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Take-Away with Sam Oches

Meet Bodega: Part fast-casual taqueria, part cocktail lounge

Take-Away with Sam Oches

Nation's Restaurant News

Entrepreneurship, Business

4.917 Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Jared Galbut, the cofounder and CEO of Bodega Taqueria y Tequila, a Miami-based concept that has grown to 10 locations between South Florida and Chicago over the past decade. Bodega is a fast-casual taqueria in the front and full-service bar and lounge in the back, and Jared joined the podcast to talk about how Bodega is creatively meeting the expectations of a wide variety of customers, and about the potential in alcohol service for the fast-casual industry. 

In this conversation, you’ll find out why:

  • You should consider a calling card for your concept
  • Your guests all have different ways they choose to experience your brand
  • Alcohol may be an untapped opportunity for many fast casuals
  • A smaller, secondary prototype can help you fill out a market
  • Nontraditional expansion requires careful alignment with other brands and partners
  • Patience and discipline will pay off as you build your brand

Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at sam.oches@informa.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey there, welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, a podcast from Nation's Restaurant News.

0:04.7

I am Sam Ocas, editor-in-chief here at NRN, and this is the show where I give you an all-access pass

0:10.0

to the restaurant industry's most influential decision-makers.

0:13.2

This week, I'm talking with Jared Galbert, the co-founder and CEO of Bodega, Takaria,

0:19.4

a tequila, a Miami-based concept that has grown to 10 locations

0:24.1

between South Florida and Chicago over the last decade.

0:28.8

Bodega has a really interesting business model where it is a fast casual Takaria in the front,

0:34.8

and in the back it is a full-service bar and lounge.

0:38.6

And with this model, Jared and his team have been able to connect with a wide variety of

0:42.9

customers, all looking for different kinds of experiences from Bodega.

0:47.5

Jared joined the podcast to talk about how Bodega is thoughtfully and creatively meeting

0:52.7

the expectations of all of those customers and about

0:55.8

the potential of alcohol service in the fast casual category. In this conversation, you will learn more

1:01.7

about why you should consider a calling card for your concept, why non-traditional expansion

1:07.4

requires careful alignment with other brands and partners and how patience and discipline

1:13.5

will ultimately pay off as you build your brand. Jumping now into my interview with

1:18.6

Bodega, co-founder, and CEO Jared Galbert. Also, don't forget to stick around after the

1:23.8

interview as I will share my six takeaways from this discussion, actionable insights

1:28.1

that you can take with you on the go.

1:31.0

Okay, I'm here with Jared Galbert, the co-founder and CEO of Bodega, Takaria, and Tequila.

1:37.6

Jared, thanks for joining me today.

1:39.7

Thanks for having me on, Sam.

...

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