We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mario Rivera a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mario, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Having been born and raised in Peru, I truly believe my resiliency is a direct product of the environment around me growing up, such as my parents, family and friends.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I see my job more than anything as being in charge of creating memorable experiences for guests as well as be able to provide employees with a one of a kind work environment where they receive great training in a way that allows them to use their own personal skills to contribute to the overall success of the operation while having fun at work.
The part that is most exciting about my job rather than results is the journey you go through in order to accomplish said goals, I am a huge believer that fun, positive minded environments breed success.
I have had the fortune to have been trusted with concept development with so many different companies, it’s just a fun journey to bring an idea from conception all the way to execution and know that you had such a big part in the development of a successful concept.
I have always made it a personal focus of mine to support the various communities in all the different states where I have lived and worked, to work for a company that aligns with the same mind set I have is a personal key area.
In my capacity as a leader of the organizations I have worked for, we have focused in areas such as volunteer work, supporting first responders such as the case with meals for them on Thanksgiving and Christmas, we are talking about about 1,500 – 2,000 meals, supporting local schools programs for young people that have interest in a career in Food and Beverage.
On a personal note, through the various operations I have lead I have been able to engage and support talented people that are starting on their craft and are trying to get their name out there, from hosting art shows to young musical acts to local entrepreneurs, I am proud to have and continue to give them an outlet to showcase their talents.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
That is a great question, in my opinion Food and Beverage specifically can have very distinct differences depending on the concept; I have always looked at any concept as having 3 very specific parts as a foundation.
The first one is the atmosphere, that to me speaks to the decor, materials, colors, lighting, music, the energy, how the staff and management is dressed, even the scent of a venue when you first walk in.
The 2nd one is the product, is what you serve, how do the drinks look from glasses to garnishes, the food dishes and their presentation, in this instagramable world where we live in, that has become such as critical component.
The 3rd one is the staff, do they possess the personality, the charisma, the knowledge of the product and the proper training to be able to execute the proper service the product requires.
On a personal note, things that are natural to me is the love of being around people and taking so much enjoyment in providing a great experience, I am always eager and inquisitive to learn new things and always excited about it, the last thing is my attention to detail, all those 3 things played a huge part in my career development.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
Oh my, there are so many books, from The art of war, The four agreements, The alchemist to The Mamba Mentality – that is one of my most priced possessions, it was signed by Kobe Bryant himself, I learned a lot from reading those books and many others.
One of my favorite quotes or sayings is ‘there are three kinds of people in this world, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened?”
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings?trk=d_flagship3_profile_self_view_public_profile
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