Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathalia Gualpa.
Hi Nathalia, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Hello, my name is Nathalia, and this is my story. It all started when my family decided to move from New York to South Carolina and open Fratello’s Restaurant. My father has always been talented in the kitchen with his 30 + years of experience working in New York City, so we decided that a restaurant business would be great for the family. I started working when I was in the eighth grade of middle school in front of the house, helping my family to take care of the restaurant along with my siblings; having no experience at all being a manager at a young age was difficult, but I felt that it was something I had to do to help my family. Of course, being so young, I knew I would make many mistakes, which I did. But I don’t regret them because it has helped build my career as a restaurant owner now. We started our first restaurant in Roebuck, SC, in 2008, having faith that everything was going to be okay, but we also knew that it could easily go bad as well, but we tried and gave our best, and it worked. In 2012 we changed location to the east side of Spartanburg, where our loyal customers followed us and the local community welcomed us. So far, with my father as a main chef teaching his recipes to our staff and us, we have received many compliments for our homemade Italian food. In 2021 we decided to open our second location in Greenville. I am thrilled to make memories in Greenville with my family and hope for Greenville to love our food and service just as Spartanburg did.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Working through high school, I missed many experiences as a teenager, which at some point in my life, made me doubt myself about choosing to give up my high school years over the restaurant business. I would have done this again when I saw how much Fratellos Restaurant has grown. Covid-19 has been complicated for many businesses and people in general. Fratellos Restaurant had its ups and downs because my family and I had to work 90-plus hours weekly to keep the restaurant running with no staff due to how difficult it was to have staff at that time; it was stressful, frustrating, and depressing not to be able to know how to solve this problem. At some point, we were thinking about closing Fratellos Restaurant because we didn’t know what else to do. But again, as a family, we were able to surpass those difficult times, and we did something crazy: to open this second location during Covid time. As an entrepreneur, sometimes you must risk things and go for them. When you work for a career you love and have passion for, everything else works out.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I took the risk of opening a second location at Greenville in 2021 during Covid time with almost no staff, but so far, it’s going very well, and I am glad about my decision. Opening Fratellos Restaurant, in general, was a big risk because the location could have been better, and we needed to learn how to run a restaurant back in 2008.
Contact Info:
- Website: fratellossc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fratellosgreenville/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Fratellos-Greenville/100077262244312/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fratellos-greenville
