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Gordo’s New Sponsor of 2022 Manager of the Year Contest Nominations are now being accepted for the 2022 el Restaurante Manager of the Year Awards! The program, now in its seventh year, has a new generous sponsor for the program: Gordo’s Foodservice. “We recognize that managers are often unsung heroes in a restaurant’s daily operations, and so we’re happy to take part in a program that honors them,” says Dan Setlak, general manager of Gordo’s Foodservice. “Managers have always played an indispensable role in leading their teams. However, these past couple of years have brought on challenges like we’ve never seen before. In so many restaurants it has been the manager’s leadership, resourcefulness and sheer determination that have been essential in keeping the operations growing, evolving and succeeding. We definitely feel they deserve recognition for all they have been through and accomplished.” The Manager of the Year Contest, which is free to enter, provides cash prizes to the top three managers and certificates to all nominees. The winners will be profiled in an article in the Nov/Dec issue of el Restaurante. To nominate someone for the award, visit elrestaurante.com/2022-manager-contest. Jesenia Rivera of Taqueria Los Magueyes in Upland, California, was the 1st place winner in the 2021 Manager of the Year contest.
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el restaurante | JULY/AUGUST 2022
LATINO RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION SEEKING STORIES The Latino Restaurant Association has launched a new program to highlight the stories of Latino restaurant owners. The program, How Dreams are Cooked, will publish the stories on the LRA’s Instagram, Facebook and YouTube platforms. “For a while we had been thinking of a way to show the human side of LRA’s members,” says Chef Tati Polo, who is a cofounder and creative director of the LRA. “The program will let restaurant owners themselves share a bit of their story and journey, how they managed to position their business, overcoming the limitations and challenges that they faced along the way. Most of the members of LRA are either immigrants or have immigrant families, which means that they face more constraints in this country.” The first submission came from Tatiana Pacheco, owner of Andrea’s Healthy Kitchen in El Monte, California. Her story, including how a fire destroyed her business, can be seen on the LRA’s Instagram page, www.instagram.com/ latinorestaurantassociation/ “Stories like these are so inspiring to entrepreneurs, restaurateurs and anyone else who is going through difficult situations or discouragement. They will realize that they are not alone,” Polo says. “We all have a story to share and what is most important is what we learn from the situation.” If you have a story to share with the How Dreams are Cooked program, visit the LRA’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LatinoRestaurantAssociation/) and send a direct message.
