Meet Emil Avetyan | CEO & Founder of LA Spud Guys

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emil Avetyan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emil, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Ever since a young age I always wanted to own some sort of cafe/restaurant, at 16 my first job was at a restaurant where I learned the basics and behind the scenes of how they operate. The older I got the more passionate I became about owning a business, for my 22nd birthday my friends surprised me with a ticket to England where I discovered the “jacket potato” after a night out I had tried it and realized we are missing this in America. When I returned from England it was always in the back of my head to open up a potato stand but I never fully went through with it until my tiktok page was full of English guys making spuds. After consistently seeing posts from Spudman and SpudBros from England I said its time. September of 2024 I had two choices, I had $500 left in my pocket I either make my car payment or go through with opening up a food tent popup. I decided to take the risk and got with my friend and he helped invest a little more and we went ahead and opened up the first popup tent of LA Spud Guys, which led to now a physical brick and mortar location!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Ever since I was 16 I was always working, my first job was at a restaurant where I worked for 4 months then went to DelTaco and worked for another 4 months there. I learned the basics of restaurant and fast food throughout the year of working in the industry. At 19 I took a big leap of change and went into the automotive industry where I was renting exotic cars to celebrities and influencers, this is where I learned how to market and made connections with big artists. I worked at California Auto Rental where the owners Gary and Mike gave me a older brother guidance and thought me the ins and outs of social media marketing which I use to this day for my business. They always did tell me they see me owning my own business and always pushed me forward in life. It was never easy for me being an employee because I always had this thought and feeling that Im meant for something much bigger in life, growing up with a single mom it always motivated me to be the man of the house and provide for my family and that was always the drive that I had in my heart. The main lesson I learned in life was that throughout your life you will always be knocked down but what matters most is how you will get back up.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I definitely would take my friend out to universal studios and show them a good time, then I would definitely take them to either BarLis or Warwick for a few drinks and music and nightlife. I also most definitely would take them to saddle ranch which is my favorite weekend place for a few beers. And to end his trip I would bring him to LA Spud Guys for a nice loaded potato!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mom is the backbone of my whole business she is the one who always checks up on me no matter the day and time, from the beginning she was the one supporting me and making sure I don’t quit.
My friends who are always by my side and a few who have actually invested into the business and pushed me forward and have always given me the right advice and always told me to never lose hope no matter how bad it gets.

Website: https://www.spudguysla.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laspudguys/?hl=en

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@laspudguys