are passionate about, because if you’re passionate about it, you will succeed more. If you’re not passionate about something, you’re not going to go all in it and have effort for it, and you might succeed.