#9: How Colada Shop Designed a Space Guests Never Want to Leave | Daniella Senior, Colada Shop

Daniel Tsentsiper (00:01) Daniel, welcome to the show. How are you doing today? Daniella (00:04) I'm doing fantastic. Thank you so much for having me. Daniel Tsentsiper (00:07) Likewise, I'm really excited to talk to you today. I think your story is extremely fascinating. And last week we talked a little bit about your business. It also sounds like you have some, not only a cool background of how you got into the business, but also you have some very audacious growth plans ahead for Kalata Shop. So let's maybe talk today about your business, how you got here, and then also touch a little bit about what you have in store. Does that sound good? Daniella (00:35) Yeah, that sounds exciting. Daniel Tsentsiper (00:38) Awesome. I always ask my guests to tell us a little bit about yourself. I know that you started, like myself, started doing catering. That was your entry into the food business. Can you tell us a little bit more about how you got to where you are today and maybe some of your early culinary roots? Because you have a very fascinating story. Daniella (00:56) Yeah, thank you. So I started at a pretty young with a home-based catering business in Dominican Republic. I was 13. I was primarily at the time doing dessert catering, know, borrowed some seed money from my mom a bunch of small boxes with essentially petit fours. did my own logo, little brochures. stickers with my phone number and went to very grassroots marketing and just handed a box to kind of anyone that I thought would be interested in buying. And the next day the phone started ringing a little bit more than I was anticipating, not gonna lie. really, it's a good problem, but you know, one that I've taken to heart even to this day when, you know, with more field business, you have to. Daniel Tsentsiper (01:36) It's a good problem. Daniella (01:45) be ready for the opportunity when the opportunity presents itself, right? And yeah, the phone started ringing. And next thing I know, I had a full on catering business with six employees and 13 years was kind of wild. And my parents had no idea what had happened to their house and how they got here. And it was pretty awesome, but pretty crazy at the same time. And kept that business all the way through. Daniel Tsentsiper (01:49) Absolutely. Daniella (02:12) when I graduated high school, in which at the time I decided to go to culinary school. So that's when I moved to the States. So went to school in New York at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. And, to school initially for culinary arts and then did a bachelor's in hospitality management. And, have worked every role in every position within the restaurant industry. Um, so I know, very much obviously how to cook, but also, uh, spent a lot of my career and time actually working with beverage, wine specifically as well as spirits. Um, so yeah, so I've kind of really done a wide range of things and, come, uh, I guess 2016, I opened my first brick and mortar of my business, Colada shop, which is an all day Cuban cafe. currently have seven locations within DC, Maryland and Virginia growing. So that's kind of fast forward. Yeah. Easy. It has not been. I promise you that. Daniel Tsentsiper (03:08) You make it sound easy. You make it sound really easy. I'm sure it wasn't that way. Yeah. So I really love talking with folks that started in culinary, actually worked their way into the restaurant. Just recently, I'm sure you know, Andy had him on the show and his story was really cool. What did you learn from your first couple of years working in the kitchen? And also maybe some of the lessons that you took from culinary school that you apply today in the Kalata shop. Daniella (03:39) At least my school was very much like the military, honestly. It's, you know, French brigade system. was very hierarchy and, you know, respect was very much something that, you you your dues, you grow through the ranks and you kind of, you wear that with a badge of honor. So I think that's something that's still very much ingrained in me is like put in the work. diligent, be prepared, have your me some plus and all aspects of business. And I a culinary school for me was very much the right foundation it instilled that discipline in me, but also me the appreciation to truly understand what goes into this field, what goes through every bite of food that we eat. I don't think that my success would have been possible without me understanding that because it also gives me a huge advantage when I am able to have a conversation with our chefs and understand exactly what they're talking about, right? Same baristas and our dishwashers, our bartenders. When I'm talking to them, I'm like, I've been there. I know what that means, right? I understand. I think we are able to connect at a different level when you can truly the work, right? Which I have, know, until most recent, like I love jumping on the line and openings and running expo ⁓ to this day, right? And they're like, wow, she can do that too. I'm like, yeah, like any position in any role in our restaurants I can do, and I am very proud of that. think. It not only is me, but I think for the team to know that I'm not asking of them anything that I can't do myself. Right. I think that's pretty, critical and pretty crucial. And it's just like, you're not depending on someone else's opinion on telling them, well, you can't do that. Well, have you thought about this? Right. It gives you kind of are able to. look at things from a different perspective, even when you're not in it and on everyday basis. So yeah, I think it's been instrumental for me. Daniel Tsentsiper (05:44) Absolutely. Absolutely. Even I take that to heart. It's like the ethos of I think a good leader is a person that can put themselves in the team. And some of the best stories I've heard of fantastic leaders are the ones that when shit hit the fan, they were sleeping in the office alongside their brigade. And that's, your employees or the people that you work with can see that you as their superior can actually, work done and actually can pull your sleeves and can be right alongside them. I think that is worth way more than, other like leadership qualities. So I love that. So, okay, I take it. So you were born in the Dominican Republic, right? And the Kalata Shop is, correct me if wrong, it's a Cuban, right? It's a Cuban establishment. Tell me how, what was... Daniella (06:31) It is, yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (06:35) When you were thinking of opening it in 2016, how did you come up with the concept and where did you sneak Cuban into concept? Daniella (06:42) in. You know, I'll start how I came up. So at one point in my career, prior to starting, was doing a lot of consulting and actually a lot of consulting in Miami. So I would, and I could not wait, honestly, to land at the Miami airport because it's like the smell of the strong coffee and the guava and things like, I miss dearly the flavors, right? So it was something I think that I really Daniel Tsentsiper (07:03) yeah. Daniella (07:10) It was to me the best part of Miami, right? Like it really was that, it was that I was traveling a lot and I was traveling through many parts of the country. I was consulting, I didn't really have like an office in all these cities, right? So I would work out a lot of, from a lot of cafes. And I really saw a huge space. It was like, oh my God, I can't even tell in what city I am most of the time. Like they all look the same. They're serving me kind of pretty similar products with very little identity. Sometimes a bit of attitude dosed if you want to, you know, the third wave coffee shops and. But also realize like, okay, I'm here, I'm like typing away, I've had a couple meetings, it's like one o'clock and now what? Right, like I now I kind of have to go, right? Because now it's lunchtime, I'm hungry, I don't want a muffin that you've had there since the morning and like the experience didn't continue, but I wanted it to continue, I wanted to spend more money, realistically, I didn't want to have to get up and leave. And so I saw a hole in that as well, right? actually, Kolada Shop was the cover up to a speakeasy, if I'm honest, that me and Mary's part were gonna open. It wasn't even the concept that we were going with. It was we were gonna open a bar called La Obra, which was, yeah, a Cuban speakeasy. It's like the work of art, you know, like the masterpiece actually, the masterpiece. Yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (08:25) Yeah. It's pretty cool. What does that stand for? What does that mean? Work of our Masterpiece. Daniella (08:41) is a ton of cocktail history when it comes to Cuba, especially during Prohibition, as everyone was kind of escaping the States and going to party in Cuba and right, it's a huge cocktail culture. So we now as a basis of the bar and, and we're opening in 14th Street and the basement of this building and where the first colada shop opened, which is still there, is in 14th Street and T, which is kind of like the little side street. At the time, one was a lot of attention, but still we had like 300 feet on that main floor. We like, well, we have to do something with this. And that's Colada Shop was born. I'm like, okay, well, we're going to cocktails with pastry and strong coffee and even more about more casual cocktail upstairs. so it was originally a pretty straightforward. It was small space, a pretty straightforward concept. coffee, pastries, Cuban sandwiches and empanadas, and then a handful of cocktails as well. we opened and there was a line for blocks and we're like, wait a minute, what bar? What bar are we opening? We clearly have something in our hands here. it's like, I guess I wasn't the only one missing flavors and that. Exactly. that's how kind of like it started. But I guess why Cuban meet Dominican? So, you know, was traveling a lot to Miami with a number of Cuban close friends, but also Daniel Tsentsiper (09:52) You Daniella (10:13) even though actually my grandmother long story, born in Haiti, but from Cuban descent actually, and then moved to Dominican Republic. So it is also part of my heritage, even though I've never lived in Cuba. I've been to Cuba, but I've never lived in Cuba. Yes. So it was kind of like, kind of bringing it all home. thing I will say is that obviously with its differences, a hundred percent, but there, Daniel Tsentsiper (10:29) Amazing, amazing. Daniella (10:38) both Cuba and the Dominican Republic were both colonized by the Spanish. we ultimately have the same raw ingredients on those islands. So kind of the interpretations of how that cuisine evolved in both islands is very similar. Yeah, so. Daniel Tsentsiper (10:55) I love that. I love that. And I've studied a little bit about the Cuban history and lot of the roots stem from Africa. the flavors, they've sort of evolved over the years. They still to traditional flavors that you find in Africa. What I find fascinating, what I really wanted to ask you about on this episode is what you call all-day affair. Right? I call it here in San Francisco, we call it third space, right? But you told me you're not the biggest fan of that term, but that is quite a difficult concept to crack, right? How early do you open in the morning and what is your closing time? Like how long are you open per day? Daniella (11:18) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, it's 730 to 10 PM and then 11 on the weekends. Yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (11:38) Got it. And so do you see a spike? Where are most of your customers coming in? What time of the day? Is it in the morning or do you actually see a pretty big spike in the evening time for the cocktails? Daniella (11:51) Yeah, so that's our biggest spike actually. Our biggest spike is happy hour time along with lunch actually. but I would say if we look at it in spikes, even though it's for most locations, it's pretty sustained. I would say it's like nine AM and then definitely big pop between like noon and two and then start like five to seven. are kind of like our three pops during the day. But, you know, we see it as five meal it's kind of like that early morning, then mid morning, lunch, mid afternoon, dinner. And they all differently. They all behave differently depending on which of our locations. But it is a difficult thing. to crack, you know, how do you keep a space engaged all day for people to I'm seeing this space for breakfast, but then I'm also having a cocktail here, right? So I, from when I opened and like, not anymore, but the original, know, cloud I designed and it was something very, very important to me of like the, do we transition the space? So it, with a lot of emphasis and focus on lighting, on music, into one of the biggest things that I was very adamant about, espresso machines would use. Because I'm like, I am not gonna go where a place that has a huge, bulky espresso machine, and it automatically, I cannot transform that, right? Like, I can't change that. So. Daniel Tsentsiper (13:17) Interesting, Psychological, there's like a psychological effect that you see it as a, you know, as a coffee shop. You don't see it as a place to go hang out in the evening time, a bar of some sort, right? Daniella (13:29) Correct. machines actually look, anyone who could confuse them by what beer tap handles, right? They're just very sleek. We use mod bars, very sleek. Now they're pretty common at the time when we started this, not so much, right? So it was very intentional. From the grab and goes, we have them, but how do we change the light or turn off the light when we switch over kind of more to the evening, the music? Daniel Tsentsiper (13:36) pretty cool. Daniella (13:54) So the ambience piece is very critical. I don't think you can just have the same vibe from music to lighting to, again, just elements in your space that don't affect how you feel. Everything has an effect, right? It's all about the details Every detail is much larger. than you would expect on the impact that it has on how people behave. So, you know, it's how you it makes you feel. think that's one of the key components of how we're able to transition our space to be an all day affair. And obviously, I would say also having the products to support that, right? Like you having a menu that truly has all the items to be a good place for breakfast, a good place for lunch, a good place for dinner on its own, right? I think what I try to see third spaces, they seem to always be forcing one time of the day. It's kind of like, I'll give the airport, I'll tell you like kind of the airport. Daniel Tsentsiper (14:53) Tell me more. Yeah. Daniella (14:56) To me, airports are the perfect scenario. You have all these concepts and you can tell when they force them to serve breakfast. It's like, you have to be open during the morning. And then they give you two crappy options that are like, whatever. It's not something that they do naturally. It's not ingrained in their concept. It's not ingrained in their DNA. So then they're forcing this because they're being made to open for a time period that's not really their time period. Daniel Tsentsiper (15:03) Hmm. Daniella (15:25) because they can grab some, but it doesn't feel natural, right? It always feels kind of lackluster. So I think that if you want to truly be successful in all these meal periods, you're, what you're serving in all these meal periods needs to be special at all meal periods, not let me just put this in just to see if it sticks and like, it's just kind of like a lot, you know, an afterthought. So. I think that's also something that's very crucial and critical to me, like in how we're able to like, again, maintain an all-day presence. Daniel Tsentsiper (16:01) that I'm sure you're probably not the biggest fan of dining in Las Vegas, right? Because you don't even know what time of the day it is. And it feels very forced. And that's something I got especially in Asia and Latin America. You know, see, know breakfast is over when the Banh Mi trolley has left that corner, right? So you can sort of like section off the what you see Daniella (16:08) Yes. No, I am not. Daniel Tsentsiper (16:29) outside, right? I think what's and remind me again, you're based in DC, the DMV area, right? So you're dealing a lot with really busy, busy people, right? I'm sure like everyone's always on the go, probably early morning, they're getting ready for for work. And then at the end of the day, know, they're taking some time with friends. So you have to kind of think about your market, right? And how do your customers Daniella (16:34) Mm-hmm. Correct. Daniel Tsentsiper (16:53) What is their life like? what are their habits? What is the of that area? So curious is that as you're planning to scale Kalata shop, are there any markets that you're looking at particularly that you think will be a maybe like expansion for this concept? And are there markets that you just think, hell no, I will never go into it because the vibe of that particular city or state just doesn't match what I'm I'm trying to build. Daniella (17:20) Yeah, I will say I never say one thing that I think you have to be kind of open to, yeah, evolve. know, my business is right now might look very different in five that city might look very different in five years. So you never say never. But I would say Daniel Tsentsiper (17:26) You have to evolve. ⁓ Daniella (17:40) of the markets that I'm not looking into is Miami. I'll say that much, right? Just because there's exactly there's a lot of saturation where like, pretty much something that's completely absent in the rest of the country. why go where there is, a lot of saturation and a lot of people think, well, my abuela does it this way, you know, like, so not really one that I'm like keen on. Daniel Tsentsiper (17:44) Too saturated? Daniella (18:05) right now and going into. I love the city, but just for that purpose. But definitely, actually, I would say weather, so south, we're exploring some areas of Tennessee, some areas of Texas right now, actually, to head next. reason being, I am from the Dominican Republic after all, but I think we just do so much better in warmer weather. feel like everyone's just happier, the music flows better, the vibe flows better. excited head next to a place that we have of eight months out of the year where we can enjoy that 12 or at least 11. So I think those are the goals for next steps. But we're not, close off to really any market. I think really that Kolada Shop bicycling, you know, nationwide, it really is a fun, vibrant concept and space and that if you're in a very busy city, it allows you to have five minutes of vacation. you're already in a city that feels like vacation, it's a continuation of it, right? So it really just kind of flows. I wanna make sure that wherever we take it next, it just continues to be its vibrant self. Daniel Tsentsiper (19:23) That's a good strategy, right? It's also where I feel like you would happiest, right? If you're talking to a market that's not as warm or fun, I feel like at this early stage, you gotta prioritize where you feel like you'll be at your best self. So that's amazing. what were some, I'm curious, like along the way, have you tried doing any experiments with the Kalata Shop concept or? Daniella (19:29) Yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (19:51) Maybe tried new items or different strategies that just didn't really pan out. And how did you correct and pivot along the way? Daniella (20:01) I would say a million every month of every thing I will say is just like, at least to me, it's not a said and done. To make it long-term in this industry in such fast-paced environment, you have to be constantly evolving and having that desire to be better every day. So because of that, we're constantly innovating, changing things up. Sometimes it works amazingly, sometimes it's... a complete fail. I think being able to recognize both of those things quickly is key, right? It's just like some things conceptually might seem like an amazing idea and they just fail terribly, right? Or, you know, and I'm happy to give an example. you know, we had expanded like our coffee sizes a while back and we medium and large. one point where like, you know, let's remove the large the aim to achieve better consistency, right? In the coffee. But guess what? At the end of the day, then that same customer that was buying an $8 drink is now buying a $5 drink. They're not coming back and getting two $5 drinks, even if it might be a little bit better, right? But then we also notice like, Is it really more inconsistent or can we just actually fix that with additional training rather than like cutting off $3 of sales of someone that's already coming in and drinking that, right? So, you know, that was one that we quickly were like, you know what? No, like this is not working. Like, let's bring it back. What were we thinking? and we have at times, menu items that I have done incredibly great. we're like, okay, that's staying permanently. Even though that was not the original intention. And, know, that we've kept and like, okay, I guess, I guess this one can't leave, right? And we can tell pretty quickly. But even from the beginning, I think I mentioned to you, like when we started, it was a pretty straightforward concept. Like we were doing very, very limited menu. And as much as I loved it, it really didn't work. Why? Because we're not in New York, right? Like we're not in New York. We're not in a super saturated market. We depend on repeat guests. Daniel Tsentsiper (22:05) And cheers, Daniella (22:13) And, the products are fantastic, but how many times a week, realistically speaking, can you eat empanadas, right? Like, if you want to also say, you know, exactly, but if you want to maintain some sort of health. like recognizing those things and being like, okay, is it going to be tough to execute? Yes, but this is our market. This is what we kind of need to do. Daniel Tsentsiper (22:21) Every day, but... Daniella (22:36) expanding our offerings to ultimately adapt to our guest needs, you know? And I think when I get asked like, hey, why do you think so many restaurants fail? And I'm like, because restaurateurs and chefs and ultimately hospitality people are probably the most stubborn people ever, right? Myself included, but we're just stubborn people in general. And then we come up with these ideas. And some are amazing and fantastic, but we're not so great at times at listening and paying attention as to like the people that are actually paying the bills and are coming in and are you're paying customers what they want, and what were you missing? So I think, despite, remember at the time kind of like, having a little bit of some heated arguments with our chefs of like, no, we need to expand. and we need to like be able to meet this and they weren't necessarily in agreeance. But, ⁓ the team to make sure that we were able to do that, not because I wanted to, it wasn't like a desire, okay, like I want to, but it's like, okay, this is what I need to do to survive within this market, right? And I think being able to award that after COVID obviously familiar to everyone pivoting, right? You need to be able to pivot. You need to be able to adapt. adapt and learn and see like, hey, I put the, in another restaurant, we don't have host sense, but the host sense here, but people are missing it or they're like looking around, like you have to open your eyes when you have restaurants and spaces, even if you've done it number of times, each space because behaves differently, right? It's not, you're not getting copy paste. Cause even if it's exactly a replica of the space, it's not going to be a replica of the people, right? So how that neighborhood reacts to something might be completely different. And I think being able to adapt quickly is truly a key to success and being humble enough to a sub, hey, this didn't work this time. Daniel Tsentsiper (24:23) Right. Well, I can I can safely say that your restaurants are not replicas of one another. I think they're all uniquely beautiful and creative. I think that you have found yourself a very amazing concept with the with the drinks and the empanadas and the coffee. So you can sort of rotate and try different flavors and combinations. There's endless amounts of cocktails that you can make and you can push out and get feedback from your customers and drive repeat business. Same thing with the empanadas. I'm just thinking about, ⁓ my friend is Argentine and I went into his favorite empanada store and they have like 50 or so empanadas that they rotate on a daily basis. So that's amazing. Last question for you before we wrap up because we can talk forever. What do your customers say about the Colada shop? Daniella (25:09) No. You know, I think what I hear the most is that it's a piece, like they feel like they're on vacation, and that to me is what makes me the happiest. That was my goal really is just like, I'm here, it's just kind of like, I forget where I am. And to me that's just like, we're giving them an experience and ultimately that's more than a product, right? It's not just like, you have a great sandwich. Cuban sandwich, you have a great mojito. It's like, I feel great here. And that's what I aim to continue to do as we grow and expand. want, and you know, get people out of their homes and become that space where they can be all day. It's an extension of their home. Yeah. Without calling it a third space, just to be clear. Yeah. Daniel Tsentsiper (26:07) Exactly. Each run a campaign. This is not a third space. It's an extension of your home. Danielle, thank you so much. I wish you and the Kalata Shop nothing but the best. And I hope maybe one day you can come all the way to California. But that's far away. And the market here isn't so friendly. But I think we would enjoy your spirit and your energy here. So thank you so much. Never say never. Thank you. Have a good day. Daniella (26:14) Yeah. Alright. Thank you. Never say never though, you know, I might be there. Thank you. You too.