Today we’d like to introduce you to Angel Guzman.
Angel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started in the restaurant industry back in college at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in August of 2008. My first restaurant job was a busboy at the now former Posados Mexican Cafe located in Lafayette, LA. I quickly worked my way from busser to server to front of house manager in just a few months.
I eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted to progress myself within the restaurant industry. Three years after starting at Posados, I eventually went to work at a famous New Orleans concept call Cochon. They opened their first location outside of New Orleans in the River Ranch neighborhood of Lafayette.
Cochon was a casual fine dining restaurant serving an away of Louisiana cuisine on an elevated scale. Cochon was truly where I blossomed as an individual. I was always shy growing up and very anti-social. I am the oldest of five, and home life wasn’t so easy most of the time. Growing up I always saw myself as an outcast not only a school but at home also. My mother’s side of the family is native Chamorro (native islanders from Guam). We lived in a rural part of Southwest Louisiana.
I was one of a few non-white kids that attended a Pre-Kindergarten to 12th-grade school. Kids being kids, I was picked on a lot and called racial slurs and names up to graduation. At home, my younger siblings would gang up on me knowing I could not do anything to them, and my mother and step-father constantly made me feel worthless.
Somehow working in a restaurant transformed me into being more social and outgoing. I was able to quickly connect with people more so on a personal level versus a service only level. People want to feel special and be appreciated even in the smallest of ways. I created friendships out of “regulars” and felt accepted to be myself.
We always hear about the negative aspects of dining out, but there is more good that comes from it. I moved to Baton Rouge a year and a half after starting at Cochon and began working as a manager for another well-known New Orleans staple. Galatorie’s Restaurant opened a new location called Galatorie’s Bistro in Baton Rouge, LA.
Being such a well-known restaurant, I found myself getting to know many politicians and prominent people in Baton Rouge. Once leaving Galatorie’s, my journey in the restaurant world brought me to where I work today. Another Broken Egg Cafe opened its second location in Baton Rouge in April of 2014.
Not wanting to manage, for the time being, I started as a server/bartender. Another Broken Egg has truly been my comfort zone. They live by the mindset of “southern hospitality” and wants their staff to make customers feel more like guests.
This was truly my cup of tea (no pun intended, haha). I had many loyal guests who mostly only came in when I worked. You begin to know everything about people when you just take to the time to talk to them. I can know birthdays, anniversaries, and even personal stories.
I was offered to move to DFW as a general manager in early 2016 to help open a location and get us into the market. One of the hardest things I ever encountered in my life was moving to the metroplex. It wasn’t because I did not want to come, but more so the timing. I left during a difficult time in Baton Rouge. The city was suffering from racial tensions, police deaths, and a major flood.
When you make such huge connections with people and then leave, you feel like to you abandoned them. I moved to the big “D” in late August of 2016 at the same time my friends and staff were recovering from losing everything in the flood. Here I am uprooting my life and barely getting to say goodbye. That first month, I traveled back often to do it right.
So, here I am today working for Another Broken Egg Cafe in Southlake, TX. I am the general manager, friend, counselor, son, brother, “father” and confidant of not only my wonderful staff but also so many of our amazing guests from the community and surrounding mid-cities area.
Moving to DFW allowed me to not only bring the southern hospitality and “egg”cellent food Another Broken Egg strives to offer each day but to continue growing myself professionally and personally. This I will never regret.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Life is never a smooth road! With my youth and home life being difficult, I left home after graduating high school. Living on my own, I struggled a lot. I will forever be grateful to my step-father’s parents, my MawMaw & PawPaw Breaux! They took me in for a short time and encouraged me to go to college.
Life did not make it easy for me. Not wanting to burden my grandparents, I made many mistakes and tough decisions. Bills stacked up, and I had to make choices on whether to eat or pay car notes and other things in my name. Being ashamed of how things were going, I also moved closer to school and couched surfed for months.
All this was happening during the “Great Recession,” and people were eating out less, ordering less, and of course tipping less. I remember one day at work being so mad at something that Oprah said on TV to comfort people. She suggested that people should not feel ashamed to not be able to tip more than 10% of their bill.
It blew my mind back then that someone as prominent as Oprah would suggest that. I understood people were suffering financially, but taking it out on servers who make $2.13/hr. Plus tips did not seem wonderful in my mind. Being broke, homeless, and not having a car now too only made me push harder.
There has never been an experience in my life that I did not look at the positive in it. I told myself back then I would never put myself in that situation again. For some years, I worked two or three jobs to pick myself back up and out of financial ruin. Working around people and in a restaurant helped me.
The restaurant industry is a very stressful career, however. People from time to time make you feel small and belittle you. It’s a running joke in restaurants that everyone should work in a kitchen or serve for just one month. They would appreciate more what it takes to make dining out a privilege worth having versus a right. Through all my struggles in life, I found people who I could relate to and comforted me.
Many of them were guests of the places I worked at. I love telling people I have several sets of adopted grandparents and parents. All of them shaped and molded me. I look at my past, and through all the struggles and pain, I would not want it differently.
Struggles are character builders and enlightenment moments. I tell my staff constantly to conquer their struggles and not fall victim to them. Success never takes the easy path!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Another Broken Egg Cafe is my home away from home. As the general manager of our Southlake location, I get to lead some amazing individuals and entertain wonderful guests. The Broken Egg, eventually becoming Another Broken Egg, was started in 1996 in Mandeville, LA about 30 miles north of New Orleans.
Our company thrives by having a southern hospitality mindset. We provide our guests with an exceptional menu filled with Southern & Californian infusion breakfast, brunch, and lunch items along with signature mimosas, bloody marys, cocktails.
Our staff provides excellent service and goes above and beyond to make our guests feel at home. Every day I go into work, I walk into an environment that is uplifting and positive. My staff is filled with individuals from different walks of life. I encourage them to share their stories and make connections with guests.
Leading them day in and day out is never dull. They make laugh, cry, angry, and compassionate. Our company wants us to feel like family, and I truly feel like that is what sets us apart from others. People who act like a family know how to lift each other up when things are bad or bring smiles to everyone’s’ face.
Our guests see the closeness of our staff. We take care of each other and the people who dine with us. We strive to find the story in everyone and make them apart of our family too.
What were you like growing up?
I am originally from Santa Rita, Guam. Most of my mother’s side of the family still lives there. Our ancestors are the indigenous Chamorro people of Guam. My mother was in the U.S. Army, and she eventually got stationed in the states. Meeting my step-father in the military, they got married and was stationed in Fort Polk, LA.
My step-father is a born and raised Cajun man. After the military, I moved to Southwest Louisiana in the heart of Cajun country to a small farm community call Hathaway. I attend Hathaway High school which was a Pre-K to 12th-grade school. I believe we had roughly 500 students and teachers there.
My elementary and middle school years were really rough. I was picked on and made fun of a lot. I got called many offensive Asian slurs. High school was slightly better. I tried a little more to break out of my shell. Extra-curricular activities were my thing back then. I believe I was a part of all but 2 organizations in high school.
The one that set me on my path to becoming a leader was FCCLA; Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America. My senior year of high school I was the local chapter president, Southwestern Louisiana Vice President, and State Vice President of STAR Events (the name of the student competitions).
My adviser for FCCLA was Ms. Mary Hardee. She was like a grandmother to me. Every day she checked up on me and even helped pay for trips I needed to attend for the organization. Home life was a struggle through my youth.
I learned how to take care of myself at a young age. I was in 1st grade when I started to cook and clean. I was always alone at home after school while my parents worked and my two younger siblings at the time were at a sitter. Being alone contributed to me being shy. As I got older, I was the one cooking, cleaning, and watching my brother and sister.
My parents usually got home from work by 6, we had dinner, and I’d clean up the kitchen, and go to my room to do homework. My parents, although I am grateful they raised me, were not always the best. I suffered from physical, mental, emotional, and verbal abuse. Being told I was worthless and would never amount to anything played over and over in my head growing up. It also burned a fire in me to do my best and leave.
My parents had two more kids during my high school years. The first one was my youngest brother, Vincent, born in 2003 just 3 months before my 15th birthday. The second, Victoria, was born one month from my 18th birthday. Vincent and I became close due to me taking care of him when he was younger.
My mother who is still in the Army National Guard was called to active duty the day before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Weeks later we suffered from Hurricane Rita. I remember sitting in the hot, humid house for two weeks. I was left alone with my three siblings while our father was at work. I cried a lot during that time. We had no electricity with only a small generator keeping the two refrigerators cold.
With three kids I was in charge of, I constantly felt overwhelmed. Our mother was gone from August 2005 until mid-March 2006 after the hurricanes. As the oldest, I had the responsibility of helping raise my siblings. Our father worked a lot during that time and was always tired when he got home.
With my childhood not being the best, I still look at the positive from it. My parents whether intentionally or not instilled a work ethic in me that is rare to find in the Millennial generation. I don’t condone abuse, but for me, it was also my rage and motivation.
I could not truly be where I am today with Another Broken Egg if it’s my past never happened to me. Being able to understand situations and showing compassion is how I can relate to my staff and my guests. I live by our company’s culture of “Happy People Sharing Happiness!”
Contact Info:
- Address: 410 W Southlake Blvd Ste 160 Southlake, TX 76092
- Website: anotherbrokenegg.com
- Phone: 817-912-1506
- Email: southlake@antherbrokenegg.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/anotherbrokenegg
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnotherBrokenEggCafeSouthlake
- Twitter: twitter.com/brokeneggcafe
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/another-broken-egg-cafe-southlake
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