Meet Mario Rivera

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

Hi Mario, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I have always relied on what I refer to this as the 3 F’s; FAITH, you must have faith, a believe in something, whatever that might be for you, does not have to be religious or spiritual, might be a purpose. FAMILIY, having a type of support whether is actual family or friends that you have around in your journey and FUN, when you are having fun with whatever you are doing, you will not feel stress.

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.
I fell into the this business by accident, hospitality was my first job while attending high school and I never looked back, I have always looked at this business as having two very different ways of learning and developing, one would be going to school and getting a degree and then going into the real world, another way is work your way up through the ranks and learn from great mentors and companies and work on your skills by seeking the knowledge you need from any source such as sommeliers, Chefs, company training as well as outside sources, there are many available tools specially now with the advancement of computers and such where you can learn the technical aspect of the business in our industry, take advantage to see, taste and learn about product as well as how to serve people and encounter different situations.

I found the latter to be the more appealing road to me, it’s just such a fun journey and I enjoyed every bit of it, challenges are always there and I look forward to them, otherwise I would be bored.

The most important lesson I learned is that hard work and commitment to something you first and foremost enjoy then the results will come naturally.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Living in Southern California I always enjoy the Marvin Braude bike trail, that is as Socal as it gets so definitely would be on the list, you can stop in so many places along the way or do it in roller skates.

Food wise a couple of places in DTLA the Humming bird, has great food, on Saturdays the waitstaff there has singing performances so it’s super fun, Holbox is also a really great restaurant in the same area, down by the beach in Manhattan Beach Fishing with Dynamite is also a place to visit.

You can enjoy a great hike in Malibu and stop by Sake House, they have a really cool patio and if you like sound baths and are a spiritual person, this place would be right up your alley, they perform real Japanese tea ceremonies in their Zen garden, all while enjoying the sea breeze and the view from up above.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
One person that I met late in my career and has the same out of the box thinking and loves to explore concepts is my good friend Chef Andrew Black, he is a James Beard award winning Chef, we met while working together and collaborate in creating two different concepts from the ground up all the way to opening and execution, as any other project long days and nights working on so many items, R&D, demos, etc., until you see people come through the doors and enjoy what you created…..such a fun road and special feeling seeing what you have accomplished.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mario-rivera-73a7ab7/