Aru-Sha's Coffee Shop Podcast

Speaker A: Foreign. What is up, everybody? And this is Clifford C. Colin with the Top Texas Insurance podcast. Uh, today we are going back into Built in Texas, the town that has my heart. That's where I live, guys. It's not where I work, but it is where I live. Um, these small owners, they just, they're awesome. Uh, such a friendly little town, and I think you're going to experience a little bit of that today. Uh, I talk to Jacques from Arushas, which is a local coffee shop. Um, now, I originally found this coffee shop. Everyone needs a coffee shop. You know, when I don't want to drive an hour to work, which is how long it takes, I drive M10 minutes to the local coffee shop, Arushas, and I sit down, I have a cup of coffee. Doing that, obviously, I create a relationship with Jacques. I mean, when you hear his values and how he is, you'll understand why. But kind of throughout time, we've created, you know, I've heard a story and I really wanted to get that out there for everybody, everyone to hear. It's unbelievably interesting and I think that everybody's going to love it. Uh, the coffee, let me tell you, is fantastic. It really is. You know, they really pride themselves on, on fresh coffee beans. I don't want to steal too much from this episode, so I just, I've got to compliment that. And the tacos. Always love the tacos. Um, now, now, Jaques, his real name, his, his name's Ernst. Uh, he goes by Jacques. It's his last name. He, he came here from Haiti. He moved to Florida then from Florida, Texas, because that's where his sister was. And, uh, that's more his style. And he realized that he wasn't complete. Like he thought he'd be there in Texas, just sitting there. So he ended up working. He got a job with a sister's friend named Hayden. Hayden plays a vital role. Hate him was his, is now his business partner. But back then, that's what got him started. So he just worked his tail off. Uh, he worked as a bar back, ended up opening a kitchen attached to the bar. Made some money there. And I mean, the stories as to how he made that a successful kitchen, it's pretty funny. Um, but they sold the, the bar and they started up the coffee shop. And of course, he had saved all his money to get there. So it's really, really neat. Um, guys, I really hope you enjoy this. I had a blast. It is a longer episode, but it is well worth it if you're driving and you want a little bit of a. Something to listen to. This is it. So please listen in. Enjoy it. I do appreciate, highly appreciate you guys listening. If you guys have, um, for who I should talk to next or what I should do differently, I love to hear them. Hey, guys, listen on. Enjoy it. We'll talk soon. What is up, everybody? Welcome to the Top Texas Insurance podcast, where it's a little bit about insurance and a lot about everything else. Today we are sitting at Arusha's, uh, coffee shop. We're here with Ernst Jock. Uh, if you ever come in, you would just call him Jacques. He's a. He's a large man. He sits on the.

Speaker B: The.

Speaker A: He's not. Not a fat guy, but He's. He's probably 6 foot 3, 6 foot 4, sits on the side of the building. Uh, he is the owner, one of the owners. Uh, extremely friendly, extremely friendly. So make sure to say hi if you ever see him. Uh, Arusha's is. Is located in Belton, if you remember the Imaraki episode. It's actually right next door to Imaraki. Now, this is. This is my preferred coffee shop. This is where I go. Uh, and, you know, it's not even just a coffee shop. I would say Rushes is. It's more of a cafe. So they. They do. They offer tacos. Uh, they have great, great coffee. And I think it's due to the coffee beans. We'll get into that here in a little bit. Uh, but for the time being, let me introduce you. This is. This is Ernst. Jacques. And Jacques is. Is one of the owners. He's the guy that I talked to. He's become my friend. Uh, love seeing him. Love stopping and talking with him. Jacques, how are you today?

Speaker B: Very good, very good. How you doing?

Speaker A: I'm doing well, man. I'm doing well. Hey, um, let's. Let's get right into it. So where are you from originally?

Speaker B: I'm from Haiti.

Speaker A: Haiti. Like the country.

Speaker B: The country Haiti.

Speaker A: Okay. Okay. So that is, uh, just south of the Florida coast.

Speaker B: Yeah. It's basically an airplane. If in Florida, Miami, Florida takes, uh, you an hour, 45 minutes.

Speaker A: Bamboo.

Speaker B: No, airplane.

Speaker A: Airplane, yeah.

Speaker B: To fly from Miami to. To Haiti or Haiti to Miami, Basically, it's very. I mean, a very short distance.

Speaker A: So, I mean, immediately, I'm curious how's it. What's the difference, like, man? I mean, I think I. I speak for everybody here, wondering what's it like coming from Haiti, which is that considered a third world country?

Speaker B: Yes, it is.

Speaker A: It is considered a Third world country. So what is it like moving from a third world country to the US Of A?

Speaker B: I mean, um, today, the truth is, it's amazing. Yeah. Um, I've been here living in the States because I. I used to come here, I mean, back in the day when I was a kid, just for vacation. But when I decided to stay here in the United States, that was like in, uh, February 14, 2010. That's when I actually decided, when I came to actually stayed in the U.S.

Speaker A: so you've been here for about 11 years?

Speaker B: 11 years.

Speaker A: 11 years.

Speaker B: 11 years, yeah.

Speaker A: And you moved. Did you go straight to Florida?

Speaker B: So I actually moved straight to Florida. From Haiti to Florida, and I spent, uh, about a month in Florida. And personally, um, that's where I usually go when I come and visit. But when I decided to stay, uh, I didn't think Florida was the right fit for me. And thankfully, my sister was at the time living here in Texas, so I had moved in here in Texas with her. And since then, I fell in love with Texas, and I consider myself like, a Texan now.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, we're happy to have you here. I mean.

Speaker B: Oh, thank you.

Speaker A: Texas is very, very friendly state. You're not gonna. You're not gonna make me mad, say anything about Texas?

Speaker B: Actually, actually, uh, with my friends, I have friends, you know, all over the country, um, in New York, Florida and other places, other states. Uh, when I talk to them, I always, like, talk so high of Texas, where I always tell them, y' all should move to Texas like you should. This is the place to live. This is a place you can accomplish a lot, right?

Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely. As long as they don't come in like the California spy. Well, I think right here in Belton, um, it is a very small, cozy town. As I mentioned before, it is right off of I35, Interstate 35, which is, uh, the main highway that runs pretty much. It's kind of like north and south, but it's, like, diagonal. So it runs from. From Dallas and Fort Worth area, dfw, it runs through Austin. And Belton is, like, right in between those two. Um, maybe a little bit closer to Austin, but, uh, we see so many people from California move in. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna hate on him. I'm not. Uh, but I will say it's like, there's so, like, the population from what. What we're used to, what we grew up with here to where we are now is so unreal. It's booming Belton.

Speaker B: Everyone.

Speaker A: I've talked to, of course I'm newer in Belton, is talked about how it used to be such a sleepy little town. So, so small. And I feel like it's a sleepy little town. But the people that lived here said, I mean like it was, it was way, way, way small. Uh, in fact, uh, Jacques and I were talking earlier about when they started up Arushas and we're going to go into the entire startup today. Don't worry, we got, we've got a great episode planned for you. But when he started up, he said he could sit in front of the store and never see a car pass down the street. Now I can't describe this to you enough. If I went outside one, it's hard to find a parking spot. I mean there's so many people here. It's, there's so many people here. And of course Ruches is a big draw, but the, the street, there's people coming up and down it non stop. I mean, I think if you sat up front now, you'd see probably 15, 20 cars in the course of three, four minutes. And it is, it is a small street. You know, it's, it's two, two lanes and it's got as in one way, you know, 1, 1, 1, 1 side of the street goes one way, one side of the street goes the other. I'm sorry, I don't know why I had such a hard time describing that. And there's parking on either side. Uh, so it's, it's very small, it's very slow. I mean you're going right through kind of the heart of Belton. Right. You're downtown. Um, and so it's not like it's, it's a popular main street and there's, there's quite a few cars that are going up and down this now. Just saying that to kind of announce the growth in the area, which I think is good for business. Um, so let's, let's kind of go into that a little bit. You, you got to Texas with your sister.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: You immediately started a coffee shop or how did that work?

Speaker B: No, um, actually when I first, um, moved into Texas, um, and of course at the time, um, well, I don't know if you can, if you want to talk about, um, immigration and stuff, because at the time I only had a visa. I didn't know how I was going to stay in the country and stuff, you know, um, now I'm kind of open to talk about it, but, um, I was looking for a job and stuff like that. You Know, and at the meantime I was trying to see how am I gonna, you know, legalize my status to become, you know, um, to have my green card and stuff, you know.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: It's a whole process.

Speaker A: You know, you were looking to become a citizen.

Speaker B: A citizen, which is. I am now.

Speaker A: Yes. Right, right. But at this point you, you were, you were trying to be, you were, you're simply an immigrant. That was.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Worried about being deported maybe not true.

Speaker B: Because I had a valid visa at the time, you know, and then I was trying to fit my head. How can I become a, uh, legal m. Citizen, of course, or immigrant or alien, you know, I would say. But.

Speaker A: And folks, I want to apologize. Right now we are at the coffee shop doing this podcast. So you're going to hear some, some coffee grinds. I mean they're, they're grinding, they're, they're bumping, they're busy. There's a ton of people here today. Uh, it is in full operation, I can tell you. The aroma is amazing. The beans they have are fantastic. But not trying to take the spotlight off, off Jacques right now, just, just had to let you know because you're going to hear some of this. Uh, I do apologize, but I guess it adds to the experience. Uh, so we're looking for a visa at ah. What area are you in in Texas at this point?

Speaker B: I was, uh, not in Belton actually. She, we were in Harker Heights. We live in Hawker Heights for like eight, nine years. So. I do, I did too.

Speaker A: For those listening. Harker Heights is a small town right next to Killeen. Clean, uh, is best known for Fort Hood. Uh, it's the, I want to say it's the largest military base in the nation. It's huge. Um, but Parker Heights is a, it's a smaller, nicer, I wouldn't say um, subdivision. It's, it's a town. It's just that they're kind of connected and it's probably 10 to 15, uh, minutes away from, from belts and tops. And that is Texas talk. I'm not going to tell you the miles, I'm gonna tell you the minutes. So, so you're in Harker Heights, Parker Heights.

Speaker B: And at the time I was, you know, looking for a job.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: You know, and my sister had no one. Hate him. Which is uh, uh, one of my partner here in the coffee shop.

Speaker A: So uh, Hate him.

Speaker B: Hate him. Yeah.

Speaker A: So Hate him is Jacques partner's name. Just so everyone knows. And you hear that. So as you hear Hatem's Name you can understand that is that is Jacques, partner with Arusha's Coffee Shop.

Speaker B: And then we, um, uh, my sister had contacted Hayden because Hayden, he used to be in the bar business, you know, and my sister used to work with hate him. And then he had contacted Hayden, say, hey, my brother is in a country, he needed a job, blah, blah, so. And Hayden was unfortunate enough to give me a job. I was a bar back. I don't know if you know what's barback means. Ball back. Basically, um, what you do is you basically do what the bartender needs to be done. Picking up bottles, put ice in the tub.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: You know, so bartender's assistant. Yeah, assistant. Yeah, in a way. Yeah.

Speaker A: You know, basically dumb languages.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. You know, and then I used to. I.

Speaker A: Me.

Speaker B: My personal meeting. I should say you. You are, uh, the button. The B word, you know, Absolutely.

Speaker A: You know, it's okay to say it. I worked for the bank for, For a year, uh, uh, when I was younger and I was. I called myself the bank's.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker A: So we moved from, From Haiti, third world country, into the US Moved into Texas. He's. He's living with his sister right now. He's talked to his sister's friend and hate him, hate him. Has given him a job as a bartender's assistant or a, uh, bar back. As a bar back. I'm sure there's a lot of people that know what that is. I never was in the bar industry, so I don't. I'm sorry. Uh, but how, how did that play out? And then, I mean, you're the owner of a shop now, so something changed over the course of 10 years.

Speaker B: The thing is, you know, um, when I started it, when I first, because I had already told myself before I even left Haiti, because I left Haiti for a reason. The reason I left Haiti was after the earthquake because my whole life I traveled, you know, I went to France, uh, I came here so many times and went to different islands and stuff. Um, when the earthquake happened to me was the worst of the worst at the time in Haiti, right. The country had went to, uh, the most. I mean, the best. I mean, the most of. The most like I ever seen in my life, you see, and, and, and, and a few months before that, my dad had passed away. You know, so economically, you know, I was like, my mom didn't have. I mean, we had a business, but it was not making money as much right as it used to. And you know, I kind of told myself, I need to find another friend way to support myself and support my family in Haiti. At the time. I was 20 at the time.

Speaker A: How big is your family?

Speaker B: Um, we are family. We were family. 3. My brother. My older brother. Brother passed away few years ago.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: I mean, 10 years ago.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Even more. Yeah. And then

Speaker A: military, police.

Speaker B: No, he was here in Florida. He lived in Florida. He was working in Florida doing his own thing. Okay.

Speaker A: But, um, so your dad was the head of the household. He.

Speaker B: Yeah, he was a pharmacist. He had a pharmacy in, um. Basically, he. He built his life, you know, being a pharmacist. I mean, we had a very pretty good life in Haiti, to tell the truth, based on the economy of the country. I went to a pretty good school, French school, you know, small town. Um, you know, I mean, I was able to come to the U. S. It's a big deal if you in Haiti and you have a visa to visit the U. S. Because looking at the currency of the US Dollar to the Haitian good currency, basically, so you have to take the Haitian currency to change the US Dollar. So it's a lot, you know.

Speaker A: So in. In Haiti, will they accept US Dollar or do you have to have the Haitian good?

Speaker B: Um, now they. They accept because the currency is so, I mean, so messed up right now. I mean, now we're using the US Dollar with the government not trying to stop it. But there was a time everybody was using the US Dollar, you know, in Haiti, um, because it was so, so expensive to. To. To buy the US Dollar with the Haitian currency. So it become a lot, you know, for the Haitian to just buy the US Currency. So basically, they stopped using the.

Speaker A: Yeah, the US Dollar, so they adopted the. Yeah, okay.

Speaker B: But, um. Um, after, like, the earthquake, it happened January 4, 2010. I will never forget that moment. And so buildings just came crashing. Oh, man, it was.

Speaker A: I. I remember that it was horrible from my side. I remember seeing that on the news.

Speaker B: You know, I was there in the middle of it, you see the truth. And then, um, it was. It was bad. Bad enough. Made me. Because I never growing up. I. I grew up. I stayed in Haiti for 20 years. You know, all my other brothers, sister, they kind of, like, find their own ways, you know? Right. They came here in the States. But I. I loved Haiti so much, and I still love Haiti, but I was my home at the time. But now this is us, Is my home now. Um, I love the country so bad. Like, I never wanted to leave it.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I wanted to be part of the change. I wanted to be part of the and everything. But when that happened, I had lost my brother. And money wise, we're not doing as much good, you know, because much everybody lost everything. Um, so I told myself, you know what? I'm gonna come to the U.S. i'm gonna make something out of it. I'm gonna come in and work every day, save my money, make sure I'm, um, legal. That's the one thing I wanted to make sure that I'm. I don't want to be like some other Haitians, which is. I understand this is their situations, but they've been here in the country 10, 15, 20 years. They still not have, ah, a legal status.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: But I'm not gonna judge them. I don't know that situation. Everybody has a situation, you know, different situation. But, um, came here, start working hard. Um, I had met a woman, American. We started talking, dating and everything.

Speaker A: Um, such a wife now.

Speaker B: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That was my first wife. That was my first wife. You know, um, start talking. We got married, but things didn't work out the way when we wanted to. I mean, you know, we smooth divorce, you know. Right. And we both, like, you know, clean slate, you know, nothing too.

Speaker A: So there's no hate.

Speaker B: There's no hate.

Speaker A: You know, we just wasn't working.

Speaker B: He was in here.

Speaker A: We're not here to talk. Yeah.

Speaker B: But then we start working. I started working as a bar back. Yeah. Um, I loved it. I'm gonna tell you, I loved it so much. It's not because I was making a lot of money, though, but it's the fact that I had a job, I had a purpose.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: You know, because my first few months here in Texas. The first few months. The first month in Texas, I was just home every day. I found myself on Facebook, talking to friends. And one day I woke up like, man, this is not why. I mean, I came here to this country. This is America, the greatest country in the world.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: I'm like, I found myself in front of computer, chatting on Facebook.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And I kind of like, wake up myself. I'm like. And I told my sister, hey, look, I need to find a job. I don't care what they paid. But the thing is, I have. I need to have the title that I have a job right

Speaker A: now. At this point, you're there, you're with your sister.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: You're realizing you're wasting this, this massive opportunity that you. You work so hard for. You go to your sister and you say, hey, I gotta fix this, because I'm. I'm Just I'm wasting. I mean, it's like. It's like being retired at a young age. Okay, so. And she. She got you a job?

Speaker B: Yeah, of course.

Speaker A: With Hate him.

Speaker B: Because at the time, I have a word of English. Only thing I knew, like, hi, how you doing? My name is Jacques.

Speaker A: All right, so what's your foreign tongue?

Speaker B: Yeah, I have no English.

Speaker A: What. What did you speak before you came here? Was it just.

Speaker B: Just a creole? In French, we have two languages. We have Creole, which is the main language. Everybody speaks Creole and French, that part of the country speak also.

Speaker A: So it's like French, like, more proper.

Speaker B: French is a more proper way. Like if you're addressing an adult, educated adult, people that went to school, if somebody works in the government, it's a very proper way to adjust them. Even, like the start of the conversation has to be in French, more respectful and respectful.

Speaker A: Creole is kind of like the, uh, slang version.

Speaker B: Yeah, Creole. So basically, Creole came from French. Basically. Like at the time when we were colonized by French, we had, uh, to create a language they could speak among themselves that the French couldn't understand. And they become a second thing. I mean, not a pain.

Speaker A: You come to America, you speak two language languages in English is not one of them, which is a problem. So what's your step, man?

Speaker B: Um, so my step was. Don't be afraid of criticism. You know, um, when I started, I told my sister, I said, yo, I need a job. I need to find something. If you call my sister m. Hate them. Hate them. Get me a job as a bar back. And I started. I was making 20 or whatever the bar the bartender was making, plus, you know, some cash in there. You know, um, let's go on a paper. Yeah.

Speaker A: So 20 of whatever the bartender was making. I'm not looking for a dollar amount.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: I find that rude. Everybody that's listening, I do not care to know what's in his bank account. That's not none of my business. Um, but what I do care about, what was the pay like compared to, say, a job in Haiti? Was there a huge difference there?

Speaker B: Oh, of course. Yes, it is in Haiti. Um, I know for a fact when I. When I, um, as a teenager or when I was a kid, we had made. Which is beautiful. We have more maids in the house than us living in the house.

Speaker A: So maids, mates.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Like servants.

Speaker B: Servants, you know, I don't know.

Speaker A: Yeah, so there's a very wealthy side of Haiti, and there's a. A very poverty side of.

Speaker B: Yes, yes. I mean, in Haiti, if You can. If you're an average, you can. You have a business.

Speaker A: You.

Speaker B: You making money.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Um, I would say 9 out of 10, you will have a. I mean, a Serving at your house.

Speaker A: Okay. Because it's very, very common. Common.

Speaker B: Common. Because it's another way to support the country, you know?

Speaker A: So my curiosity.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, uh, From. From what you're saying, spinning off that. If you do not own a business and say you grew up in a family of servants, is there a way to climb out of that in Haiti, or are you stuck in that?

Speaker B: Um, there's two things you can do. You can either stay in that situation. Basically, you save. I would say the bare minimum. I want to say the bare minimum. The bare minimum to. Is either like, open a small business, which is gonna be selling what, water on the street.

Speaker A: That's a business selling water in the street.

Speaker B: Water in the street. Or buying a bag, big bag of candy or something just to start something somewhere. Uh, and you can, let's say three, four, five years later, you can grow something out of it.

Speaker A: So it's. It's a lot more difficult.

Speaker B: It's a lot more. Because I remember my. My nanny, man, Annie, growing up, she was like a mom to me. And she. She stayed in the house for, like, almost 10, 15 years, you know.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker B: Yeah, she. She was the one that. Looking after me, which is baiting me, get me ready to go to school and stuff like that. So I've known her for, like, I call her even mom, you know?

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And. And that's why, I mean, there was. Yeah, that's what she does. And for a long period of time. And of course, I remember until I was 12 or 13, that's when she started her own business, which is. She was selling clothes that came from the U.S. you know, because they auctioned them in a big box. Yeah. It's weird, huh?

Speaker A: So, like, was it like, uh, close. US Gave, um, to Haiti, or is it like clothes that Haiti bought? I mean, how did that work?

Speaker B: Two different ways. Um, let's say me, I'm in the U.S. right? I can. Let's say I found clothes from you, from everybody else for free, and I pot them up in a big box, take it and send it to Haiti. Right. I ship it to Haiti, and then I will go to auction kind of thing and say, okay, this book I started at $100 US then you'll bet on it until I make 500. Okay. Uh, you know, and you buy. You don't even know what's in the box,

Speaker A: so.

Speaker B: You buy it.

Speaker A: That's a risk.

Speaker B: I don't know.

Speaker A: Yeah, but is it. Is it that. Is it needed that much like.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I mean, the thing is U.S. clothing

Speaker B: is it is because it's. It's from the U.S. it's a big thing when something from the U.S. kind

Speaker A: of like put a U.S. is put upon a pedestal.

Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it's came from there. It's because a lot of things. Because I used to do it as. As a teenage guy, when I used to come here in the US I would come by a few clothes here. Oh, cheap. But when I go back, I'm that, um, clothes become 10 times worth is.

Speaker A: You know, if you sold us clothes in Haiti, you'd make a killing.

Speaker B: Oh, yeah. You may kill even a cell phone.

Speaker A: So what's stopping me from sending the box will close to 80 right now?

Speaker B: Nothing.

Speaker A: Nothing?

Speaker B: Nothing.

Speaker A: And you think I'd make money?

Speaker B: The thing is, the only thing is the corruption. There's a lot of corruption in Haiti. When the things get to the port, you got to make sure you have somebody that, you know, that can protect that box for you.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: He's not gonna try to, like, because people know you're gonna make money out of it. But again, probably trying to rip you off by asking you X amount of money just to take it out of port.

Speaker A: You know, basic business.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Yeah. So. So you. You can climb out of the. The servant position in Haiti, get back on track here. Um, just. Just by starting up a small business. Uh, but it's going to take a lot of years, grueling years of saving up, making, uh, money, uh, to. To get there. Now Jacques was able to get to Florida and then get to Texas with the sister, become a bar back where he's making 20% of what the bartender was making and a little bit of cash behind that. How do we take that and move forward?

Speaker B: Okay, so this is what I did, um, since I was living with my sister and I was. She didn't let me pay any bills, basically.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know. Yes, that's my sister. Because us, uh, Haitians, we have something like, where we take care of each other in a way. Because in Haiti, how do you realize where 80 or, uh, 90 of the population don't even have a job?

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: How can you live without a job? How do you pay your housing and everything? How do you eat every day? Right. Because I remember growing up with my mom cooking and cook on a Sunday. He's like, I see like, a lot of people come in the house now. Now I understand it because I, you know, now I'm here helping each other out. Helping each other out, because in Haiti, everybody, like, if you're eating like two other people, if you have a job, your salary is for, like, your cousin, your little cousin, your aunt, your uncle, your friend. It's become a culture.

Speaker A: So. So, like in the US we're worried about our salary for immediate family and then what you want to do with it from there. In Haiti. No, in Haiti, your money is. It's basically distributed.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: From. For everybody. If you cook, it's not just for your immediate family. It's for everybody that smells good cooking on the street.

Speaker B: Yeah. Uh, basically, like, if, you know, like if in the family they. Everybody, you have a job, basically, you have to pay school for this little cousin, for the little niece. You have to help that uncle.

Speaker A: And so that, that culture's in your sister. She's. She's helping you out by letting you live essentially for free at, ah, Harker heights.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Making 20 and a little bit more as a bar.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And, uh, you're working with. With Hate him now. Hate him. Uh, I'm assuming you played a big role. You guys are still together?

Speaker B: Yes. Well, I mean, basically, I, I mean, since in the. I've been here in the U. S. I basically, me. I have other things that I did on the side.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: But pretty much don't need to go into them. Pretty much. I've been with Hayden my whole. The whole time I've been here. I've been with Hayden the whole time. Pretty much every day, seven days a week.

Speaker A: Just like other brothers.

Speaker B: Yeah. So we actually, we don't. We don't even call ourselves partner or anything. We don't even use that word, we brothers. You know, I mean, pretty much he's hating Tatum. That's my brother.

Speaker A: Right. You know, that's family.

Speaker B: That's family. I mean, that's family.

Speaker A: And so you. What's your next step?

Speaker B: What you. My next step was at the, the club I was working at the time. There was a kitchen m. A kitchen inside it. It was closed. Nobody was using it. And then.

Speaker A: So what you do with it?

Speaker B: I. I went to hate them. I said, hey, hate them. Few months later, you know. Yeah, I want to hate him. Some nights I was making, you know, some nights I was making like as little as $5 just working.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: How many hours? I started from 7 till 2 in the morning. I'm just like, I would go home with five, ten dollars on a slow night because we used to Work. We used to open five days a week at a time until we opened seven days a week. And I told us, I hate them. Um, why don't you let me open the kitchen? You know, um, and I'll pay you every month. At the time, there was a gentleman club next to our club.

Speaker A: Okay. Feed the horny boys coming out.

Speaker B: Yeah. Ah. And then I said, you know, that that's gonna be a new plus. All this I'm trying to explain to Hayden in a book in English. I mean, the worst of the worst. But at the time, Hayden speak Hidden's country, they had speaking French, but we will be communicate in French.

Speaker A: What is Ham's country or Tunisia? Tunisia, yeah.

Speaker B: Next to Morocco. And communication was very bad.

Speaker A: Well, how. What did he think about it, though? I mean, was it an idea? Were you able to portray the idea enough for him to.

Speaker B: Yeah. So I talked to him and he said, let me talk. Let me think about it. He told me, let me think about it. And I said, okay. In a month passed by, you haven't said anything. And I remembered my sister used to come pick me up every night. So I told three in the morning, she had to wake up and pick me up for one night. And by the way, there was a country club, country dance club I was working at. You know, it's like, oh, yeah, only. I mean, you know, only guy that's like, doesn't speak English from a foreign country, you know. Right. Uh, and basically did to the country, you know, Texas world. Yeah.

Speaker A: This is a whole different.

Speaker B: Whole different.

Speaker A: Whole different culture, man. Here.

Speaker B: Oh, my God.

Speaker A: In the great state of Texas, trying to. To make his way. He doesn't quite, uh, fit in just yet.

Speaker B: The problem is, I don't speak English. People will walk into me having a boring conversation with me. Trying to have a conversation with me. And I don't understand, uh, the whole conversation, like, you know.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I'm just picking words here and there just to kind of like, have an idea what the other person is trying to.

Speaker A: I understand that. I had a guy, actually completely off topic, and I'm gonna go there. I was driving up 35 to Waco to my office, and there was a guy that I saw, um, pulled over on the side of the road, um, and his car was overheated. And I saw him pouring water into his. His radiator from. From a water bottle, and then getting back in and driving. Well, then I hit the, uh, the famous, infamous i35 traffic, and I saw this guy again pulling over right there and getting out with this little water bottle. And I, I thought, you know what? This guy needs a little help. You show him a little bit of a Texas hospitality, some southern hospitality. So I pulled over to help him and same situation, you know, very, very little English.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, the language barrier was huge. And we, I, uh, told him, you know, let's, let's go get you some, some antifreeze. Let's take care of your core. And we could only understand maybe every 10 words of each other. Yeah, I did know he just moved into Texas. He had made a long trip from Africa, went to Mexico, from Mexico to California. And just like every other California, uh, person, he. He moved straight street from California to Austin. Go figure. I mean, that, that's like their favorite place to go, as you know. Um, and now he, he was moving to Dallas and he ran into some trouble. Now, uh, it, it was very hard to understand each other, but, uh, he had great intentions. And it seemed like it was kind of the same dream. Get out of his home country, third world country, get into America and start something new. So I, I can immediately. I did think of you, you know, so I'm helping him get started, get situated. We didn't get any antifreeze in his car. We got it all taken care of and he took off, going back up to 35. Now I was about two hours late to work that day, but it's okay. I never mind stopping and helping someone. Not trying to, you know, put pen of rose on my nose. Just, Just trying to relate here. I, um, could see the frustration, the difficulty, uh, what he was so afraid of. Um, I mean, it. Honestly, it looked like he was scared while he was talking to me. He was, he was just trying to be a Texan, trying to fit in, trying to make a move in his life. Um, so you have this difficulty?

Speaker B: I did.

Speaker A: You're trying to start a kitchen.

Speaker B: Yeah, with.

Speaker A: Hate him. Um, so what happened that night?

Speaker B: So, um, like I was telling you, my sister used to come pick me up every night after work. So one night she felt she fell asleep. Yeah, I keep calling her, you know,

Speaker A: she's not answering the phone. She says, sleeps better than you, Jacques. And

Speaker B: three on three. 30, 3:30 in the morning, club is done, everybody's on the way. So I'm trying to, like, find somebody to give me a ride. But like I said, I was still new and nobody will give me a ride home. And I was sitting outside the club. It was freezing. It was a bit of like winter, um, time.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: It was kind of freezing.

Speaker A: And so Here in the winter time, Texas does get cold. If you're not from Texas and you're listening to this, uh, there's areas where it's. It's very humid. And that humidity mixed with the, the coldness, it changes everything. I say that, don't judge us. We're not used to, you know, we don't live in Minnesota. We don't live in New York where it's cold all the time. If it gets 30 degrees and it's. It's 85 humidity, it's freaking cold. Leave me alone. Okay. Uh, so Jacques, cold. He's looking, Looking for a ride. He can't speak English.

Speaker B: And then that night, I was. When I was sitting outside, keep calling my sister, hopefully, like, hoping that she's answering the phone. She answered the phone. And let's. I would say like 20 minutes later, Hayden, um, came out of his office because he had to forget something on his truck. And he's like, what are you doing outside? I'm like, I cannot find a ride. I'm calling my sister. She's not answering the phone. Come on, get up, get. Pop up in the truck. Let's go. I'll take you home. He actually gave me a ride that night. And I remembered the next. The following day. I mean, it was only following day that, that day when. I think the following day he came to my house, it was like noon. He called me, what are you doing? I said, I'm not doing anything. Said, come on outside. Got ready. He took me to Sam's club, and he bought everything that I needed for the kitchen. But like burgers, um, buns, wings, fries, a few things that I need, appliance that I need for the kitchen. The kitchen was ready to go. We just needed a few things, you know?

Speaker A: Right, right.

Speaker B: And he sent me, okay, I'm gonna. I think he spent like 1, $500. This is. Go ahead, start the kitchen. The kitchen. Sell food. And don't worry about paying me right now. But of course, as you go, can start paying me. To me, that was mind blowing. That was like gold.

Speaker A: Right? This is where Jacques had the platform to take off.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Go to space.

Speaker B: I'm like, did he really did that for me?

Speaker A: Right. I mean, that's. It's a simple, simple gesture.

Speaker B: Oh, my God.

Speaker A: And it's, it's. It's all the help Jacques needed.

Speaker B: In my head at the time when he told me to worry about. Pay me right now. I'm like, in my head, I'm like,

Speaker A: hell, I'm gonna pay you right Right.

Speaker B: My goal is to pay you.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And that night, went back to the kitchen. I wasn't even a good cook. He didn't want to help me say, okay, here in America, people like burgers, they like fries, they like twins, especially if they're drinking. Right. Uh, they like greasy food. Mhm. I even went on YouTube trying to look how to make burgers and everything.

Speaker A: So we're starting the kitchen based off of what YouTube tells you.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And, and the fact that, that at the time America was.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Into the fat food when they're drinking, not knowing how to cook, not having the money to buy anything to, uh, get started. Him helps him. He, he's learning how to cook from YouTube with the food choices that every drunk person loves. Okay.

Speaker B: And then the first night, he helped me. He helped me. You know, we cooked together because he had been here forever, I mean, before me. And then he told me how to flip the burgers, how to the fries that cook the chicken temperature and stuff like that. He actually took me, get me my, um, food handler license.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Because you have to have it. And then I was kind of nervous at the time. I was. Still had a visa. I mean, when I found out, they told me, all you need is my id. I got my passport, give me my passport. I went to get the class and boom, good to go.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: I was like, okay, that's good. That's a very good start. Um, now a few days later, I start selling food. Every time somebody ordered food, that was the most drawable thing for me. You know, they're eating my food. I call my mom. I said, mom, I have a kitchen. You know, the boss man let me open the kitchen. He told me I can, you know, I can pay him later and everything. That was the, the most beautiful thing. And that's not sending. I'll be able to send money to Haiti because that's one of the things immigrants do.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: When they come to the U.S. that

Speaker A: was the main goal.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's the main goal is you

Speaker A: have to send money, take care of the family. Not just the family. Uh, but m. As we talked earlier, every mouth on the street, yeah, you

Speaker B: have to send money home. That's pretty much Haiti survived based on the people that lives here in the, in the, in the U.S. right. That's how the country can survive. That's how the country's been surviving. So,

Speaker A: so we, we, we, we. We're cooking now. Cooking at the bar.

Speaker B: At the bar.

Speaker A: Tell me, how did it go once you started cooking? Did it take off? Were you able to pay back Tatum?

Speaker B: Yes. Yes, I was able to pay back. Hit him, um, I think within three months, because I was. Every week I give him some money. I would give him 50. I'll give him, you know, 100. But the bar I was working wasn't as busy yet, because sometimes we only have, like, five, 10 customers, right? You know, and probably two or three of them will buy something. And that's when I start. Okay, I need to come up with something. I told you there was a gentleman club next to us, right? So I went and talked to the manager. I said, I see, like, you know, every night, I see, like, pizza coming, uh, in, maybe your customers ordering pizza and stuff like that. Why don't you let me sell food to your place? I don't need none of a customer. I won't be a competition. I'm just actually taking order. I will give them my number. They can order to a text message, and I will deliver it to. They don't have to. They don't even have to come to the club and pick it up. I would deliver it.

Speaker A: You're building an American hustle here.

Speaker B: Of course.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: And it was like, I don't know. I'll think about it. Few weeks passed by, he never called me. And one night, I was sitting from the club, I ended up meeting the owner of the Gentleman Club. And I introduced myself. And at the time, I'm really stuck picking up English, like, left and right. You know, I'm trying. I. I'm training myself. When I go home, I'm watching cartoon with subtitle, right?

Speaker A: Okay. You know, that's a whole different order.

Speaker B: I'm trying my best, and I want to talk to the owner, say, hey, my name is Jacques, blah, blah. Um, I worked over there at the club, and I cook and everything. I have this restaurant. I have burgers and everything. I think that would be very good for your customers. That's ordering pizza. It takes, like, an hour, 45 minutes. Imagine, like, they have the food, takes, like, 15 minutes to cook. Bring it to them, right? The more they eat, the more they drink and away. And he said, you know what? That's a good idea. Called the manager, said, from now on, this guy gonna be selling food at the club. No charge.

Speaker A: No charge.

Speaker B: He didn't even charge me.

Speaker A: Oh, dude. I guess it's just a, uh, level of customer service.

Speaker B: He didn't even charge me to sell food at this club. Okay? He told me, go ahead, do it.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And that was. That was. That was it. That was it for me.

Speaker A: So did this gentleman's club, did it already have food or were you.

Speaker B: No. Did he have any food?

Speaker A: You were allowing him to offer another service.

Speaker B: So yeah. So basically I told him I'm gonna sell food to his customers.

Speaker A: Okay. You know, which is, which is another perk of going to this guy's gentleman's club.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I don't know the area. Was there a lot of gentleman's clubs?

Speaker B: No, no, actually that's a, I mean it's actually it's an. It's in Nolanville.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: But in a way it's in Harker Heights because it's a few hundred feet from newly been to Harker Heights city limit.

Speaker A: Right, right.

Speaker B: You see? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker A: So did it take off?

Speaker B: Oh yeah. They always have business every night. They'll open seven days a week.

Speaker A: You start, you start selling to the gentleman's club. And now your, your restaurant idea for the bar.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Is actually taking off because the gentleman's club next door.

Speaker B: Next door. Booms. Um, Booms. And, and they were, even though they were, they were busy, the club at the time was still like having like only on Saturday. On Friday and Saturday we had like a full house. Every other day is like something like 20 people, 50 people throughout the night, you know, in and out. But the gentleman's club, I'm Talking about from 10, 11 o' clock till 2 in the morning even they are uh, busy. But they keep me busy.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: You see. So now because when they go, they stay there for like three, four hours.

Speaker A: So now you're making profit.

Speaker B: Oh, I'm making profit.

Speaker A: You're making profit. Decent money.

Speaker B: Here I was making this, I was making more money with the strip club than the club I was working at.

Speaker A: Okay. You know how to Hayden feel about that?

Speaker B: I mean, very good. He was happy. I wish I got to pay him back. Plus I was giving him. We had to work at some deal. A uh, deal where I pay him either 15 or 10, I don't remember, out of myself every night.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Pretty much.

Speaker A: Right. So he loves the idea.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And plus he just wants to see succeed.

Speaker B: Succeed. It's awesome. He wasn't doing it for the money.

Speaker A: Heck of a guy there. Oh man, you can't find those kinds of guys anymore.

Speaker B: I mean that's to me I thought this guy, I'm like whatever he wants. I thought he didn't. Whatever he wants. Sometimes I used to be like going home at four in the morning, five in the morning and we have things to do like about eight Nine o'. Clock. I'll, I'll. What is it? What do you want?

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: Because you don't, you don't see that, right? I mean, to me, I mean, that was like,

Speaker A: I mean, he's, he's, he's taking care of it. Oh, he's, he's your biggest.

Speaker B: He was taking a big risk because at the time I didn't have legally papers.

Speaker A: Right. You know, uh, what did your sister think about this?

Speaker B: Oh, my sister. I mean, course she was happy for me.

Speaker A: Did you ever buy a car to where she hadn't have to wake up in the middle of the night? No.

Speaker B: No. What, what, what I end up doing because I start, because me and Hayden start becoming friends because, um, that's when like, uh, everybody's like, start asking questions because they, at, at times, at the time, they saw me as a coworker.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And me and Hayden started hanging out together.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Like, picking me up every day, hanging out, friendship forming, like, like what's going on now, you know, and when I was doing the cooking and everything and I was learning how to bartend into. At a certain time in my old manager at the time, I used to follow him around, see how he does things with the register, picking up things, you know.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Uh, because me, I told you when I came here, I wanted to be like something, somewhere. I had a purpose, I had a goal.

Speaker A: Right, Well, I mean, you're fulfilling it at this point. So we went, we went just to recap, Haiti to Florida to Texas with the sister doing nothing, makes a big change, gets a job from his sister's friend. Hate him is, is a bartender's at this Hayden's bar. Takes that, uh, Hate him. Helps him out, gives him 500, 550 in food to start up in the kitchen that's attached to the bar that's not being used. Jacques then takes that and starts selling to the bar and then sells to the next door neighbor, which is a gentleman's club. And he's becoming friends with Hate him. Ah. So, so where, where does this wrap in? How does this progress into owning a coffee shop? So, um, the cafe I should.

Speaker B: Coffee. Yeah. So from there, you know, I stopped making money, saving money, and I thought working on my, um, paperworks, you know, and you know, had lawyer foul. I had met my first wife and you know, got married, talking my paperworks and stuff like that. And then in 2000 and of course after that, after me owning the. I mean, start working in the, the kitchen and stuff like that. The kitchen was doing so Good. I end up, I ended up hiring someone.

Speaker A: So you have an employee?

Speaker B: I have an employee.

Speaker A: Okay. You're rolling, man.

Speaker B: Employee. Someone working for me.

Speaker A: So this is, this is the American dream building everything he dreamed of is happening at this point.

Speaker B: At this point.

Speaker A: And you're sending money back home to Haiti?

Speaker B: Oh, I'm already sending money back home. I'm helping my sister with the bills. Um, I start saving money when I first got my first thousand dollars in my bank account and I used to go to heb. Uh, I used to go to after work, I used to buy those little frozen fruit noodles, like cheap, the $14, I'll, I'll have two bags in my hands, you know.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Because I, I save, I, I save out. I will not buy anything that I don't need.

Speaker A: So you, you're a tight ass, Tammy.

Speaker B: Oh, I would buy in if I, if I, Only if I need it. If I don't need it.

Speaker A: If you don't need it, you don't buy.

Speaker B: I don't buy it.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So I kind of like conduct myself, give myself a discipline. Don't buy stuff just to buy them, just do. Because you have to, you know. Right, right, I will.

Speaker A: So we're saving to move forward here

Speaker B: because, you know, you're just kind of things like in Florida. There's a big difference between Florida and Texas.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Us. Uh, me as a Haitian in Florida, if I'm going to Florida right now, I will not wear this to Floyd.

Speaker A: What? He's wearing jeans and a T shirt.

Speaker B: Yeah. In Florida is dressed to a press.

Speaker A: Right. So like a suit and tie.

Speaker B: He said, no, you have to be

Speaker A: like, are we way more flashy?

Speaker B: More flashy? It's a Gucci, it's easy, red bottoms. You know, it's something like among Haitians you have to, hey, I got it right. You know, because some, some people in Florida, they're driving like a Range Rover or G wagon and they live in a small apartment.

Speaker A: So. So we, we have to be. If we're, if we're Haitian, we have to be. And I said Haitian, we have to be flash. We have to show that we are doing well.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: But in Texas we can be yourself.

Speaker B: Oh yeah. When I bring my friends to. I brought my friends from New York. Right? From New York. And then he told me, I told him, yeah, we're gonna go out tonight, go get ready. Came from my room, I got the T shirt, jeans, you know, regular tennis shoes. And he's like, I thought you said we're gonna go Ready, get ready. I said, yeah, I'm ready. It's like, is that how you're gonna go out? I said, yeah, we're just gonna go to the Domain in Austin. We're gonna have a good time.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: And he's like, all matched up. It's like, you know, like bling, bling, everything.

Speaker A: Like a fly.

Speaker B: Oh, looking fly. I'm like, dude, why is the. I said, why you dress up so nice?

Speaker A: Yes. You go to a store in New York.

Speaker B: You cannot do that in New York. You know, I said, uh, here in Texas, everybody you're gonna see people with flip flop.

Speaker A: If you're gonna be in Texas, be Texas.

Speaker B: I said, be comfortable.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And actually that night, he was mindblowing. It was like, I said, look, you don't. Who. You don't have to impress anybody. I mean, that's one of the thing I loved about Texas. When I've moved here, I didn't have to impress anybody.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I could be myself. One day I can come to work with something very nice, and the next day I just want to wear like something, you know, comfortable.

Speaker A: Right, right.

Speaker B: And that's one of the thing. Uh, look at, you got shorts and

Speaker A: you know, fun fact, before I moved down here, I did not wear shorts. I wore blue jeans every day. Blue jeans, they were pressed. I wore boots. I wore a, uh, nice button down shirt.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Came down here and it is hot. Uh, hot, hot, hot. Okay, so we are comfortable and we're in Texas.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: What, what is. I want to know how, how did we get to Jerusalem?

Speaker B: Okay. Now in 2012, um, he, um, decided to sell everything. At the time, he had three clubs.

Speaker A: Okay. So sold all his clubs.

Speaker B: Clubs. We're in the process.

Speaker A: Down with the late nights.

Speaker B: Late nights. Because that's like, you know, fan building families and stuff like that.

Speaker A: You went from late nights to early mornings.

Speaker B: Yeah, for like three. Three years. The first three years. Yeah. I never, I don't remember one day that I went to bed at ten o' clock at night.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: It was like five in the morning. Six in the morning. Right. Basically, um, done with the club business. Me and him were trying to figure out what we're gonna do because we have become so close friends now.

Speaker A: Now you guys are gonna become business partners.

Speaker B: Yeah. So, like, what we gonna do?

Speaker A: You know, he knows you have a great mind on you because you opened up a kitchen and it's bar.

Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, he made us.

Speaker A: You made his bar better.

Speaker B: I become his manager too.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: I forgot to tell you. I forget. I Become his manager. I was handling all three clubs at the same time.

Speaker A: Okay. Now you're like the top ranking guy inside of.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. I become the. His right hand man.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Like everything goes through me and I uh, approach to him.

Speaker A: So he trusts you. Business mind on you.

Speaker B: That's the thing like that.

Speaker A: Even you manage people well. I've seen you chew into these people. That's one of the things awesome baristas

Speaker B: you have in business. You have. That's the number one key choice. Mhm. In business you can find somebody that you can trust enough just to.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Operate a business.

Speaker A: It's hard to find anyone you can, you can trust like that.

Speaker B: And reliable. Reliable Trust and reliable.

Speaker A: Rightfully. Hayden wants to make you a business partner and you're looking for something to do

Speaker B: if it. The thing is, um, like it wasn't about business partner anymore between me and Hayden. I think it was more like um, we had building such a friendship where I could have, I could have decided to stay because whoever he had sold the bar to wanted me to stay.

Speaker A: Okay. You see, right.

Speaker B: I had a guaranteed job, which is.

Speaker A: But your loyalty's lay with my loyalty.

Speaker B: You know, my loyalty was first because even he didn't told me, dude, you see this guy, do not touch him. Talk to him. Because part of the contract they were like, hey, he's staying.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Uh, we're buying the club and I want him to stay.

Speaker A: So they want you to be a part of the package too.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. The guy that bought the clubs, you're

Speaker A: no longer in a free country. You have to, you know, but it's not gonna fly.

Speaker B: No, he doesn't say this guy. There's no amount of money that can buy this guy.

Speaker A: Right, right.

Speaker B: And he then was like. And I remember, um, how we start here, how we find this place. Hayden, we used to sell sausage, you know, barbecue, you know, Texas, of course, grilled in bar. I mean sausage and stuff. You have to, you have to. So, um, when he one day he then came to buy sausages at. Eleanor. Eleanor. There used to be like a sausage place back, back here behind Arusha, across from Millers.

Speaker A: Okay. Is that still. There's still a meat market there. Is that the same place?

Speaker B: No, they, they move. Millers bought the property so they moved somewhere else. Like close to Texan Insurance somewhere.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: On, on, on Central.

Speaker A: The other insurance guy.

Speaker B: Yeah. And then.

Speaker A: I'm just kidding.

Speaker B: He them went and get some sausage there and make a U turn.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And he saw the for sale by owner. He called the Guy the same day,

Speaker A: the same time in the building that you're in right now.

Speaker B: Right now. And he said, yeah, actually, I'm here. You want to come and see the. The place? And I said, yeah, I'm actually right there outside. And they then walked in. He saw the building, fell in love with it, called me as I come to Belton. Came to Belton.

Speaker A: So now. Now you've got a location.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, it was a coffee shop.

Speaker B: Before it was a coffee shop, it was a roasting company.

Speaker A: Roasting company?

Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.

Speaker A: And is. Is that where he found out? I mean, obviously, Hayden didn't have much experience with roasting.

Speaker B: Nothing, but hate him. Used to work in the coffee shop before he came in this country. That was his first job.

Speaker A: He has a little. A little bit of coffee experience already.

Speaker B: Already.

Speaker A: He sees that now the idea is to open up a, uh, coffee shop. Cafe.

Speaker B: Cafe, yeah. And then. So while we were closing on the deal, which is on the clubs, Right. And we were working on this. On, um, buying this place at the same time. Okay, so. And.

Speaker A: And you got this place for a good deal.

Speaker B: We had a good deal at the time. You know, um, doesn't they have downtown building that barely had anything? Right. It was a ghost town to me. I mean.

Speaker A: Right. Everything was in Slater still.

Speaker B: Yes. The.

Speaker A: The hit five, six miles down the road, and that's very popular for tourists. And it's kind of. Belton has blown up, and I see more and more people.

Speaker B: Oh, yeah.

Speaker A: So. So now you've got a location. You've got a new idea for business.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: And you guys just opened up Arushas. Now, where did the name Arushas come from? Are you sure? Uh, Are you sure?

Speaker B: Okay. The name, at the very first, you know, we were looking at, um, something related to coffee. Okay. Orisha. There's a Russia from Tanzania. It's a town from Tanzania and Africa where they grow coffee called Arusha in a town called Arusha.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: And Arusha at the time was like one of the, I think number. I would say top five best coffee.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: You know, so.

Speaker A: So Arushas is a, uh. The name of this business is based off of the name of a type of drink and coffee beans, which is named also after the town.

Speaker B: The town? Yes.

Speaker A: In. In Tasmania.

Speaker B: Tanzania.

Speaker A: Tanzania, yeah.

Speaker B: Tanzania.

Speaker A: Africa.

Speaker B: Africa. Okay. And so down the road, we found the name and names. We like the name and everything. We start, basically the business. We start and we go before they start the business. The owner, the previous owner was doing the. Was Roasting coffee before.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: So we talked to him and said, hey, we're going to keep up the, we can keep up. We're going to keep the business. We're not going to change the business which is going to grow the business. We're going to buy the building with the kind of. The business.

Speaker A: Right, right.

Speaker B: With the boosting machine and few things. He had, you had a little bit

Speaker A: of a start already there.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: You know, uh, a uh, product that's

Speaker B: somewhat m. Trusted that needs that, that needs a little bit more.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: You know, because we see, we saw the UMHB was there down the street and the place is huge.

Speaker A: So UMHB is the local college here in Belton. Yes, University of Mary Harden, Baylor. Uh, they excel with the nursing school. I believe their business school is very good. It's a beautiful campus.

Speaker B: Beautiful, beautiful campus.

Speaker A: Okay, so uh, it's a good idea. You get started. And you, you, did you make any changes? I mean.

Speaker B: Yeah, no, the buildings was, you know, it's kind of older building. One of the oldest building in Belton too. And we change few things. The floor we had put money on the floor because it was kind of tilted a little bit. So we had to change. Like we placed some of the beams. Um. Oh, we've done a lot of work.

Speaker A: Yeah. I mean this is, this is a very, very old building.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, you know how old this building

Speaker B: is over, I think 130, 138 years.

Speaker A: So it's, it's limestone on the outside. I believe it's kind of like a stone appearance on the outside. Uh, and, and you come inside and it still, still has a very old feel. It's very neat, uh, to say the very least. So you have this classic feeling now. You, you've got uh, some entrepreneurs coming into a coffee shop here, uh, that they just bought. They're, they're keeping the same idea of the business but they're going to make it better.

Speaker B: Better. Yeah. That was the whole idea.

Speaker A: So how, how did you take a roasting company.

Speaker B: Hm.

Speaker A: And just make it better.

Speaker B: Okay. Just like I like, like, like, like I started my kitchen. Mhm. Remember I told you I uh, knew nothing about American food and burgers.

Speaker A: So we got the YouTube back out.

Speaker B: I know, but the previous owner, he trained me for, I said two months, two or three months how to roast coffee. And again I start learning on my own YouTube. YouTube is like a whole different university by itself, of course.

Speaker A: I've already built the engine of it.3 liter Ford based off of YouTube, of course.

Speaker B: So I mean, we had made a plenty of mistake. We had, we knew nothing. I mean, I remembered we hired someone that previously work in coffee shop. I pretty much show Starbucks too, you know.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And then we hired him for 24 hours just to train us. I had to learn everything and not even 24 hours for one day. Okay, write down everything and then start making coffee here and there and roasting coffee every day. Made my own mistakes. I burned so many batch of coffee and. And I learned from there and I become it. Become natural for me.

Speaker A: Well, you learn from the mistakes you made, of course. So what we're hearing is he made a ton of them. So you can pretty well say he's a master now.

Speaker B: Yeah. Um, so we started the business. We actually like, changed few things on the inside, um, countertop and, you know, structure and everything. Um, so we saw it as a coffee. Coffee shop. Coffee shop. So just coffee? At first it was coffee and pastries. Coffee and pastries.

Speaker A: Pastries made in the house?

Speaker B: No.

Speaker A: No. Okay, so we're buying, we're buying pastries. Are we buying them locally? Are we buying them?

Speaker B: Um, so basically we have a supplier.

Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, just, just, just a, uh, just a supplier.

Speaker B: Supplier which is by the top of the chain, basically. Good stuff, but good product. And we start as a coffee shop, roasting coffee and selling the drinks. Starting pretty much slow. Like I told you, uh, when we first came in Belton, Belton had pretty much anything.

Speaker A: Right now you're in an old cowboy.

Speaker B: Yes. But the really one thing that we had appreciated in Belton, we love in Belting. The people in Belton is so nice. Really nice. Like in a way, like when me and Hayden, we start. We were working in the inside of the building. People were like, you know, driving by or walk by the building. They'll say hi to us. The way they're welcoming us right to the community.

Speaker A: Very warm, warm feeling.

Speaker B: Me and H, we're looking at each other. I mean, is it okay? You know, are we in the right area? I mean, we've never seen that before.

Speaker A: Because it's a change you get when you move from a next, uh, door neighbor to a gentleman club.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Family oriented.

Speaker B: Big difference. Big difference. And then, um, one of the things when we start the business, we start the business actually start. Took enough from word to mouth, you know. I remember there used to be like some, uh, some people that used to come in. I heard a Haitian in Belton, you

Speaker A: know, Gotta see the Haitian.

Speaker B: You gotta see the Haitians, you know.

Speaker A: All right, let me, let Me. Let me stop you there for a second. Um, I have a burning question in my head and it's. It's distracting me. I need to know. So in your logo, I'm going back to the name of the. Of the entire company. Right? So we know Arusha is a town. We know that it's also a drink in that town, a coffee drink in that town. Uh, but in your logo, it. It's a U R or a R U. And then there's. There's a space and then it's Sha. So break that down for M. Me. Why, why. Why do you break it into two different parts for one word? I mean, that sounds like. It's just.

Speaker B: Yeah. So we. Throughout the year we come up, we came to a little situation where when people were putting Arusha, they will take them straight to Tanzania.

Speaker A: Okay. You see, people already knew about it.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. When you say if you Google Arusha, you will take you. It will give you Tanzania, the country of Tanzania.

Speaker A: Okay. So Google was now not taking people to your coffee shop, but taking them to Africa.

Speaker B: Sometimes it really depends, I guess. Well, how you.

Speaker A: How you word it, Deterring enough people to where it's like, all right, yeah, we've got to re evaluate this. So you put a space in between the two.

Speaker B: So, so what we did is. And it was like, yeah, why every time Google Arusha and give me some place in Africa, So it kind of become a problem.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: So. So we were lucky enough. So it says Arusha is spelled A R U S H A. Right. But from Arusha itself. S H A mean, uh, it's a Creole language. I mean sling from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I mean, precious. Okay, so when we separate the. The ar by itself and you in the middle and Sha, so basically is asking your question, are you sure? Are you precious? So we still keep the same.

Speaker A: That is awesome.

Speaker B: You know?

Speaker A: Awesome.

Speaker B: We still keep the same thing, which is good. Anyhow, Arusha by itself has a coffee meaning behind it.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: At the same time, when you separate the word, which is shah by itself. The U by itself. And it also in a sling. Are you sure? Are you precious? So shah becomes. Right. Okay, the logo shots. Precious.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Are you precious? Are you beautiful? Are you pretty?

Speaker A: You know, that is one of the neatest breakdowns.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: You know. You know, it's kind of. So in Belton, I'm seeing that kind of be more of a. A coincidental thing. So, uh, in the I'm Meraki episode, same thing.

Speaker B: They.

Speaker A: They Broke down the, the entire name, the, the logo and the meaning of it. Right? But there's. Theirs was related to Greek. Now, now Jacques here, he broke down Arusha and to. Are you sure? Are you precious? That is, that is as cool. It's like these names are actually, you know, deeply thought about and broken down. That's, uh, very, very neat. Of course, in a different language. And it's unique to your past, your heritage, of course. Love it. Love it. Okay, so I'm m sitting here, man, and, uh, I keep, I keep getting a big whiff of coffee and the roasting and. Oh, my gosh, it smells amazing. It's got this thick aroma here of, uh, you know, you know, when you go to a great, A great coffee spot and one of the best things is the smell. And I keep smelling this coffee. It smells like you guys perfected the, the actual roasting process. Uh, I can't, I can't break that down enough. You, you have to get here. You've got to smell it now. But there's something else going on. Before I came in here to do the podcast, uh, I was talking with Hate Them and I was talking with Jacques, and they, they're trying out a new taco. They sell tacos here at this shop. So they, they did do coffee and, and roasting at first, and then they opened up the, the tacos. So they're trying a new taco right now. I, uh, can tell you I got a sneak peek. If that's the final recipe, I may switch from the taco I already get. But there are tacos here and they are freaking unreal. Tell me how and why. Why did you do tacos?

Speaker B: Okay. Um, I think I would. I want to go back a little bit.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Um, the idea of Arusha Ayusha and of the business behind the business, the main idea is to give our customer the best, freshest coffee beans or grind coffee you can ever find. So the theme is to have fresh roasted coffee every week. So I'll roast enough coffee, just enough for the week and start. Start over again. Okay. Uh, so you're not gonna come here and buy your. You're not gonna buy a. A drink. And the coffee that's gonna be gonna be drinking is gonna be freshly roasted, like a weekly.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: You know, roasted coffee. And if you want to take a bag home, it's gonna be, I'll say, a, uh, few days. Okay, so freshly worsted coffee.

Speaker A: What is the normal coffee that, that we buy? Is it. How old do you think it is?

Speaker B: It's not going to be more than one week.

Speaker A: It's not gonna be one week.

Speaker B: It's not gonna be more than one week. Okay, so basically I'll. Sometimes I'll risk twice a week. It depends the sales.

Speaker A: So here the customers are getting extremely fresh coffee.

Speaker B: That's the whole idea. That's the number one thing.

Speaker A: Uh, I'm telling. I'm telling you as a listener, you. You taste it. So, uh, you had the idea of

Speaker B: fresh coffee, Fresh coffee, fresh roasted coffee. Like, fresh. You know, when you comes in here, you buy. You want to buy. You want to give somebody a bag of coffee, right? It's not going to be more than a week old.

Speaker A: That's awesome.

Speaker B: We are only just. If I'm out, I'm out. I'm sorry. Hey, you have Ethiopian. You have this. No, I'm sorry, I'm gonna risk tomorrow. You can come tomorrow because I'm not gonna risk just a bunch of coffee and just right, you know, leave it right out, let it ride out and everything. And that's one of the biggest cell markup. You know, we're gonna. You're gonna come to Arisha. You're gonna. You can buy a bag of freshly roasted coffee. And the other experience we have also we bring. We m. You. You can actually, um, have a variety of different country. We buy coffee from, I think, like 10 to 15 different countries. So you can get coffee from Sumatra, um, Brazil, Guatemala, M. Colombia, Ethiopia, Mexico. So it's a different. You can have experience a different culture every day. You can come in and say, okay, I want. Today I want to try Brazil. Tomorrow I want to try Mexico. I want to try.

Speaker A: So what is your favorite?

Speaker B: Personally, my favorite is actually Mexican. It's a Mexican Chiapas coffee. It's really good, very buttery. It's very nice, very nutty. It's one of my favorite. And of course, we have the Ethiopian Ara. It's beautiful. And, uh, robust. Really good.

Speaker A: I hear so much passion. You talking about coffee.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, so we. We have literally stepped into every business so far. We've made it better. And I mean, this is. This is how you build the American dream. What else did you do with the. With Arushas?

Speaker B: So, um, from coffee, at first, we started with coffee and pastry, and we bump it up with tea. We also have over 100 different tea that we sell to the coffee shop. So the whole idea is a mix of culture, you see, right? You can get coffee from different countries.

Speaker A: So it's a world market of. Of food, restaurants, coffee Shop. Yeah.

Speaker B: And we go for the tea. You can get coffee for tea from different countries, a lot of different flavors. And now we wanted to bring food.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: So when you come to Russia.

Speaker A: Past pastries.

Speaker B: Yeah, past pastries. When you go to Arisha, we got two foreigners, different countries, right? And you have the, you be able to taste coffee from up to 10, 15 different countries, cheese from God knows how many countries. Um, now the food, you hear taco. So when you eat taco, you think you, what do you see? Mexico, right? Mexican, basically.

Speaker A: Texas.

Speaker B: Texas, Texan. No Tex mix.

Speaker A: You know, Absolutely. Tacos are a huge thing here.

Speaker B: But we wanted to do something a little bit more different.

Speaker A: You see, what I noticed is it's, it's not like the Mexican street talkers. No, no, it's, it's, it's more, I feel more like French, uh, culture coming into it.

Speaker B: Yes. There's a little bit of. I want to clarify, when you, when you heard taco, you say, oh, these are tacos. Maybe like ground beef or fajitas. You know, we go a little bit overboard of just selling the tacos. When you come to Arisha and you wanna try tacos, the idea by the tacos is a little, A, uh, little bit of different culture. So you can come and you try it like um, a tikka masala. You know, when you go to Indian, you wear the tikka masala.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: So basically we have a tikka, which is you have the masala with the chicken, the rice and a taco. Bugogi and a taco. We have um, lamb, Mediterranean. We have like the, the um, kind ah, of like a salad in the bottom with lamb on top. And we have like Mardi ah, Gras. One of the taco called Mardi Gras, which is, have like a Louisiana Creole, New Orleans flavor.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Creole sauce, you know, with uh, the spices and everything.

Speaker A: I love everything.

Speaker B: Yeah. But the idea is you have a little bit of different culture on a taco.

Speaker A: So again, world market of tacos now.

Speaker B: Yes. So we have the coffee that's fresh, 1, fresh 1, 2.

Speaker A: From all over the world.

Speaker B: All over the world.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: And we have the food that's a little different culture in the food.

Speaker A: And tea.

Speaker B: And tea also. You know. And this is another thing we add too, when here in the music, the music is a. You have a mix of French, um, Spanish, Italian, um, Creole, Africa. So we blended in there all kind of music, you know, so you're still in the vibe of different culture.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: You know, the music. You could like your French after That you Spanish, Arabic, everything. Okay, so very cool vibe.

Speaker A: Like, like you come in, uh, there's quite a few people here, which, you know, it comes down to your growth, your business model, everything that you've done. The fresh coffee, the fresh tacos, the fresh tea, the music, the vibe, you know, and it's got, you know, it's a vibe. You would think because there's a college just on the street that it's nothing but college kids, and it's not. So I, I've actually, at Arusha's, I have sponsored events. Um, so we did coffee with the cops. This is where we do that. And we are actually going to set one up here very shortly. I need to reach out to, uh, my contact there and get that done. But, uh, I see a lot of people having business meetings here. I see a lot of people having, like, church meetings here. I know that the, The Chamber of Commerce. The Belton Chamber of Commerce meets here. Um, you know, a particular morning. I'm not going to give that away. I know that the college kids are here studying. I mean, it's. It's just the vibe is for everybody. Uh, I brought my family here several times. I've had numerous business meetings here. I've closed accounts here. Uh, I've written. I can't tell you how many policies in this building that just because it's a vibe that's very welcoming. So I think that's. That's something else that Arusha's has to offer is a very welcoming feeling. You were talking about that in Belton. You know, coming from where you were in Harper Heights, now in Belton, you. You have this. This welcoming feeling of a town, but particularly in this store, this coffee shop, this cafe, and it is a cafe. I'm not. I'm not just gonna say coffee shops. Now. We have. We have tacos introduced. I mean, that's not all they have. They have plenty of other things, but we have fresh coffee, we have fresh tea, we have. We have tacos from all over the world. Everything is from all over the world. And we have this atmosphere that is so welcoming. So tell me a little bit. So why. Why is it that I feel so welcome when I come in here?

Speaker B: That's. That's how. That's how the business took off. You know, that's one of the main reason the business took off. Uh, how? Our hospitality. Yeah, because I remember when I. We first started, we. The way we were welcoming people, we built a relationship with our first customer base, you know. Right. Uh, and they Ended up coming here every day.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: Uh, like for the first two years I was behind the counter, you know, barista and everything. Pretty much me and him, you know how to sell the business. You know, first few years, right. Put a lot of hours in the wheels, Turner, you know, and I developed this relationship. Like, like me and you become friends and now, uh, we having a brush. Disgusting.

Speaker A: Everyone knows here. When I moved to building, Jacques was my first friend. Um, then I watched. I'm a wallflower, so I watched as people walked in and I can't tell you how many people came, came up to jaw while they, they just came to cup of coffee and they, I mean they just, you know, they either gave um, him that they gave him knocks or they, they shook his hand. Um, a few people came in and just straight up started speaking French, you know. And I'm brand new here and I'm like, what the hell is going on? I don't know anything about Jack at this point. And you know, it was so quickly that, that Jacques and I actually started creating a relationship. So that relationship portion is so, so true. Uh, he does create a relationship with almost everybody.

Speaker B: Yeah, to me that's the, the base, the relationship, you guess your customers even of course, like in my country, in my culture, when you come to my house as my guests, the welcoming we

Speaker A: give you, like we know people from all over. I mean if they're on the street and they're hungry and they have good food, they come in.

Speaker B: So you give tea, cookies, you have to eat, you know, basically. And we had, we had something and uh, we still have it. I mean, we still have it. It's not in the wall. We used to have like um, a board that says, I don't remember the exact words where when you come to Arusha, if you don't have money and you feel hungry or thirsty, you go up to the counter and we will 100 serve you no money with no money.

Speaker A: So you're taking care of everybody.

Speaker B: Everybody. You can come to Arusha. You can come to Arusha. It doesn't matter if you have a thousand dollar suit or ten dollar T shirt M and you come and buy a coffee. You forget your wallet. You told me, hey, I forget my wallet. I don't know how many times that I've had people come in, in the counter over the years I've worked behind the counters and oh my God, I left my wallet. I'm sorry, I said, no, no, no, no, you got it. You can come if you want, if you can. If you want, you can come. But if not, it's on us and people will come back, let's say a week later. Hey, I promise you I didn't forget about you. Blah, blah, blah. I just like, I've been so busy. Here's. I want to pay.

Speaker A: So they ended up paying anyway.

Speaker B: End up paying. Some of them. They don't. When I say it's a nurse, it's 100 a nurse. Yeah, 100% a nurse.

Speaker A: And you're not sending some, some, uh, hounds down to go find them. No, no, you're just, you're just doing

Speaker B: something nice, Something like a hundred percent. It could be either me or hater behind the counter and we'll have the same answer. If you come in to the, to me say, jacques, I need a cup of coffee. I would get up and run, get your cup of coffee.

Speaker A: That is. Yeah. You know, and he's saying this, and as he's saying it, in my mind, I'm thinking of what I've seen here. And I have seen the, uh, you know, the 10 cent T shirts here, and I've seen the guys coming in full suits and I've seen the, the police, I've seen the military. I've seen just about everybody in this building at some point gathering for a great cup of, ah, freshly roasted coffee, eating some fantastic tacos. Um, and it's, everything he's saying is, is 100 honest and correct. Um, with that, I mean, I, I've been blown away by this business and then the way that it's, you know, it was started and how I've been treated here. And it's great to hear it, uh, from Jacques mouth, every bit of it. I mean, we've had some great conversations. I've been wanting to have Jacques on the show for a good while.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's true.

Speaker A: So, so many, so many interesting things. And uh, I promise you, if you come here and you talk to him and you want to have a good conversation, you can have one with him. Uh, that, that being said, I, I need to get another cup of coffee. I'm, I'm at that point. I'm at that point. I'm pretty thirsty.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: Uh, is there anything that you want to say to people that are interested in coming into Belton as a town? All together. I mean, what, what, what do you, what would you say?

Speaker B: All together? Um, and throughout the years, Belton had to have different coffee shops too.

Speaker A: I mean, you know, you kicked them all the curb. There's not enough coffee shop here except For. I mean, the thing is, basic white girl Starbucks i35.

Speaker B: It's good. It's good to have different, I mean, competition. It's good to have something I would love, well, my regular customer to say, you know what? I'm gonna. Today I wanna go to XY Coffee shop. You know, different vibe, be helping someone else. Like when Starbucks. I remember jokingly, um, when hit up started, it was like a year later, a year and a half later, and you know, there's a Starbucks right by the highway. And then we saw like, constructions, uh, you know, and meeting was like, man, that would be so funny. And Starbucks were coming down. I don't know, a month later, he'll call me, said, Jacques, you're not gonna believe this. I'm like, what? Remember when we're joking about Starbucks coming in town? Starbucks coming in town. And I'm gonna tell you that it

Speaker A: hurts you to help.

Speaker B: No, no, no, no. One of the things that make us unique and make us like, very, I mean, passionate of what we do is the fairest Starbucks came in town. The first. I would say the first two weeks. Everybody's excited. It's like any other, uh, business that's open for the first time. Everybody want to go.

Speaker A: Especially in a small town.

Speaker B: In a small town.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: I mean, Starbucks stayed busy, but enough. And again, I'm talking about customer service, the welcoming, the vibe.

Speaker A: You got a franchise versus a small business.

Speaker B: Small business. Um, it's not, it's different vibe.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And they're all coming back again. Yeah, they're all coming. They came back to. They missed the, the customer service, the welcoming. Hi, how you doing? You know, when, when I see someone that I will recognize, I see, I already know what they want or they like. And I already have the coffee ready.

Speaker A: So true. I came in last Friday night that I'm gonna. I said it earlier. Uh, I missed like the past two weeks. I got the COVID And I came in last Friday night for the first time, and I mean a long time. Then the guy behind the counter immediately recognized me, immediately knew what I wanted to drink. I do have a drink here that I drink all the time. Uh, the funny thing was it's how the drink was actually named after me. It's not. I'm a huge fan of the Tai Tai, which is just a pumped up espresso.

Speaker B: You know, it's actually named after, After A customer is a. Is a of a good friend of ours. His name is Ty. It is, and we call it Tai Tai because it's the way you drink the drink.

Speaker A: It's my favorite drink.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, so I drink a. Another customer that the family friend of Jacques or. Or was it hate him or Jock?

Speaker B: It's a customer. A customer like you come in and we end up seeing him and we become friends and he comes here every morning.

Speaker A: It's fantastic. That's. That's my drink. I just, I'm mad that Tai Tai, it's named after him and it's not named after me. I feel like I've earned that at this point. I'm here so much. Uh, they've got a, A few different drinks here that, that really, I mean, specialty stuff. You know, we're talking about difference between franchise and. And shop local. Which built in is shop local. I mean. Yeah, you can't get away from that. We talked about. I. Meraki girls, they talked about. It's. It's a very customer service oriented town. It's a very special town. Uh, very shop local. Uh, here. So I mean there's a drink here. It's called the uh, Cafe Affogato Avocado.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: I mean that's the first drink that Jacques showed me. What is it?

Speaker B: It's like ice cream with espresso on top.

Speaker A: They put a scoop of ice cream in a cup and they, they put espresso in the same cup. I, I was in love. Now I'm always on a diet, so I, I can't eat that, drink that all the time. Oh my gosh. It's good. I mean this is, this is one of those places that's so unique. You've just got to come in and check it out. So, um, back to the question. Yes.

Speaker B: So I want to say Belton is a great town.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Yes. There's a lot to explore now. Um, not just, not just, not just us as a cop. I mean the cafe, which is Arusha, there's a Russia, there's light. There's my giving tree. There's the board Republic.

Speaker A: My giving tree will be on soon.

Speaker B: Oh, thank you. Uh, that shots barbecue. You know, there's a lot of different places in.

Speaker A: So if you're going to give any business in Belton a shout out, who would it be?

Speaker B: Well, I would give it downtown Belton. I would give all the business owners, I mean, no shout out because, you know, because we all came through together. We all support each other community. Because it's not just like I, we pretty much know everybody that downtown Belton. As a business owner, you know, we kind of send everybody to everybody say, hey, check out this, check out that. If you want barbecue or if you want to drink, go this. If you want pizza, go here, go there. So we all do that because people will come to me. So. Oh, I was at the shops and they told me, like to come here.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Oh, I was at Millers. They come in to come here, you see. Right. Basically, I cannot, I wouldn't. I would say everybody, you know, so.

Speaker A: No, not one particular, not one particular person. Just experience.

Speaker B: It's experience building the Belt. And we have the, the creek down the street. And, um, we have market days, third Saturday of the month.

Speaker A: So the, the creek down the street, what he's referring to, um, just. Just kind of put an idea built in your head and I, I am, I'm hammering. Belted. I love this town. Uh, so there, there is a. It's actually, there's a small pocket of restaurants. There's the Gin on Nolan Creek. There's a little Mexican food place across the street. Then there's scores. Right. Of course, like a pizza bar. They, uh, hang out there almost every night, you know, and there's live music playing.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, there's a nice, uh, little massage parlor, um, the Kink, like, I don't know what you call it, where you, you know, you get your facials, you get everything done. Um, right there next to those. But what kind of steals your, your breath just down the stairs from these restaurants and then this little pocket, uh, which I would say is probably 300 yards away from, uh, from Arusha's is this beautiful little creek. Now, just about every day, especially, you know, weekends in the summer, you come out there and you look and you see families with their, their towels laid out and kids playing in this creek. Uh, and it's just so family oriented, so friendly, and it's beautiful, beautiful little area which is built into the extreme.

Speaker B: Oh, yeah.

Speaker A: So is it. You know, there's not like a huge franchise store right there by the creek. It's all small local businesses. You can't go wrong anywhere you eat over there. Um, although I would say you should get a taco from Arusha.

Speaker B: And very family oriented, um, Belton, you know, really very warm, welcoming. Um, we feel, I mean, like safe in a way where, like, you don't have to worry about shutting things.

Speaker A: It's kind of got the feeling where you can just leave your car unlocked.

Speaker B: Oh. Which is. I do not. Should I say that?

Speaker A: But which is.

Speaker B: I never.

Speaker A: Since I don't know. My car.

Speaker B: I never locked my car. Right. Um, since I've Been here sometimes, you know, it's just unbelievable.

Speaker A: Which is a true Texas hospitality.

Speaker B: Yeah. One time I remember there was a guy that parked right in front of a hall. I mean, the hallway. M and I. It was in front of me and the cops, they were like running the license plate. And to find the owner of the car to move it, I mean, they could have totally, like call a towing company and.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Or give him a ticket or something. Plus told the car.

Speaker A: It's a small town feeling.

Speaker B: I mean, that was mind blowing. When people say, hey, I cannot find a parking. I said, yeah, go park right there. Across the street or sides of the building. I don't see no parking space. Yeah, it's okay. This is Belton. You know, we don't have that where we have somebody like writing tickets everywhere. Because you, you know, you've got.

Speaker A: In Belton, you've got some, um, mom pop shops. At a bunch of them, you know, I say that we've got clothing stores like I'm Rocky, like Cochrane Blaring Pots. Um, we've got a nice little office store, um, Perry's office. Plus we've got barbecue like you wouldn't believe. And we've got great, great fresh roasted coffee, fresh tacos, fresh tea, fantastic stuff. Now you're gonna come. If you're from out of state and you're gonna go vacation at Dallas, you're gonna go vacation in Austin. Don't be silly. Take the drive. It's not going to kill you. Make it up to Belton and you're gonna, you're gonna see what a small town with real Texans feel like. That it's a whole different feeling. And you're going to actually experience Texas by coming here. You're going to see what shop local means. You're going to see how people treat each other. And I promise you, it's going to blow your mind. You're going to love it. So when you come, make sure that you come to Arusha's Coffee.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Cafe. Cafe. Keep that. Uh, Miller's Barbecue. Love Miller's Scopes Barbecue. Love Scopes. Uh, shop around. Go. Go to Cochrane. Blair and Pots. Go to Imaraki. Go to my Giving Tree. Uh, they're all, they're all, I mean, within one block of each other. Okay. Uh, go down, look at the creek. Spend some time and enjoy your time. Enjoy the people. And I bet you, you will enjoy this, this. This town. And you're gonna come back. In fact, you're gonna think about moving here. Maybe you'll be my neighbor. I don't know. Um, so Jacques, tell me, do you have anything else that you want out there?

Speaker B: Well, um, I, uh, I just want to meet new people. Yeah. Like I always do. It's always, you know, a pleasure to me for me to meet new people. Like I met you like a few months ago. I remember we met last year. We're trying to do the coffee with a cup and do the COVID We kind of like extended a little bit. But, um, yeah, this is one of the, this is one of the greatest things at my job where I get to meet new people and I get to, you know, exchange experience informations in life and stuff like that. And it's beautiful. You know, we get to sit down, drink a cup of coffee and, and talk about life, talk about business, about different things, which is amazing. So I just want to say thank you for inviting me for in your. And I love everything and thank you again.

Speaker A: It's been a real pleasure. Jacques, I've, uh, loved having you on the show. I'd love this show all together, man. This is, it's been interesting. Very intriguing hearing, you know, a third world country, the, the entire story of what was an immigrant, now as a citizen, uh, and how he built his life here. I can't, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you being on the show. Thank you so much.

Speaker B: Appreciate you.

Speaker A: Hopefully we can come back and talk again. That being said, guys, I appreciate you uh, listening to us and come back and we're gonna do it again. You guys, uh, stay safe and listen up. Thank you. Hey guys, thanks again for tuning in, listening to that episode. I really hope you enjoyed that. I mean it was a blast to make always fun listening to, to Jacques and his different stories, his tales, kind of how I came over here. Uh, I know he's happy to be where he's at. He definitely deserves a hard, hard working man. He's there all the time. So uh, if you guys are ever in Belton and I, I can't suggest enough why you should come. I strongly suggest that you go there. I, I really do. I think that you would absolutely love it. It's a great atmosphere, great family town. Uh, in that the cafe alone is just fantastic. Love it to death. Uh, if you want to hear more like this, please subscribe. Follow me. Um, I am on Instagram Top Texas Insurance podcast. I am on Facebook. I think that's under my actual agency, um, name which is the Clifford City Calling Agency. As for a little bit about insurance, I told you there would be some for Jacques. I've been trying to get his business. Now he told me a story of the guy he's with, and it's another agent, local agent to Belton. Uh, kind of went through a hard time, and the agent was there for him. You know, customer service. And if your agent is providing customer service for you, you need to start shopping around and finding someone that will. I'm not saying myself. I'm saying find you an insurance agent that works for you that you're not working for. You don't want to have to be doing all the work and doing essentially everything you can just for an insurance policy. You want a guy that's on top of it, that's helping you. If you have a down month, he helps you out. He's there for everything you need. If you have a guy that's just telling you, hey, fill out the information on the app, you know, maybe it's time to start shopping elsewhere. But that's my $0.02 for the day. I hope I, uh, see you listening again. Uh, this is, of course, non profit. This is just for fun. This is just for these business owners kind of getting a plug out there. So it, it means a ton to me that you, you even listen. Um, so until next time, guys, you, you be safe. And it's more.