Meet Rodrigo Archer | entrepreneur & chef

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

Hi rodrigo, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
tbh it was between two things, one was the poor payment and treatment to young chefs back in 2017 when i came back to el salvador after 4 years developing my career in barcelona. it was a mix of long shifts(12-16 hours) and the payment that made it impossible to afford a living, After months of working in different kitchens from the best restaurant at the moment, the best pop up restaurant, and one of the biggest country clubs in the city i realized the only way for me to forge the future that i want was to start my own business. That’s when nomad pizza was born in the garage/basement of my parents house back in may 2018.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about.

i believe what really sets me and nomad perse apart from the others is the philosophy behind our mindsets about always giving the best to the costumers from the product to the experience in the restaurant when you visit. We’re now entering a big part of nomads life since weve been blessed with amazing new business partners that share our vision and where we want to head next with out project or projects in the future. the thing that makes me the proudest is the fact that even through fire and flames weve been able to start a small business from my parents basement and now we have a restaurant that people love and understand and that thank God we always have new costumers, busy nights and people that come back.

How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges?

My career began back in 2011 when i dropped out of business school and persued my dream of becoming a chef one day. I did 2 years at SCARTS a culinary school ran by an amazing french chef called Herve Laurent. then i got myself an internship at a michelin star restaurant in barcelona called Alkimia where i was supposed to stage for 3 months but ended leaving cause i wasnt ready for that intense hours, the intensity they had on new chefs and specially insecurities of my own.

After that I did a 3 months class about ”tapas modernas” at Escuela de gastronomia Hoffman in Barcelona. After doing that class and slacking for a couple months I ended up getting a boulangerie class at Escuela terra de escudella specializing in catalan cousine and pastries. During that time my mom used to help me sending my resumes to restaurants helping me to get a job, finally i got a call and started working at Osmosis a catalan restaurant mixed with different techniques and ingredients from around the world (during my time it was heavily influenced by different spain regions and when chef raul took over he heavily influenced it with japanese influence and techniques since he loved the japanase culture in general) there i worked for 8 months, ended up leaving to lascar 74 a peruvian restaurant heavily influenced by the time peru was influenced by many regions around the world. Worked there as a line cook and helped in the prep kitchen. During that time I feel in love with the pastry world and got myself a spot in a modern american pastry class with betina montagne in espai sucre the best pastry scholl in town.after 6 months one of my best friends marcelino tusell, owner of tusell tostadores a niche, minimal, heavily influenced by local coffee coffee shop in el tunco, a small beach town in la libertad, helped me get a job as a pastry chef in this new project they were bringin together called black remedy. I worked as a pastry chef developing modern nyc based pastries for the coffee shop. Then my life took a left after I got into a fight and broke my humerus, had to quit my job, left pastry class since i couldnt afford it, couldnt get a job, had to a 7 month recovery plus phisiotherapy, had to leave my apartment so i ended up leaving barcelona after almost 4 years and head home. Came back, had nothing, i remember having to sell my magic the gathering cards to be able to even buy cigarrettes lol. Thanks to a friend, Roberto Alas, highly renown chef in teh coyuntry, i was able to get a job at this booming new restaurant in town as a pastry chef. Stayed there for 3 months but things started to get rocky with the head chefs and decided to leave and start thinking about doing my own thing. After months of planning, I found out through matty matthesons instagram about the gozney roccbox and the fact a $500 dollar portable over could make you a world class neapolitan pizza. We all chipped in, bought an oven, we came up with a name and I said ”fuck it” we set up in my parents basement and thanks to all the poeple we know, thorugh instagram we promoted the business as a pick and go option and things BOOMED. after a while for different reasons, my ex parnerts and I took different directions and eventually my brother who was living in california by the time, called me we talked and he decided to come back at the end of 2019 and he became my business partner till this day. I remmeber we were about to open up our first restaurant after years of selling pick and go and thought delivery apps and the fact people stuck with us and were so loyal( we even talk to customers till this day almost 7 yeras ago and they tell uys when they use to go to our parents house and wait outside for the pizzas lmao) and you know how much an artisan pizzas quality changes from coming out of the oven till it get home to you so after years of costumers waiting for us to open covid stroke us and we had to pospone and put ebverythng on hold for 6 months (thank god delivery went up and crazy and helped of become more profitable during ugly times, and thank god we werent paying rent cause the owner of the plaza was super kind to us).

What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?

dont panic, always find multiple ways to fix a single problem, only focus in the past to learn and be better.

what i want people to know is that it hasnt been easy, theres millions of things i could add to the story from betrayels to people stealing from us. That you have to work hard, and yes have a bit of luck of couse, but hard work pays of and never ever lose track of your visions and the idea you have, only if its to fix it and make it better.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
for starters after picking him up i wopuld take him straight to olocuilta, a pupuseriaish town in the middle of the way to and back from the airport. Best pupusas de arroz (besides the ones at the mercadito de merliot). I woudl take him to take a coffee at Alquimia, a new high end coffeeshop that just recentrly made it to the 50 best coffee shops in the world. heavy into coffee from where you get thhe beans, the kind of soil and ways they treat it to giving you the best roast depending on the bean and the best extractions for great taste, texture and aroma) Luma, an experimental coffee shop that Luis Romero opened after he got heavy into bread during covid times and ended up opening a great coffee shop with great brunch and sourdough bread and/or we go visit my homie nino at tusell tostadores a micro coffee shop selling the best or second to best coffee in the country. the top 7 spots i would take him for lunch would be obviosly nomad pizza, verdis a kind of italian bistro with that feeling of dining at an italian nonnas place, kemuri, a new age nikkei restaurant that two friends of mine started at an abandoned house one of the partners had, it boomed and now they got a spot in one of the most booming areas in the city when it comes to gastronomy, Kaeru a japanese ramen shop runned by roberto alas a higly renowed chefs in town, Pecado migrante, a kind of thrashy but classy taqueria in el hipodromo, great tacos, great ambiance. chepe aleta, a legendary seafood spot in la libertad, where you even get to eat in the middle of a small river, like your feet in the river, humoungus oysters, great fresh pescado frito and cocteles de conchas y camaron rosado, amazing experience. and last but not least a spot called el changarro in el mercadito de merliot, great quality of seafood, great local food like sopa de gallina and gallina asada plato, great vibe, place, and warm staff. for drinks definitely, yu bar a new spot ran by charles rose an amazing mixologist, cantina la 15 for that kind of clubish vibe but not club, Galeon at la libertad ran by the owners of capitan cook(well talk about them in a bit), nomad for a nice small but great selection of natural wines, lobby a restaurant/bar with great drinks, el chiringuito, a more casual sort of strip mall ish bar,great drinks, loved by chefs in the industry.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
first of all my mother how has been the main pillar in my life and the person that even through fire and flames has been there for me and has encourage me to be the professional and man that i am. second my brother who became my business partner and who sacrificed his life in the united states to travel back home and support me financially and as a cook (he’s a graphic designer so it was a whole new world for him but he came through, with patience he learned and helped me and the project get to where we are now). third the countless pizzaiolos around the world who I managed to connect with through Gozney (the oven brand we use and the best there is) and instagram that pushed me mentally and helped me develop my dough and fresh new ideas for our menus along the way. And last but not least God, whos been with me thought heaven and hell and without whom we wouldn’t be able to be here,

Instagram: archerrodrigo, nomadpizzasv