Mohamed Alkassar Of Alpareno Restaurant Group: Five Ways To Develop More ‘Grit’
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Believe in yourself. It’s acceptable to doubt yourself at times, you can even feel defeated momentarily, but when it matters most, you must get back up and it’s only self-belief that will allow you to do so.
As a part of my series about “Grit: The Most Overlooked Ingredient of Success” I had the pleasure of interviewing Mohamed Alkassar.
As Alpareno Restaurant Group’s Founding Partner, Mohamed Alkassar is a high energy, passionate, and meticulous hospitality expert whose innovative spirit is further enhanced by his extensive local and international experience. His success is attributed to his passion for mentoring talent resulting in managerial consistency and company wide longevity. Born in Spain, he cultivated a passion for food during his trips to Spain’s many gastronomical towns where he learned how various cultures influence food, wine, and dining habits. After kick starting his career at Maison Blanche in the bustling dining scene of Madrid, he went on to further develop his skills by working for some of the most well recognized hospitality groups in the Middle East. His achievements include successfully launching the food & beverage arm for one of the leading development companies in Qatar, which boasted names such as the Mondrian Hotel, Morimoto, Wolfgang Puck, Magnolia Bakery, and Shakespeare & Co. Following his success in Qatar, he moved to Dubai to become the Operations Manager for 4 European F&B brands overseeing over 50 outlets, including Lavazza’s concepts in the Middle East and North Africa.
Within this period, he opened 12 new restaurants and played a key role in the company’s expansion. Upon the recommendation of his mentor, F&B industry icon, Michael Bonadies, Mohamed relocated to Miami to learn American-style service from the ground up. After developing a deep understanding of the U.S. market during his time at the Genuine Hospitality Group, he partnered with his dear friend, Chef Niven Patel, to launch the food & beverage programming at THesis Hotel, inclusive of Mamey and Orno. Alpareno Restaurant Group is the culmination of the late nights they spent perfecting a vision set out to enhance the lives of everything and everyone that they touch.
Can you share your story about “Grit and Success”? First can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?
Syria
My first big challenge came early in my career while working as a manager for a failing restaurant in a prime location in Damascus. My friends and family told me not to take the job as they feared the negative reputation of the place would follow me. There were few guests that went there, and they worked in frowned upon businesses to say the least.
During my interview, the owner, Mr. Bachar Sabbagh, a renowned businessman, explained to me that his brother, who runs his business in Syria and was sitting across from me, had tried multiple experienced managers to no avail. Therefore, he decided to give a young inexperienced manager a shot before closing it. “I think you can turn it around, but my brother Kamil thinks you’re just a kid who’s going to get clobbered” he said to me. An awkward silence filled the room, “it wouldn’t be the first time I get clobbered, I’m up for the challenge” I replied.
My first big decision was to fire all management, mind you this was a restaurant that operated 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. Bachar caught wind of my decision and told me “This is a huge risk, but it’s your risk and your reward.” This taught me a valuable lesson early in my career, hire the right people, and then trust them to do what you hired them to do; a simple lesson that few managers apply.
The staff hated me, they laid traps for me every chance they had in an effort to ensure my “short” tenure would be as unpleasant as possible. I was the only manager, a predicament I had put myself in, so I worked 16 hours a day 7 days a week. I identified a few talented, committed, and good hearted associates and put in all the extra effort needed to nurture them. I taught them all that I had learned in Spain, spent countless nights mentoring them outside of work, inquired about their families and helped reduce their personal struggles, and in turn they gave their job all they had in them.
Within months, these associates were the ones enforcing my strict standard on their colleagues, a sign of success to come. A couple months later our sales had tripled, every stakeholder prospered, the entire team got behind me, and those early believers rose to become the first managers of my time.
6 months into the job, Kamil, the brother who had no faith in me, suggested to his older brother that I help him run the entire company. The war in Syria had started and he needed all the help he could get managing 5 restaurants, a 5-star boutique hotel, a nightclub, and a distribution company.
The success of having turned a failing concept into arguably the most popular restaurant in the capital, gave me rise to an Operations Manager position. Even during war, with a shortage of staff, supply chain breakdowns, and a life in fear, we continued to outperform the competition because we had a team that felt appreciated. There is a bond that is rarely achievable without suffering, the joy of success never tastes as good without the memory of less fortunate times.
United States
I was a Regional Operations Manager based out of Dubai overseeing over 50 outlets across the Middle East and North Africa. My mentor, Michael Bonadies, an industry icon, had been harping on me to move to the United States for years. He believed that I was more talented than he was at his age, and with my character, I would become even better, but that was only achievable overseas.
My girlfriend at the time also wanted to make the move, so we took a leap of faith and moved to Miami knowing I wouldn’t have a job for an extended period, and not knowing whether I would even get a work permit. I had never been unemployed, and for someone who thrived on excelling in his career, I felt frustrated. Not used to having so much time off, I found myself spending dollars I didn’t have due to the abundance of time that I did have; I blew through my savings discouragingly quick.
By the time I received my work authorization, 7 months later, we were struggling mentally, emotionally, and financially. We had left a comfortable and secure life to live an uncomfortable unknown. With light at the end of the tunnel, I called Michael with joy to inform him of the great news! He said to me “great, now you should take a step back in your career to ensure future success”. I was perplexed, I didn’t understand why with my talent and experience I should take a step back. His reasoning was simple, “if you want to remain very good at what you do, take an Operations Manager position as anyone would hire you. However, if you want to become the best at what you do, and break barriers, take a step back”. He informed me that though I had experience in Europe, the Middle East, and the Gulf, the United States was different. There was a learning curve when it came to culture, HR policies, capital markets, etc.
Seeing his logic, I was inclined to follow his advice. When I inquired about how far back of a step I should take (thinking maybe junior ops or GM) he said server or floor manager! I was gutted, I trusted this man, who has become a father figure to me, with my life, moved halfway across the world, and now he’s jerking me around instead of helping me get a job. My entire support system of friends and family told me it was completely crazy for me to listen to him, that I had sacrificed enough and taking on another road of struggles would be career suicide.
Michael Bonadies had always given me sound advice and my gut told me to trust him. So upon his advice, I took a floor manager position with The Genuine Hospitality Group, an institution that produced some of the top talent in Florida. I was making $45,000 annually while living with my wife and her mother in a 500 SF apartment. Not the worst set up, but far from the comfortable life I had worked up to in Dubai.
I was managed by colleagues I deemed inferior in talent and many set me up for failure because they felt threatened by my presence. I was offered a big promotion twice my first two months and declined, staying true to my mission to learn. The less responsibilities I had, the more time I had to focus on learning and filling in the gaps in my experience.
It was tough, I had been the person making the rules for years and now I was forced to follow directives I didn’t always agree with. It was frustrating to experience the lack of authority, but enduring it allowed me to become a more complete manager. I learned how to do things the right way, and I also learned what not to do. But Most importantly, I was reminded how middle management and staff are affected by the smallest of executive decisions. There lies the importance of working for different operators to perfect your craft, and stepping back at some point to re-learn some of your missteps.
Nearly 18 months later, I looked back with joy at all that I had accomplished and as frustrating as it was at times, I’m eternally grateful for the experience. For starters, I built a loyal following amongst staff; only then did I realize I had been distant for too long from those who carry the business. The satisfaction of being a “we” again (staff) and not “them” (upper management) anymore was inexplicable. Furthermore, I finally understood the intricacies of what makes a manager successful in the United States. Mastering the tip system alone, which is very specific to the US, enables you to create a highly motivated codependent team.
First can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?
I stumbled into F&B management during my last year of college in Madrid. As I waited for my i20 visa to move to Miami and attend culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu, Richard Foster, an owner of a restaurant that I frequented, heard of my plans and offered to teach me in the meantime. He also questioned my desire to become a Chef explaining that from the little he knows me, I belong in the front of house.
Richard, a character to say the least, gave me two options, “you can start as a server, I’ll pay you, and you can work your way up or I won’t pay you a penny, but I will place you in all FOH & BOH positions and let you shadow me so you can learn the entire business.” I replied, “don’t pay me, I just want to learn.” In all fairness, I was banking on my mother supporting me enough to live.
I very quickly learned that my family thought this restaurant gig was a ploy to continue to live in Madrid on their dime, so they cut me off financially. This only further fueled my desire to learn and in turn succeed. Three girlfriends of mine who shared a flat for university offered me a couch to sleep on. A few weeks later, a good friend of mine offered me his parents’ penthouse which was still under construction. He placed his little brother’s old bed, that was half my size, in the middle of the loft, and got me a blanket and a pillow. The loft was marvelous with mahogany wood and 180-degree views of all of Madrid, it was their dream retirement home. The only issue was it had no lights, no heaters, no hot water, and we were in winter! I was the richest broke man in Spain!
Seeing me struggling financially, Richard asked me again, “would you like to work one position and get paid, or do you want to continue learning”. Again, I chose the latter, after all, the beautiful part of our business is it takes care of one of the basic needs of life, food. I opened Maison Blanche every morning seven days a week and worked every shift until closing well past midnight. A young kid, I still found time to blow off steam in the infamous party scene of Madrid. It was then that I learned I could live quite a colorful life with very little money as I had the interpersonal skills needed to develop strong bonds with strangers which quickly allowed me to practically party for free. Nonetheless, hungover or not, I showed up for work every morning and lived the cycle all over again.
Nearly 6 months later, I found out that my visa process did not work out and I would be missing my January program at Le Cordon Bleu in Miami. The next day, Richard came back from his usual scouting walks where he snoops around other establishments to see how they are doing, but this time he was crying. He said to me, “Mo, I was at another restaurant and a few elderly ladies were about to sit down for lunch when another friend approached them and said, ‘no let’s not sit here, let’s go to Maison Blanche, they have this young kid who’s always so patient and hospitable with us, it makes my day’”. They were tears of joy, and the look of pride on his face is an image that motivates me to this very day. He then informed me that I was shockingly ready for a paid managerial position as I learned faster than he could have ever imagined.
This passion for the industry, people, and food, coupled with my willingness to do whatever it takes to hone my craft, is what got me to the first step of success.
Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
Grit comes from within; you must be self-motivated!
My drive at times came from a combination of proving something or someone wrong and proving to myself that I could achieve what I set out to achieve as long as it was attainable. I wanted to prove to my family that working for free at a restaurant wasn’t an excuse to party my life away in Madrid. I was adamant on proving to my boss in Syria that he was right to believe in me as a young, talented, and hungry individual. It only motivated me more to hear his brother call me an incapable kid in the interview. The move to the United States was my Everest, I wanted to become the best version of myself and prove that a step back to learn wasn’t career suicide. No different than refraining from selling a losing stock, when it comes to grit, you only fail when you stop trying.
I set myself one BIG FU**ING GOAL, and that is exactly how I word it to those I now mentor! That is what fuels me every single day; in psychology I believe it’s called a superordinate goal. I always wanted to be the owner and operator of multiple internationally recognized and respected hospitality brands. Alpareno Restaurant Group is a major stepping stone towards that goal.
Since the distance between me and that goal was very long, that distance could have led me to feeling defeated. Therefore, I continuously establish smaller milestones that are going to help me justify my hard work and close the gap between me and my BIG FU**ING GOAL.
My drive was also further fueled by the setbacks I experienced; take a risk, fail a little, then taste the sweetness of a comeback. Overcoming adversity is addicting!
So how did Grit lead to your eventual success?
I chose a career I am passionate about, a career I love so deeply, a job that is so me that it’s hard to differentiate between who I am and what my job is. That made it a little easier to endure the pain, it’s a long and often lonely road to success.
I stayed true to my BIG FU**ING GOAL. I took risks, I moved 7,000 miles overseas to a foreign land not knowing whether I would even legally be able to work just to become the best version of myself. I sacrificed many aspects of my life to succeed in my career; everything I did was with the intention of taking a step towards that goal even when it seemed I was going backwards.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Alpareno.
The Food and Beverage industry is about presence, it’s about being there, it’s as simple as that! When have you had a bad experience at a food and beverage establishment where the owner is present daily working hard alongside the team? I am the luckiest person I know to have Chef Niven Patel as a partner in Alpareno Restaurant Group. He lives on his farm, Rancho Patel, he hand-picks his produce daily, delivers it to our restaurants, and tailors our seasonal menus to incorporate the freshest ingredients. He is there on the cooking line at Ghee, at Mamey, at Orno and still finds time to work on the new concepts we have coming.
I received a call a couple months ago from Dr. Garg, our first investor in Alpareno Restaurant Group. He said, “Mo I just closed on a chateau in D.C and will be holding my next seminar here; all I want is for you and Chef Niven to cater the event!”. I thought to myself, he is either joking or he is out of his mind; I wouldn’t consider “catering” an event a couple miles away on Miami Beach let alone halfway across the country. I told him I’d sleep on it regardless and that though we don’t do any catering, he means the world to us, so we’ll always consider his requests. I discussed it with Chef Niven, we both agreed it was nuts, and we simultaneously said “F**k it let’s do it!”.
We flew to DC with 3 of our core team members, on a weekend where our restaurants were extremely busy, to cook for a group of doctors out of an outdated home kitchen. Dr. Garg was thrilled, the doctors at the seminar were beyond impressed, we took the spotlight from the seminar and the joy it brought everyone was all we had hoped for!
This is what sets us apart, our mission with Alpareno has been to put an equal amount of effort into enhancing the lives of all our stakeholders. This trip wasn’t financially motivated as it was done at cost, our sole motivation was to satisfy our dear friend Dr. Garg! We had no support staff, we were washing dishes, going for ice runs, shopping at the farmers market, prepping, cooking, and serving ourselves. That is why we are different, we will never be too big for any one task, we love what we do, and we will continue to lead from the front. Chef Niven Patel’s humble way of life is what we all strive for.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Choose an industry you love, you’re less likely to burn out if you enjoy what you do.
Refrain from the overuse of mass texting, mass emailing, group chats, etc! They’re toxic, you cannot disconnect even if it’s your day off when you’re constantly reminded of work.
Take days off, take vacations, we all need them, you’re only as good as the state of your mental health.
Differentiate between being at work and actually working. It’s not always about the hours you spend at work, it’s about the impact you make in the hours you spend. It’s sometimes better to spend less time and be more effective than spend long hours in complacency.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I recently experimented with how to help female Syrian refugees become self-sufficient. It’s an initiative my sister started, and I have only now begun to explore ways to help them live a better life. My goal is to teach them how to sell the food they cook through the means that make the most sense to them.
My management style revolves around mentoring my team; this involves putting a great deal of personal time developing their attributes. The best way to give back is to teach others the lessons life taught you, in hopes you are giving them an edge to succeed as well.
Based on your experience, can you share 5 pieces of advice about how one can develop Grit?
1) It starts with focusing on something you love, the more passion you have for what you do, the more likely you’ll continue to do it when times get tough, and they will!
2) Show up, it’s as simple as that! Show up day in and day out, and keep showing up until you become very good at it. Once you become so good at what you do, it becomes difficult to stop doing it and you become hungry to get even better.
3) Get out of your comfort zone and push your limits, that’s when you learn the most. As my brother-in-law once told me, “There is a time to learn and a time to earn”. Travel as far as possible and as often as possible, there is nothing more shocking than adapting to a new culture you weren’t expecting!
4) Surround yourself with people who possess grit. Watching the passion and perseverance of those close to you should positively impact your decision making. This starts with having a good mentor who truly cares about you as a person; everything I achieved in my career I owe to Michael Bonadies who guided me ever since I “was a kid”. Find someone who gives you tough love, knows how to push, when to push, and how far to push you; make sure you’re upside-down dangling off the edge every now and then!
5) Believe in yourself. It’s acceptable to doubt yourself at times, you can even feel defeated momentarily, but when it matters most, you must get back up and it’s only self-belief that will allow you to do so.
You are people of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Better pay for kitchen staff. These are literally the people that put food on your table and those that usually work the longest hours in the toughest conditions. The gap between front of house staff and back of house staff is disheartening. There are industry greats out there experimenting with possible solutions, but I don’t believe anyone has come up with a scalable solution yet. This challenge will likely require everyone involved to sacrifice a little, from owners to suppliers and staff. The greatest challenge with this goal is the solution will most likely involve educating the guests, and that takes a lot of time.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
