The grand reopening
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By Natalia Otero
Do you remember the first week your restaurant was open? Probably a ton of work, mixed with excitement and, hopefully, satisfaction. Now put yourself into the shoes of the owners of El Maya Mexican Bar & Restaurant in Frostburg, Maryland. They opened on Valentine’s Day 2023 and experienced all of those emotions until, days after opening, a serious kitchen fire shut down their new restaurant .
But the owners -- Luis Carrizal, Sergio Barrera and José Juan Tavares – did not lose faith. Powered by strong relationships built over years of working together, they rebuilt their dream restaurant and reopened on October 21, 2024.
“Thank God we had insurance because the insurance company took care of the entire repair. Now everything is working well. At first it was sad, but because the three of us still had jobs, we were able to carry on,” says Carrizal, who is in charge of El Maya. “When the restaurant burned down, many people came to us with sadness for what had happened and offered us help. Now that we are open, they have supported us and, all this time, they have been waiting for us. They have been a very kind community to us.”
Back with More Confidence
Carrizal says that “everything happens for a reason, and you just need to be decisive. After our restaurant burned down, we went through a bad patch, but we managed to overcome it and now we’re back with more confidence.”
The partners had previously worked together in other restaurants. They started out as dishwashers, then became waiters, moved on to the kitchen and, after all the learning they had gathered through years of hard work, they set out to open their own restaurant. Having their own business was their shared goal.
They designed the menu based on the menus in the restaurants they previously worked for. They made a selection of the best 40 dishes that each of them knew and that they knew would work, and from among those created El Maya’s menu.
“We offer a wide variety of dishes with chicken, meats, steaks and tacos, which are the most popular in Mexico. We also have burritos that are more commonly eaten in the northern part of the border between Mexico and the United States,” says Carrizal.
In addition, since they have gone through all the positions in their restaurant career, today in their own business they can each work any position within the restaurant and train new employees.
“They trust me and I trust them,” Carrizal says. “The three of us are really happy.”
Maintain Consistent Design Concept
One of the things that Carrizal learned from his past experiences was to maintain a consistent design concept in the restaurant. That’s why everything at El Maya follows the same color palette: from the tables, to the uniforms, the dishes, the website.
“Having a consistent design concept is very important: the colors, the design, everything counts. That makes customers feel welcome and employees feel a sense of belonging. So that the team can be recognized from the outside. That they wear it with pride, that it is good and beautiful, that the love is felt and recognized everywhere,” he explains.
In addition to having a clear, consistent design concept, Carrizal advises running a business as a team.
“Having more people together makes things move faster. Of course, reaching an understanding is complex, but once an agreement is reached it’s for the best. We need to believe in the union between people,” he says.
For the future, the partners of El Maya dream of expanding their restaurant and inviting more partners to be part of their project.
“I believe that you have to trust people, and to grow you have to do it. We want to be recognized worldwide,” he says. “We want our work to inspire other people.”
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