Today we’d like to introduce you to Omar Dominguez.
Hi Omar, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started restaurants as a dishwasher and lobby boy cleaning the tables and the floors, that was 20 years ago, started at Cafe Rio which was like going to “restaurants college” since it was super busy and the standards were so high.
That meant to me that after that any place where I worked was “easy” for me, after a few months I got the opportunity to start working as a cashier, then cook in the “to go’ kitchen, and then as a Kitchen Manager, ended up in charge of the whole kitchen.
Then moved as a GM to another company where I not just learned new things but have the opportunity to create new ideas and implement them to increase the acceptance, presence, and sales of the company, we were very successful. Then worked on several different concepts always trying to learn the most from every corner of the industry, my vision was always to become an “expert” in the industry.
I had the opportunity of owning my own restaurant in 2008/2009, very difficult times, we ended up selling it to another restaurateur so we didn’t lose too much, after that we got a food truck and started taquerias, twice, food is in my DNA so not even the crisis was going to get me out of the food scene.
During the second taqueria, we had our daughter who got some heart conditions due to Down Syndrome, so we decided to close down to focus on her health and the family, after she was fine I came back to the food scene managing various restaurants and making good connections, always aiming to something bigger.
After a few years back, I started Spicy Consulting, my firm dedicated exclusively to restaurants, now with close to 15 years of experience in the industry and knowing every position within the restaurants I came up with my first service, “secret Shopping”, with this service I was able to provide businesses a map of how their restaurant is providing the “experience’ not only the food or service.
Then they needed social media management so I went to classes to prepare myself to provide a good service and not just another social media agency, with the time we added ROI Marketing which assures traffic, repetitive business, and databases for restaurants, also we have our own platform to deliver food.
Just like the big ones but with the restaurant owner in mind, since I feel myself as a restaurant person my main focus has been always to help the restaurant not just to grow my company, actually we want our clients to grow, and based on that we grow with them.
I also co-own Crown Alfajores with my wife, which is a company that produces locally traditional treats from South America, we sell them to supermarkets, delis, and grocery stores, we are currently local here in Utah and we also have a presence in California.
One of my favorite parts of my company is, I do the process to license companies that are looking to get their products in the market, and I love living the process with them from zero to see their products on shelves and in markets, see their faces when they feel they are getting their piece of the American Dream.
I love my job.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
My main challenge was the pandemic because the first industry that was affected was the restaurant industry, lots of restaurants closed down in Utah.
At that point, restaurants were 90% of my business, even seeing it was going to be hard we decided to keep providing the services even knowing most of them wouldn’t be able to pay, it was our best way to collaborate with the fight against the pandemic, it was hard but, here we are, alive, working hard and stronger than ever.
Now another challenge is staffing, we do staffing for restaurants, chefs, managers, cooks, servers, etc, but now is very hard to find personnel, and qualified personnel is even harder.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Spicy Consulting?
We as Spicy Consulting are very proud to be a company founded by immigrants, we are a family formed by immigrants, we are a company dedicated to helping mainly small “mom and pop shops” that in most cases are immigrants, we love to be part of the community, our effort is to be a key part on the development of the food scene in Utah.
Our services are all focused on giving our clients the ability to create more business and grow, we are what we call a “very human” company, and our goal is to make our clients successful.
We also have a radio program called NEGOCIOS DEL ALMA (Business of the soul) and a podcast where I interview business owners not only to learn from their experiences but to also get to know part of their life like family, what inspires them or what are their passions.
This is a very passionate part of the business to me because I can reach people from different places and provide valuable knowledge that can be helpful to them.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
My name is Omar Dominguez, I’m from Veracruz Mexico, I’ve been in Utah for 20 years, also in the food industry for over 20 years.
I am very passionate about helping people to grow and reach their American Dream and I do it through my company Spicy Consulting, I’m a very happy father of 6 kids, all of them successful in their own mini world.
Married to a natural-born baker that enjoys bringing her traditions to our community through her baked goods. In a small way, I’m living my own American Dream.
Contact Info:
- Email: omar.spicyutah@gmail.com
- Website: www.spicyrestaurantmarketing.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/spicyconsult
- Facebook: facebook.com/spicyconsulting
- Other: tiktok.com/omardominguezg
Image Credits
Leandro Palma from Di Palma Productions
