The path of entrepreneurship is rarely linear, often marked by challenges you hadn’t expected and the need for unwavering resilience. This month, Bulldog Nation spotlights Freddy Martinez, a testament to this enduring spirit. A proud graduate of Batavia High School, Freddy has navigated his catering and restaurant business through the challenges of the 2008 financial crisis, the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, and the current pressures of rising food costs. In a story of remarkable perseverance, Freddy even faced a period of stepping away from his restaurant, only to ultimately reignite his passion and successfully start his current venture, Fernando’s Street Kitchen. Bulldog Nation was able to sit down with Freddy and hear his inspiring journey of adaptation, determination, and the lessons learned from weathering multiple storms in the business world. What an inspiration he is to anyone thinking about starting their own business! Enjoy reading Freddy’s amazing story!

Name:   Freddy Martinez

Business Name:  Fernando’s Street Kitchen

Graduation Year:  1994

What inspired you to start your own business and how did that all get started? 

I think just growing up with my dad, who owned El Taco Grande here in Batavia, always had that drive to do his own thing, but he wanted to make sure that we all had our education first before we fell back on the restaurant business. So, I went to school for a while and then got married and decided it was time to go ahead and open my own venture and I did that 20 years ago.  I opened my first location in Geneva and back then it was just called Fernando's Fiesta Grill.   We stayed there for a few years. We started out - growing the place a little bit and looked at another location to expand, but then that's when the market crashed. And I don't know, I guess it might have been like a blessing to kind of have to walk away from that. I was trying to help my parents out at their second location on Randall Road at night. That restaurant was called Don Manuel.  At that point, my wife, Renee, had been doing hair since high school and we knew at that point that I wanted to get out of the restaurant business. I had the opportunity to work at my Dad’s restaurant at night and go to beauty school during the day. I got my license and then we ended up opening a hair salon called Shear Ambition. It was located here in town, and we ran that for almost 10 years. At that point we decided to pursue the adoption process to adopt our daughter, Isabelle.  That is what brought me back into doing catering on the side - to help raise money for the adoption process.  After we adopted Isabelle, the catering kind of snowballed a little bit more where people hired me for parties on the side, which was which was good. Extra income without being committed to a restaurant full time?  Sure.  And then COVID hit. We shut down the salon at that point.  Luckily, I actually had one of the aldermen here in town kind of reach out to me and tell me that I should start doing social distancing block parties. So, you know, we kind of jumped on that bandwagon. As people started coming out a little bit more, I think I was able to get ahead of the game in the food truck industry in this area, at least, because of that early start.  From there, we snowballed into graduation parties and I had to buy my own equipment. At that point, the lease for our salon space was just terminating and we either had to renew it or move forward.  We had Isabelle so Renee decided to stay home full time with Isabelle, and I decided to go ahead and try this catering business. I wanted to turn it back into something fun that I always enjoyed doing. OK, but now, could I actually provide for my family doing it, too? I was using my home kitchen at first, but then I needed to get the licensing and permitting and all that. I realized I needed a bigger commercial kitchen. I knew about the space here on Water Street where Jason originally was with Enticing Cuisine. I reached out to Austin Dempsey as he and his wife, Melissa, are friends of mine.   He was willing to work with me a little to see if he could get me in this space. Austin was great to work with to make this happen. The space being off the beaten path and having access to the alleyway was what drew us over here. This location allows us to pull the trailers in the back of the building to load and unload.  We are going on our fourth year here.  And for the last couple of years, we have shared this space with other small business entrepreneurs that have been trying to get started. Sharing this space with them gives them the opportunity to grow because they need a commercial kitchen for their permitting. The owner’s wife of the barbeque place that was here for about a year actually put a sticker on the back door saying Fernando's Community Kitchen.  I think we kind of got around a little bit. I have another gentleman that comes in once a month to brew his teas that he sells at farmer’s markets.  We have Bulldog Nutrition here that comes in on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.  And we are here Wednesday through Saturday for dinner hours, 4:00 to 8:00 PM.  We use the space in the afternoons to prepare for a lot of your catering events.  We are always trying to get out there and, you know, keep the name out there as well. 

I've been blessed to have a lot of people around me that have helped and volunteered to kind of get me to where I'm at now.  Starting my business from home, my friends and my neighbors have been a big help getting me started by being free labor or guinea pigs. And even now they still help me.  People help with events when we get triple or quadruple booked on the weekends. 

We have 4 trailers now. And then I just incorporated a little bus, a school bus really. In the summertime when, weather permitting, there are weddings and graduation parties, birthday parties, and private parties, I can send out trailers to all different places. We also try to stay within the brewery scene as well.  We go to Grainology, Brother Chimps, and Riverlands.  Come summertime, I’ve got my college kids that come back.  I think during peak season it's 20 to 24 of us on staff that run the trailers to parties and the restaurants. Sometimes I convince my wife of 24 years (in September), Renee, to come and join me for an event, too!

Since I started 3 years ago, I have grown from 1 trailer to 4 trailers (and a bus!) and now a brick-and-mortar restaurant.  I get the word out mainly by word of mouth and referrals and Facebook. Social media is a free tool that is at our fingertips.  And so, we've been doing that a lot. The only other paid thing that we really do is with our website.  I pay for that service to be up and running all the time. 

How did your education and experiences at Batavia Public Schools influence your path to becoming a business owner? 

Thinking about it, I think the educators here influenced me a lot.  I don't know if there was a specific class that motivated me; it was the educators. They were always there to encourage me, and knew I had more in me and would kind of push me a little bit more. You know, they were like why don’t you look into this, or try this, and you can do that. And that gave me the confidence to be able to know that I can do something, if I put my mind to it. I could, I could do it right. And that makes all the difference in the world.  So, I would say the influence of my high school educators and amazing administrators who were so supportive and knew that I could get something done, made a difference in me.

What challenges have you faced as a business owner, and how did you overcome them?

Being able to adapt to different circumstances is one of the challenges. There was Covid I had to deal with and I had to reinvent myself and figure out how I am going to make a living. When the economy tanked, it was like, what do we do now? And now with the increasing prices of our groceries and food costs, it's been an uphill battle. But, I think we're slowly getting ahead. Having the support of customers that know what’s going on in the world and know and appreciate that they're getting a quality product out of me keep them has certainly helped me.  I’ve had a lot of love from my family and the community. I know at one point I had interviewed with Richard Clarke for the podcast Area Code Batavia. I told him that whenever I am doing an event here in the community, it doesn't really feel like work. It feels like me just being part of the community.  Whenever I get the opportunity to do something in my hometown, I always try to do it. I’m trying to find that balance, though, between running the business and being able to volunteer my services. I like to volunteer for areas that I may not have ever been a part of, but I feel someday my daughter, Isabelle, might be a part of these activities someday.  (A note from Bulldog Nation – Freddy gives back to the community in so many ways. He has given back to the community that he says has given so much to him.  Freddy has been a member of the Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence, and supports the Music Buffs, Sports Boosters, and community events with his time, services and food!) 

What has been the most rewarding part of owning your own business?

I guess the flexibility has been one of the most rewarding parts. I have to be able to balance work life with family life. I plan ahead a little bit more and know that I’ve got to make sure I set aside family time, but at the same time, I still need to be able to provide for them. Staying in the community has been very rewarding.  Family wise and financially wise, it’s been very rewarding to live and work in this community.  We live here in town, and I have a  5 minute commute from home to work.

What advice would you have to fellow alumni and future alumni who are considering starting their own business? 

Keep it simple and definitely make sure you think of your value.  Price accordingly for what your value is for yourself.  I think sometimes I've had other food truck vendors come and they're like, you know, this only costs me this much and I'm going to get this much. But it's not about just the food cost. It's your time as well and what you have to do to provide for yourself and your family. Make sure you consider that too.  But again, making sure it's simple, keeping it simple, don't overcomplicate it, don't get too flashy. I think when I first started, I had a pop-up tent that I'd literally load up in the back of my pickup truck with a griddle and a couple of coolers.  So again, start with little events where you can get your name consistently out there. The farmer’s market was definitely one of the events that, you know, got me started. It put me in contact with thousands of people all summer long.  The other thing I think I've learned from my dad that I still do to this day with our events is to remember that people like to see what you're doing, like when you're cooking or when you're serving. I have that open policy of, you know, when people do want to come up and see or, you know, ask questions, and I am open to that.  Show what you have and what you do right and make it personal and then everything else will follow suit behind it. 

Somebody who was thinking of starting their own business came to me and wanted some advice. He said I'll start simple and start the business and if it doesn't work, I'll just close up, right?  And I'm like, no!  That was never an option for me.  No, there is no option to give up. You keep going if that's what your passion is, if that's what you believe in. I’m always trying to adapt and be flexible and figure out things.  And that's the best thing about living in this Tri-City area is the way that people do work with each other and support each other and help each other.  That's our community.  We look out for each other. 

How do you stay connected with the Batavia Public Schools community and how has it supported your business? 

Again, the sports teams and the educators still keep me connected. Even coming up in May, teacher appreciation week, I've had a lot of schools reach out to me about catering lunches for their staff.  Other school districts have reached out to us, too.  I'm being pulled back into the school system whether it's here or somewhere else.  

What are the goals for the future of your business? 

Right now, it's just about keeping the momentum going and thriving. I’ve got my brothers on board now. I'm to the point, I guess, where I began the business to provide for my family, but now I have other families that work for me that now we provide for them. It’s one of the things that even as we go out and see other food truck vendors out there that are just starting, we want to support them, too. You know, we were there at that one point. We know how it goes.   Right now, we know the food trucks thrive during the summer, and the restaurant hurts a little bit at this time.  And in the wintertime, the trailers get parked and then we have to keep the restaurant going. So now it's trying to concentrate on trying to keep that balance for both, to be consistent throughout the year. 

Getting to this point, I've had so many people that have helped me out in the long run, even to this day.  People have helped me run things here or there and volunteered. So, for me to be able to help others, you know, it's what I think I should do. You know, it is like paying it forward.  We have been blessed over the years. And here is my opportunity to give back.  I think one other thing I've noticed too, is that you know all the people, like yourself or like even the mayor of the community, the people that have been here in the community through the long haul. They have seen me grow up.  The mayor’s wife was an elementary school teacher here and dealt with all five of us boys in my family at one point in time. And it's just been wonderful.  That's what makes this community, I think, so special because we know each other's history.  We've been there for each other in the good times, and the not so good times. And we're always there to try to help raise everybody up.