Meet Roman Raya

We recently connected with Roman Raya and have shared our conversation below.

Roman, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I would say my work ethic is derived from a combination of the people around me, that I look up to, and my competitive nature. I come from a blue-collar hard working family, and we’ve always found pride in that. My parents in their own respect worked very hard to provide and make things the best they could for us, while also really owning their careers. As I got older I began to take notice and really admire them for that. And now as an adult, I have come to find myself surrounded by a group of family and friends with similar values – my business partner being a strong force, on that front. We definitely butt heads at times, but overall we thrive in supporting and pushing one another to seek consistent growth, set higher goals and support one another in achieving them. We’ve gotten where we are because of our joint efforts and I definitely don’t take that for granted. That said, these are only a couple of examples. I’m very fortunate for all of the support and comradery that fuels my drive in this industry.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My journey started about ten years ago, when I realized my passion. Then in 2017, I officially landed on the concept that we currently operate today. It took several years of starting small and grinding through nights and weekends, outside of normal day jobs, with our humble food cart, Taco Tank. That lead us to several opportunities that ultimately earned us enough capital and courage to begin Barbacoa. We opened in April 2023. We serve Mexican-Barbecue alongside craft cocktails, bringing the elements of smoke and barbecue together with Mexican cuisine, while honoring traditional techniques and ingredients. As Chef and Co-Owner I run the back-of-house operations, while my partner, Madeline runs the front of house, and we both share in the day to day business responsibilities. This has truly been a passion project for me years in the making and I’m just so proud to share it with the community.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Narrowing down to three is hard, but I think the first important thing as an entrepreneur is to embrace the fear of failure. Inherently we all want to succeed but the path is rarely linear. You’ve got to accept that, and appreciate the opportunity to learn from your mistakes, adapt, and try again. Getting hung up or too discouraged by one thing can really hold you back, so knowing the risk is eminent and pushing forward anyway, is something I feel you need to be ok with. I’m not sure if that’s a quality or skill, but I think it’s pretty important. One quote that lingers in my head is “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever could” and I believe that whole-heartedly.
Second, I’d say for me and my journey specifically is being crafty or knowing someone who is. There have been so many times that I’ve had to improvise, create, construct or just find a way. And when I couldn’t, I had to call on those I could trust. Lucky to have those in my corner, but yea, I’d say in most endeavors of business you’ll find yourself in situations outside of your “role” or expertise. Being able to field those situations is paramount.
Lastly, I think the desire to continue learning is extremely important. Having the perfect concept or idea is great but there will always be more than the start-up. You’ll need to continuously hone your craft, adapt to demands, and understand your audience – which will hopefully always grow and evolve.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

Being vulnerable here, but something I am always working on is not to overanalyze or catastrophize when obstacles present themselves, and understand that there is a certain ebb and flow of things. I’m sure every industry can relate, but working in food there are so many factors to consider all of the time that it can become overwhelming when things deviate from our expectations. There’s just so many obstacles that could prevent us from executing a service, a dish, a menu, an experience, as originally planned. Learning not to live and die with each hurdle has been a journey for me, admittedly, but I feel proud of my growth in that area. And more and more confident each time a challenge arises.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.barbacoakc.com
• Instagram: BarbacoaKC

Image Credits

Madeline Buechter