Today we’d like to introduce you to Terry Walden.
Hi Terry, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am a foodie and avid traveler. My father is retired Air Force and I lived in various states including most of my adolescence in California. I have traveled to Mexico since I was a child and fell in love with it. I visit regularly.
I own multiple businesses including A business brokerage and consulting firm and have worked with and owned a number of restaurants over the years. Owning a restaurant again has always been a passion of mine especially Mexican cuisine.
I started working on the ROCA ROJA concept nearly 14 years ago, pre-2009 recession but refused to do anything until the time was right. I wanted to create a unique Mexican dining experience less focused on Tex Mex most Americans know and more Mexico regionalized dishes from Baja and Jalisco influences to the vibe of the Caribbean in Yucatan.
I hired Diego Ayala, an executive chef and native of Mexico City to help me develop our menu. At the time I engaged his services he was the executive chef for the Mexican embassy so it was a simple decision for me. If he can prepare fine Mexican dishes for Mexican nationals surely he can do it for us Americans.
Our menu is focused on using the freshest ingredients including 45-day aged steaks and fresh seafood with dishes ranging from fresh ceviches and red snapper whole fish (mojarra escabeche) to grilled dishes on open fires including ribeye and octopus. We do have a gringo style menu for those who absolutely can’t do without Tex Mex.
Our Tequila lounge and cantina are one of a kind boasting a portfolio of over 110 Tequilas, one of, if not the largest in South Carolina even before the Tequila craze took off this past year. With my bar background, I personally developed a mixology, Tequila driven drink menu that includes fresh squeezed and made juices. Tequila flights are must try!
We opened our first location on the beautiful marsh front of Cherry Grove in March of 2021 and it has been a whirl wind ever since. We have over 3,000 sq ft of open air deck overlooking the marsh. Our third floor is home to our open air Chi’s Chi’s Cantina and features all sorts of entertainment including live music, DJs, trivia nights and Tequila Tastings Ch. During the holidays it’s converted to Chi Chi’s Christmas Wonderland with thousands of Christmas lights and decor, holiday drink specials and events throughout the season. A portion of the holiday proceeds goes to Sea Haven Youth Home, a local charity.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I was confident when I purchased the real estate, restaurants would boom after the pandemic and I was right. What I didn’t know was the struggle it would be to get employees or the crazy increase in operations expenses. It has been an incredible task overcoming being short-staffed and repeatedly hiring and training. We issued over 250 W-2s in 2021 and that’s with a max staff summer of 50 employees. I made the decision to close on Mondays after our second week in business with the idea I would open it back up once our staffing was under control. We are still closed on Mondays now. Things are improving on that front and calming down.
The other big obstacle, educating Americans that there is more than one type of Mexican cuisine. Early on I heard countless times, this is NOT Mexican. My reply was to tell Diego that. As we have developed our brand, that attitude is softening as the clientele who get us absolutely love ROCA ROJA and for the other few, I say it’s okay everyone has different tastes. I love all Mexican food from wonderful little mom and pop eateries to Main stream restaurants like Chevys. We try to have a little of something for everyone without steering away from our mission to take our customers on a Mexican culinary experience.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Revenue Avenue?
I have owned many businesses over the years. I am a die hard entrepreneur. We currently own and operate 4 different businesses with my primary business being Revenue Avenue. Pre 2009 recession I was in the finance and real estate industry. In June of 2009, I closed down all my companies that went from $13 Million NET worth to $0 virtually over night. My daughter, Jordyn was born in July and I spent the next six months at home with her.
Later that year, I received a call from an attorney friend asking me to assist him with reviewing mortgage documents in foreclosure cases and Revenue Avenue was born. My company assisted small to madcap businesses through various debt settlements and take-outs including asset sales, lender negotiations, short sales and loan restructures. In addition, we developed a network of attorneys in 32 states and I am proud to say we helped over 3,000 families stay in their homes with loan modifications.
Today, Revenue has evolved as our clients’ prosperity has improved over the years to a full service business brokerage including buyer and seller representation, valuation services, cost segregations, business start ups and exit strategy planning. We have been involved in more than $100,000,000 in business transactions over the past three years even with the pandemic shutting us down for a quarter in 2020. We have brokered and sold restaurants, hotels, medical and dental practices, real estate developments and projects, financial notes and various other businesses. All this is done quietly and discreetly with the utmost integrity we can.
Our mission statement is simple, we want to make those we come in contact who are successful in accomplishing their goals. It sounds simple but I can truly say my business philosophy is simple, my focus is not to make money but to make those around me from my employees to my clients a success. If they are successful then in turn I will be successful. The income really becomes a nonissue.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Most of my business at Revenue Avenue is word of mouth as I don’t publicly post our accolades but at Roca Roja, it’s so important in this age of social medialism that customers share their good experiences. People have no problem stating when they feel they have been mistreated and unfortunately one bad review outweighs ten 5-star reviews.
Example: Roca had a customer give us a one-star review and in it he stated he visited us five times in a few months and on this last occasion he was disappointed with the service (a new server). Common sense would say we must have done something right since he came back several times but he never gave us a good review.
If a customer has an issue just let us know, we will bend over backwards to try and remedy the issue.
All my companies need that good word of mouth and goodwill to promote our business.
Contact Info:
- Website: rocarojacantina.com
