Nerds On Tap

Tech-Savvy Tacos: Geo Zelaya on Food and Technology

• Nerds On Tap • Season 1 • Episode 9

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From the deck of a Navy ship to the heat of a bustling kitchen, Geo Zelaya's journey isn't your everyday culinary tale. Grab a seat at our table on Nerds On Tap as we savor the flavors of his authentic Latin cuisine and discover how Tacos El Fluffy came to be a community staple. Geo's story is a testament to the power of passion and innovation, and he's serving up insights on how to blend the art of food with the science of technology to create a thriving business.

What happens when you mix a dash of AI with a pinch of locally sourced ingredients? You get a recipe for restaurant success, something Geo knows all about. We unwrap the secrets behind his tech-savvy approach to restaurant management, from inventory wizardry to marketing genius, and discuss why knowing where our food comes from is more important than we might think. So, whether you're a foodie, a tech enthusiast, or an aspiring entrepreneur, there's a slice of wisdom here for everyone.

We round off our chat with a heartening look at the impact of mentorship and the significance of community spirit. Geo pours out tales of how Take Stock in Children has been a beacon of hope and how his own experiences with mentorship have shaped the lives around him. It's not just about the tacos and the tech; it's about how investing in people and local businesses can transform communities. Join us for a conversation that's as enriching as it is appetizing, right here on Nerds On Tap.

Sponsor of this episode:  Digital Boardwalk
Digital Boardwalk is one of the top 10 Managed IT Service Providers in the United States.  If you are seeking to outsource your IT Management, or if your IT Team could use some help with projects or asset management, give Digital Boardwalk a call today!  They offer a FREE IT Maturity Assessment on their website.  If you want to see how your business's IT scores against industry standards, go to GoModernOffice.com now.

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Tech Savvy Tacos With Gio Zalaya

Tim Shoop

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Nerds On Tap, where we love to bring in special guests that like to get nerdy for an hour, and I hope you're ready to get nerdy too Today. The name of our show is Tech Savvy Tacos with our special guest, Geo Zelaya. How you doing, Geo?

Geo Zelaya

I'm doing fantastic, tim, how are you?

Tim Shoop

Awesome man, awesome. So Geo is going to be talking about food and technology and how he has incorporated it in his business. So, Geo Zelaya, you're 26 years old, right? 26. Man, you're old, come on. 26 years old, and from a young age, he has been a fan of cooking, farming and livestock, so I'm excited to hear about a lot of that, because I'm just a tech guy, right. He was raised in Dayton, texas, served in the Navy as a firefighter and an air traffic controller from 2016 to 2023. And after transitioning out of the Navy, you had your mindset on moving to Europe. I did yes.

Tim Shoop

To pursue culinary arts? Yes, but what happened?

Geo Zelaya

I decided to skip school and open up a restaurant instead. No, I didn't exactly go that way, but the opportunity of opening up a restaurant presented itself. And I've talked it over with my family and they kind of looked at me and just didn't really believe me because they knew I was already set on Europe. Yeah, I was like I'm 20, then I was 25. I was like I'm going to move to Europe, I'm still young, I'm going to go to school and then just party and nope.

Tim Shoop

So the school when you were going to move to Europe, you were going to get a culinary arts school.

Geo Zelaya

No, I was actually going to be going to an international school in Barcelona and I was going to be going for an MBA and on the side, I was planning on getting a job at a Michelin star restaurant or a fancy restaurant and work my way up until I was being mentored by the head chef or the sous chef.

Tim Shoop

Yeah.

Geo Zelaya

And that's what he was going to be doing for the culinary arts. I've been following Chef Ramsay for a while and that's what he did. He moved to Paris and he started his journey in the fine dining space, just like that.

Tim Shoop

So I would say kids watch this show, but Geo's saying skip school. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. This is an entrepreneurial show and exactly what you did a lot of people do when they want to start a business. They, I mean, look at some of the famous people like Bill Gates and Zuckerberg and some of the others they drop out and start a big tech company and take off With you. You were inspired by food yes, food, and making food, and the process of going through that and making new foods for people to enjoy.

Geo Zelaya

Yes, and the process of sharing and getting together with people of different backgrounds and different mindsets and just having one thing in unison, which is food. And growing up. We didn't really have a whole lot, but we had the key elements to a very happy childhood, which was a loving family and amazing food, and from the youngest, from a very young age, I can remember always having phenomenal food, and when I joined the military the ships are not known for having good food.

Tim Shoop

I was in the Navy stationed on an Air Force base and when I first arrived there and went to the galley which I think they call it the food hall or something and somebody tried to grab the tray off my out, I was like what are you doing? He goes oh, I thought you were done. And I go oh, you're going to take my tray. What is this place? I felt like I was at the four seasons.

Geo Zelaya

Yeah, the Air Force has it made.

Tim Shoop

Well, let's talk about you. This show is about you today. So you started Tacos El Fluffy and we're going to get really into that in the first segment of the show. But you did it because you wanted to serve quality, authentic, fresh Latin food, sourcing a lot of your produce locally and making everything in-house from scratch. I love a good scratch tortilla.

Geo Zelaya

Absolutely.

Tim Shoop

Mm Tortillas, tamales, desserts and juices. Yes, that's awesome. So before we get into you, we're going to do two things. I'm going to let you look at the audience, tell them about any specials that you might have going on.

Geo Zelaya

To every taco lover quesadillas and tamales. If you come to Tacos El Fluffy on Northpace Boulevard and you mention Nerds on Tab, come on people, 15% off.

Tim Shoop

Wow, that's a good deal.

Geo Zelaya

Our food is priced beyond a fair for the type of quality of cuisine that we're cooking. It's a very gourmet cuisine. We're making everything from scratch. Like you mentioned, the tamales, we make them in-house every morning. They get steamed.

Tim Shoop

Oh, my goodness, I'm getting hungry. I mean shoot, I could eat one of those right now.

Geo Zelaya

Why Just talk about it when we can actually enjoy them?

Tim Shoop

right now.

Geo Zelaya

No way, I can't wait to see.

Tim Shoop

Wait, what do we got?

Geo Zelaya

Oh my.

Tim Shoop

God. And this is the first time, ladies and gentlemen, that I'm going to get to try one of these fantastic tacos, and what better way than to pair it with a beer. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nerds on Tab. I'm your host, tim Schu, and I couldn't be more excited to embark on this nerdy adventure with all of you. So grab your favorite brew, because things are about to get exciting.

Tim Schaffer

Three, two, one go.

Tim Shoop

So while he's setting up, he's setting up his tacos here. I'm going to go ahead and introduce the first beer of the day. We have a China brewery founded in 1909 in China, texas. We've got the China box. Ladies and gentlemen, all this is going to be so good, brewed with rich toasted barley malt and German specialty hops. This lightly hopped American style dark logger always goes down easy. I've had a bunch of these. They're so good. Only a seasonal beer. Fans have demanded it year round since 1973. So I am staring at for you listeners out there not seeing this on video I am staring at some amazing looking tacos and I can't wait to try one of these. Give me a toast.

Geo Zelaya

Absolutely we're we tearing one of those tacos.

Tim Shoop

I can't wait.

Geo Zelaya

Salute.

Tim Shoop

Salute. We got a China box. We'll eat as we go along, because I want to keep this moving along. We're going to get into our first segment, which is entrepreneurship and starting a business for Mr Geo. All right, so I want to hear about your decision on your transition from the Navy to becoming an entrepreneur. What was going on in that brain of yours?

Geo Zelaya

I can say that I've been an entrepreneur from a very young age. I was that kid in school that would bring a duffel bag full of chocolates, Hershey's, KitKats, Skittles, M&Ms.

Tim Shoop

You were selling chocolates at school.

Starting a Restaurant

Geo Zelaya

Mexican candy. I was that kid in sixth grade, seventh grade and eighth grade this was back in 2010 and sixth grade I made $6,000 off of selling candy at school, dang.

Tim Schaffer

Yeah, so has this always been food related as well, because you say entrepreneurship, but it sounds to me like entrepreneurship with food.

Geo Zelaya

For me, yes, it's always been around, something you can consume. It's always either been just the joy in people's face. Really, that is my tip. Whenever I can make someone's day through something they genuinely enjoy and brings them some sort of happier, gives them that euphoric feeling, that is what just does it for me.

Tim Shoop

That's amazing. So at your restaurants, when you, when somebody is is chomping in to a tamale or a taco, especially for the first time, and you probably know who your first time visitors are, are you watching them?

Geo Zelaya

I am, you are, I am, especially whenever is, like you mentioned, people that are eating out of their comfort zone and the food that we're providing. In Pensacola, it's not really revolutionary for us, being from the Houston area. We are accustomed to finding places where you know a taco. Even the shell the tortilla has plays a huge, important role in the end result. So whenever we came into the space, we said if we're going to do something, we got to do something that will add to it. So, having people that have never had a homemade flour tortilla or corn tortilla, I always try to peek out and see their reaction.

Tim Shoop

So these, these are all. These are all made from scratch tortillas that these tacos are in. Absolutely. Tell me a little bit about the sauces and how, because I heard a little birdie told me because I have not tried this yet and I have a feeling after today you're going to have a regular customer, so that's good. I hope I get 15% off for mentioning I'm kidding. So someone was telling me that the sauces are part of what you guys are about.

Geo Zelaya

Yes, our, especially our, salsa verde are usually. It's a tomato base sauce. This is, I mean. People literally drink this, like they at the shop. We have the bottles and people will get to go containers just so they can drink it with their food.

Tim Shoop

Really.

Geo Zelaya

And it was never something that it was intentional for us to to do that intentionally, but they are really good. And all the the peppers for these I work with a couple of different farmers in town and the jalapenos for this sauce they're all coming from other small businesses. From the beginning I said, if I get into the space, I want to be able to do something that we are growing together as a community and uplifting each other. And same with the red sauce. I mean, most of the ingredients are coming from other businesses that are sourcing them out, bringing them to the area, and then I'm one of the regular customers.

Tim Shoop

Wow, that's amazing. So I've heard I've heard core values here a few times. I keep hearing community and I keep hearing happiness and togetherness. And so what, what are? What are the core values of Taco's El Fluffy? What, what are? Do you have a core value that you really try to express?

Geo Zelaya

I you know the more, the more I thought about that because I've been asked a couple of times and our core values are bringing quality, authentic, fresh food to the area and putting smiles on people's face. I mean that is just priceless. Just to hear, you know, parents say things like oh my kid is a picky eater and he demolishes quesadilla, that's just beyond exciting for me. That's awesome.

Tim Shoop

Yeah, so there's a slogan idea, we make you smile.

Geo Zelaya

I hope it's not taken. It sounds pretty good.

Tim Shoop

I'm going to grab one of these in a second, but I'm going to keep you talking and then, while you're talking, I've got to tear in one of these, because now, while I use this sauce, is that okay?

Geo Zelaya

use both of them. Actually, do you like spicy stuff? Oh yes, absolutely Both of them. We have another sauce that I did not bring because it's that we're out of it at the moment and I'm waiting for my supplier to bring me more chocolate ghost peppers, but it's a chocolate ghost pepper sauce, and that one mixed with the green one. I mean heaven.

Tim Shoop

So you guys are constantly experimenting.

Geo Zelaya

We are, yes, I'm very adventurous when it comes to food and just being in this space. I love being challenged, and it went from you know, hey, you should have you thought about doing this. No, and then just that ongoing, just people, hey, this and that, and I was like, let's do it. So we have a range of sauces that have kind of we've developed through the last 10 months we opened back in February and very experimental, and I mean to this day we're still experimenting with a lot of things that we're like, ah, we don't know if this is going to do good or what the outcome of it is going to be, and it's usually we're okay, we blew it out of the water. We got to find other ways to kind of keep up with the demand.

Tim Shoop

So every I've started numerous businesses and every time I start a business there are a ton of challenges presented. I mean, we wouldn't be doing this if we weren't trying to solve a problem, right, right. And so I want to explore the steps and challenges with you of starting a business, especially a restaurant, the restaurant industry and I heard it's super tough. You know, I was talking to someone that was in the PEO or the payroll industry one time and they said most restaurants, I think, fail within the first year or two and it's usually either due to bad management or bad food. I have a feeling that is most definitely not the case here. But what were your challenges and what do you think your challenges are going to be moving forward as you try to develop and scale the business?

Geo Zelaya

My biggest challenge was coming from the air traffic controlling military community to this restaurant space. So, to put things into context, I've never I worked at McDonald's back in my high school year.

Tim Shoop

Yeah.

Geo Zelaya

And it was a fun job. I loved working there, but I never really cared how old were you. I was 17. 17 16.

Tim Shoop

I was the fry guy at Burger King.

Geo Zelaya

Hey, wasn't it fun though? Yeah, I had a blast. I had a blast working there, and all my friends from high school work there, but I never. So last year, whenever I transitioned out of the military, I had no intentions on opening up a restaurant. You're okay, you got to take a sip. Oh my God, that's good.

Tim Shoop

I wasn't expecting the bite.

Geo Zelaya

Yeah, Wow, It'll creep up on you. That is good, and you know. The thing about the green one is that we it's hard for us to actually control the heat level, because the jalapenos some of them will be spicy one week and the following week they'll be not spicy at all.

Tim Shoop

This is perfect for the show. We need to bring more beer in here. Let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen I just tried that I was not expecting the heat. I mean, I was expecting a little bit, yeah, but not what came after. And oh my God, that is amazing. I told you.

Geo Zelaya

I told you it was good. But yeah, biggest challenge was not knowing how to run a restaurant, not having. I went on Google and how to run a restaurant and usually what pops up was a sign up for this course or this and that, or pay this or pay that, but there really wasn't a. There's not a structure out there that I found to, where I've been kind of following step by step. Every day has brings new challenges and just the running of a business, you know paying. For the first two months I didn't pay sales taxes. I was collecting sales taxes.

Tim Shoop

Then you got a pay Right.

Geo Zelaya

So I get a call from the state of Florida and I'm like state of Florida, that's strange. So I pick up.

Geo Zelaya

I love it and they're like, hey, is this asking for me? And I'm like, yes, like you run tacos at fluffy. Yes, they're like, yeah, we haven't received your state taxes for the last two months. I was like, what do you mean state taxes? They were like, yes, your sales taxes seven, 7.5%, 6% goes to the state and 1.5 local. Yeah and yeah. So that was a huge learning curve. Unemployment tax is another one which I get, not knowing that I'm supposed to be paying all these things.

Tim Shoop

So when I was I started my first business actually started it at 27, launched it professionally at 29 when I incorporated and, just like you, I had no idea till, you know, till I started getting phone calls. And now, as we scale, a lot of companies still do it all in house. They pay their unemployment taxes, their food, their suda, their sales tax all in house. But when you get bigger and you don't have to be bigger to do this you can hire a third party PEO, which is basically they take care of paying all your tech not your sales tax, but all your other taxes. They pay all your taxes, they do all your 1099s, they build your handbook, they manage your HR and do your payroll every two weeks or every week, depending on how you're set up. We've been using one since we started.

Tim Shoop

Well, about three years in a digital boardwalk, Once it started to scale, we had to get a PEO and at a certain point in someone's business you might do that, because then you can focus on other things, and I always look at time, I compare time to money and you know if you can save time in certain ways by either automating or outsourcing. You can focus all of your time on making badass tacos, which these are. I can't wait to promote this because these are amazing and I hope we drive a little bit of traffic into your restaurant.

Tim Shoop

So how do you source your food? I want to know. You talked about local produce, I remember in the bio, and you make everything from scratch, so you have to be sourcing a lot of stuff. Do you source it locally?

Geo Zelaya

A lot of it, and then you know again, we are in a for-profit business. Some of it it just makes sense through through, get through our wholesaler, which is Cisco. But every Saturday there is a lady, her name is Donia Grisela and she brings a lot of our tomatoes, our cilantro, our onions, our jalapenos, a lot of our actually all of our peppers, and what we do is we are buying everything in bulk, so we buy the masa. So masa is what you use to make tortillas.

Geo Zelaya

And it's also what we use to make tamales. We're buying the flour and we're making our own dough in-house. Coming into the restaurant space, we didn't have a big budget. We were. I was leaving my full-time job, my mom was also leaving her full-time job and we yes, we had savings, but we didn't have this crazy funding from some investor. And to this day, we now we don't have the space. We have the funds to get a mixer, but we don't have the space to place a mixer. So we're the flour tortillas, the dough, we're making it from scratch. So every two days we're having to make a batch of close to 300 grams of flour that we turn it into tortillas.

Tim Shoop

Wow, that's crazy. So your mom. So it's a family business.

Geo Zelaya

It's a family business.

Tim Shoop

Who else does that do any of your siblings my?

Technology and Restaurant Operations

Geo Zelaya

sister. I have two sisters. One of them works there full-time. She's essentially my GM. That's why I'm able to be here. She is the one that's running the show whenever I'm not there.

Tim Shoop

Do you work for your mom or does your mom work for you? I hope she's gonna tune into the show, right?

Geo Zelaya

She will.

Tim Shoop

Say you better answer the right way GM.

Geo Zelaya

We work for each other. We work for each other. We're partners. Yeah, we're partners. Intentions are the same. We are very intentional and we want to share the wealth with Pensacola of what we've had our entire life.

Tim Shoop

Well, I can't wait to come over there and meet your mom and I will and talk to her and see who the real boss is.

Geo Zelaya

Yeah, it's her. You see what I'm doing here, don't you?

Tim Shoop

So that brings me to my next question. Tell me about the role of technology in restaurant operations and in data collection and things like that, anything that can tie in to what you know in regards to what you had to do to get this thing off the ground and get it rolling the right way.

Geo Zelaya

Yeah, I mean, technology has been crucial to us. When we started off, we were doing our inventory like the old caveman ways where we would write everything down and then we would turn it into an Excel spreadsheet and then that was just getting really confusing. And then we switched over to Google Sheets to be able to have access and it just wasn't working. And just through reading and researching I came up with a, came across a website that it's essentially it's using AI to track your inventory and then it also talks to your. For us, we use Cisco, so it talks to our system in Cisco and, as we're running out of things, all I got to do is go on my phone and just hey, say hey, we're one bag left or this and that, and that automatically goes to the cart over on Cisco and it tells me what I need to order. So when Thursday comes around for us to place our orders, it's all there and there's not like I can do inventory from here and the restaurant being 10 minutes away.

Tim Shoop

So is that you're pulling that up on your phone or your device?

Geo Zelaya

It's yeah, my phone's off.

Tim Shoop

Okay, well, you would pull it up on your phone, right, and then you would scan. Are you scanning the inventory? Is it a rise on your phone or are you just keying it in?

Geo Zelaya

You have different ways to do it. You can either scan it or it gives you the option to just plus minus. It's very, it's a nap.

Tim Shoop

Yeah.

Geo Zelaya

So in a way it feels like you're playing a game, so it doesn't even feel like you're doing inventory. It's just crazy.

Tim Shoop

So this is a good lesson for anybody out there starting a business. And so when we started digital boardwalk, we had a primary professional services automation platform that we use, and when we needed to start adding tools or dashboards and data and you know, in marketing, instead of just going out and buying anything, always go to your core line of business application that you use and go to their website or call them and go, hey, I'm looking for integrations to your software. And that sounds like what you did. You went to Cisco and you contacted them and you said, hey, I want to do this. How do I solve it? Well, there's a third party tool that does the integration correct, absolutely, all right, yes, so, and basically what it does is it uses an API integration. That developer usually there's a developer tool set and the developers of these software companies go out and they grab it and then they develop on that platform and then they can market to Cisco customers. So in that case, that's how they did it, but it solved your problem, didn't it?

Geo Zelaya

Yeah, and you're speaking foreign to me, because I don't. I'm so not. I'm technologically challenged.

Tim Shoop

Well, I'll be the nerd on the show because you look to. You look like some cool, like European soccer player.

Geo Zelaya

That's the vibe that I was going for, but even our point of sale system now that I'm, I know that I got to pay taxes and this and that our point of sale system tracks are hours that everybody's worked.

Tim Schaffer

Yeah.

Geo Zelaya

So at the end of the payroll week, all I got to do is I got to go on QuickBooks and run payroll and I have all the numbers. It also runs my monthly sales taxes. So I know exactly what I need to do and it's just, it's made it. I mean, it cuts down the time that you would have to take to count this, count that and add this, add that. It's simple math, but it adds up on time.

Tim Shoop

I used technology. You mentioned AI. I use AI, or our marketing team uses AI, to develop the episodes for the show. So when you sign up for nerds on tap, we take the data that you keyed in and we let AI take that data and go. This is what we're going to talk about. So it takes us about 15 seconds to develop the entire episode.

Geo Zelaya

That is crazy.

Tim Shoop

It's amazing, isn't it? Down that beer because we're going into the second beer before we get into food technology and innovation a little bit more. I'm going to go ahead and talk about our second beer and while I'm doing that, tim our producer. If you want to grab a taco, feel free. Otherwise we can wait till the end of the show.

Tim Schaffer

No, I have to try it. So the sauce the fact that people drink the sauce proves it must be amazing.

Tim Shoop

Oh, it's got jalapenos in it. It does. Yeah, I didn't know that. I mean, I should have known it was green, yeah, but I'm like it definitely has jalapenos in it. So we're going to talk about our next beer. This is from Goat Island Brewery, founded in 2015 in Kalman, alabama. This is called the Sipsy River Red Ale. It's an amber to red ale with the perfect balance between malt and European hops. It's smooth, flavorful and colorful. The aroma will remind you of walking through the Sipsy River Wilderness area in the springtime. So let's discuss, let's get into the next segment. Let's discuss the intersection of food and technology, including modern farming techniques. Is that anything that you can lend a voice to?

Geo Zelaya

You know, I find it extremely discouraging at times the fact that as Americans, there's really a loss of understanding where things come from. If you ask someone, if you ask a majority of millennials or it grows in the grocery store.

Tim Shoop

Right it grows in Right. Doesn't it just appear on the shelves?

Geo Zelaya

It just drives me insane. The lack of appreciation for simple things as a tomato. The number of hours and the work that goes into being able to develop this plant, to get it right, to be able to bear this amazing fruit, is just insane. And you ask people and they don't know where things are coming from. They don't know and it's just. It's crazy because we have access to free this, free that YouTube, and people still don't care and it's just like this lack of ignorance that just bothers me a lot.

Tim Shoop

Yeah, I know there's kind of a lack of perception on where these foods come from to a lot of younger people in my knowledge, because I mean back in the day with boomers. I hate that word, by the way, I'm not a boomer, no, I'm a Gen Xer. We were the last of the cool generation.

Geo Zelaya

You're not a millennial.

Tim Shoop

No, I'm a Gen Xer.

Geo Zelaya

How do you word like 35?

Tim Shoop

Yeah, I'm 54. What?

Tim Schaffer

Yeah, wow yeah.

Tim Shoop

I got a great plastic surgeon. I can tell I do not have plastic. No, no, I'm actually 54. I've been running businesses since I was 27-ish. So I have been an entrepreneur for what? Almost 35 years, doing it for almost 25, 35 years. I'm not in math mode because I'm in beer and taco mode right now, but yeah, no, farming it's a big part of it. Right, and back in the day it was all about our farmlands and everything, and all that has changed over time and farmers have made things more efficient. I mean, with you've got drone technology that can fly out over and scan for different variants in the field, and the time that they save now doing things, it brings the food faster to your table, I would imagine.

Geo Zelaya

But Absolutely it does. I you know there's this.

Geo Zelaya

oh, you know technology, witchcraft, this and that, but in reality, if you're in the weeds and you're the one that is having to wake up at 3 am, to get to the field to ensure that you know, by 8 am you don't have crows eating your crops and then having to go to bed at 11 because you had to. You know, go get the cows, put them in the field to get them ready for the morning to milk them. It makes a difference and usually what I've noticed is that a lot of people that are complaining between this integration of technology and farming are people that have never farmed so they don't understand what it actually takes and the manpower and how, how labor-intensive and how difficult it is.

Tim Shoop

You know, think about the old movies that, the movies that you watch that come from the era of the horse and plow. I mean, think about that for a minute, think about what those people had to do. And even today, farmers deal with weather events. I mean a weather event can really set a farmer back right, absolutely so back in the day.

Geo Zelaya

Yeah, I mean not even so my. I have family that lives in Honduras and a lot of my family they're farmers. They, my family, we, they've been farmers. I don't say we because it's a lot of work and I haven't really put in the time to be able to call myself a farmer but my family, they're farmers and they've been farming for generations. And even now, last time I was in Honduras was back in 2019 and, just seeing, I have friends from Ocase, from Oklahoma, so I've been to Ocase a couple of times, up to Tulsa.

Tim Shoop

Oh yeah, yeah, I was stationed in Oklahoma.

Geo Zelaya

Oh, I'm sorry, Tinker Air.

Tim Shoop

Force. I'm so sorry, that's the Air Force base I mentioned earlier in the show.

Geo Zelaya

Okay, so I'm a little assed out there. Yeah, I know it's a, it's not bad so my first tornado. How was?

Tim Shoop

that it was in the distance and I just pressed the accelerator and went the other way.

Geo Zelaya

No, I've. I'm from the Houston area, so it's it's really green and not dry like Oklahoma. But yeah, even back in 2019, last time I was in Honduras just seeing some of the farming practices that were being conducted over there just being way behind times I mean, I'm talking about 50 years, 60 years and then just coming to the States. But it's the lack of resources and it's the lack of investing from the government into actually ensuring that these people that are ensuring that the economy is spinning, because if you don't have food, that's just really one way of working. What are you going to do?

Tim Shoop

Yeah, it stops right, right, Wow, well, how do you stay updated? Kind of reeling you back into the restaurant. How do you stay updated on the tech trends? Do you stay updated on the tech trends? You obviously do. If you incorporated an AI-driven inventory system and you figured out your point of sale, you figured out taxes.

Geo Zelaya

We have fair taxes, otherwise they can call Uncle Sam, comes for you.

Tim Shoop

Yes, sir. How do you stay up to date on the restaurant tech trends? Because I mean tech drives efficiency in restaurants.

Geo Zelaya

Absolutely Social media. I mean you can scroll through my Instagram and mostly Facebook. I still love Facebook because the things that you're able to post on Facebook sometimes you can't post them on Instagram. I follow people that have been in the industry for a while. I had a pretty great military career and it was because I had really great mentors. I had people that were telling me hey, don't do this, because I did it when I came in and this was the outcome and I want something better for you. It's always following someone and the fact that there's so many people that are willing to share and educate others. To me, that's just fascinating. And again, it just comes down to how are you devoting your time To me? I love restaurant space. I love food. I love catering to people through food and showing my love. The last thing I would want to do is have to close my doors because I'm not keeping up, I'm not updating myself. Just like your phone has to be updated every so often, we also have to update ourselves.

Tim Shoop

We have to change Evolve Evolution.

Geo Zelaya

Exactly.

Tim Shoop

Just like a business has to evolve to scale. You can't just set it and forget it in a business and you can't set it and forget it in your life. For instance, a few years ago I never worked out. I ate horribly, I drank a lot of beer. Still do that.

Geo Zelaya

That's good though.

Tim Shoop

But the reason I started working out and getting into fitness and understanding nutrition and understanding all of that was really to offset my beer drinking. I'm making a joke here, no, I've.

Tim Shoop

Yeah, no, it was to offset my beer drinking so I wouldn't get huge, but that's not true. But you're into fitness and you see where I'm segueing to Absolutely You're into fitness and tell me how it complimented, or how fitness complements, because I know it does with me your entrepreneurial journey. I get up in the morning. This morning I did my pre-workout drink. I went up, worked out like a beast, drank my protein, worked like a craze Crazy person. All morning, meeting after meeting, after meeting, and then I drove up here to meet you and do the show and then I've got calls all the way till six o'clock tonight.

Tim Shoop

I'm just nonstop and fitness helps me with that, because when I first get up in the morning, I have to have a cup of coffee. That's just. It's been that way since I was a teenager. To be honest with you, I have to have that one cup of coffee in the morning. I read my emails, I catch up and if you haven't seen it, there's life, a day in the life of an IT CEO. It's on our YouTube page. I filmed my daily routine and you'll watch it and you'll go. That is crazy. Tell me about your routine. Tell me how fitness integrates into your daily life to help you drive your energy towards food passion.

Weight Loss, Tacos, and Beer

Geo Zelaya

I mean, you kind of already covered it and, like you said, I work out to be able to eat what I want.

Tim Shoop

So I wasn't joking, you weren't joking. I said I was joking.

Geo Zelaya

But no, it's facts. To me, fitness has never really been something that I've seen myself pursuing as a career, and there's a lot of people out there that are doing it and I think that's fantastic. You know, through them we're getting all these new innovations, but for me, fitness has always been a way to be able to eat what I want and to be able to release. I usually I'm usually pretty stressed out and whenever I go to the gym or if running would give the same results as going to the gym, I would never work out, but it's really difficult for me to even keep on anyway. I joined the Navy and I was 126 pounds and I was six foot tall.

Tim Shoop

That's funny. I was 149 pounds and I was 510.

Geo Zelaya

510.

Tim Shoop

10.

Tim Schaffer

510. So last year I weighed 240. Now I weigh 203. And why is? Because all I did is cut burgers, greasy food, all that, and have reduced myself plenty enough to tacos, this taco truck right at the road. I've been dropping a lot of weight because of that.

Tim Shoop

But now you're going to go to tacos fluffy right? Exactly that's what I'm saying. You're going to drop that taco truck and you're going to go to this place.

Geo Zelaya

And you're going to be dropping even more weight, because our stuff is made from scratch on the spot no additives or anything, I can tell the shell alone, like I was saying, yeah, now the quality is there.

Tim Shoop

I tasted the quality and I tasted the heat, but I love the heat chicken, turkey, leaner meats.

Tim Schaffer

It's basically I made that huge shift and because of that it's helped a ton with me right. And then, instead of drinking sodas and stuff, cut all that out a lot of sugar. But the big part is I love meat too much and so instead of a fat burger, I'm eating tons of tacos. As funny as that is, that just is the reality of my life recently and I've been dropping a lot of weight because of it. So I'm very excited because it goes so hand in hand with the show here of that taco is definitely better than the taco taco.

Tim Shoop

Tim, that's great and wonderful and all this fitness talk is wonderful, but it's making me want another beer, so I can go work out and work that off, absolutely. So let's talk about beer number three Bell's Brewery, founded in 1985 in Kalamazoo, michigan. Oh, this is gonna be a good one. It's a Kalamazoo stout, I think I read you like stouts, right? Yeah, I thought so. So a smooth, full bodied stout that offers a blend of aromas and flavors of dark chocolate and freshly roasted coffee, balanced with a significant hop presence. So let's see what this thing's all about. Definitely has a look and the Consistency.

Tim Shoop

Well, the legs of a Guinness almost close to it on the walls of the glass, but tasting it's gonna be the only way we can figure that out.

Geo Zelaya

So pros Salud.

Tim Shoop

Tastes the coffee and the chocolate and the chocolate. There's a heavy chocolate coffee in that one. It's good though. Yeah, you like it I do.

Geo Zelaya

Yeah, I'm not unlike you. I'm not really a coffee person Like I'll drink coffee for the aesthetics of it.

Tim Shoop

Yeah.

Geo Zelaya

Yeah, but caffeine doesn't affect my body Like this was about a year ago. I had 10 shots of espresso in one sitting.

Tim Shoop

No, you did, I did. I can't do that. I wouldn't sleep for three days.

Geo Zelaya

Nothing happened.

Tim Schaffer

That's dangerous.

Geo Zelaya

Nothing happened. And whenever I was getting out of in the military I always had issues with my EKGs and they said it was normal for me.

Tim Shoop

Yeah, I'm finding this really hard to believe.

Geo Zelaya

I promise I can. Next episode.

Tim Shoop

I have an espresso machine at my house.

Geo Zelaya

When am I coming over?

Tim Shoop

Yeah, you're gonna have to come over. We're gonna feed you 20 shots of espresso to see what happens, and then we're gonna drink beer.

Geo Zelaya

Absolutely. I'll make some tacos at the house.

Tim Shoop

I love cooking. I'll have you over.

Geo Zelaya

Absolutely, you need to come over. I love using other people's kitchens. Yeah, I bring my whole toolbox.

Tim Shoop

That's funny. So that was a pretty good beer though.

Geo Zelaya

It was really good.

Tim Shoop

You know I'm not a big stout drinker. I was back in my 20s. When you get older it's like drinking bread and when you get older you tend to steer away from bread because it adds to your waistline. But that beer I really like the way the chocolate and the coffee blend in there I mean it's really. It's kind of like a chocolate espresso. Have you ever had like espresso ice cream or something like it has the same kind of consistency it does. Yeah.

Geo Zelaya

There's a really A flavor palette. There's a good shop down the road. They have really great gelato and they have a espresso gelato.

Impactful Mentoring Program

Tim Shoop

Yeah, I probably know where you're talking about. It's really good. We're gonna get into a. This is gonna be my favorite segment because this is close to my heart. But community involvement and giving back. I read about your involvement and some of the things you've done and I gotta say that's a. It's pretty big for 20, 27, right, 26. 26,. Okay, so let's talk about your commitment to the Pensacola community and we're gonna get into this I'm gonna leave the audience hanging for a minute and your involvement in mentoring through the Take Stock and Children program. So that's huge, you know, and tell me, go into it, Tell me about it, you know growing up with a single parent.

Geo Zelaya

I was always really fortunate to have had guardian angels around me, people that took time out of their day to ensure that I was getting the resources that I needed to be able to be successful.

Geo Zelaya

So from a very young age, I had amazing teachers that to this day, I owe them so much and I probably will never be able to repay them, because it's the selfless act that they take on, and they are like mothers and joining the military. I had the same experience with people that I joined at the age I was 18 when I joined, and I had people that we had nothing in common. They were in their mid 30s, they had a family, they had a career and they could have easily just focused on what do I have to do to make the next rank or the next pay grade, but instead they took time out of their day to ensure that. What does Zelaya need to ensure that he gets to his next goal? And that's meant a lot to me and just seeing how, if we take the time to help those around us and ensure that people around us are, they have the resources and the tools that they need to be successful, and then they go out and they do that to someone else. It's a ripple effect.

Tim Shoop

Yeah, pay it forward and you know you're the impact, the impact they had on you through the years and you now sitting down Now tell me about who your.

Geo Zelaya

Menti.

Tim Shoop

Yeah, your mentee is.

Geo Zelaya

I really want to give the program Take Stock and Children kind of an exposure, because it's a program that not a lot of people know about.

Geo Zelaya

But Take Stock and Children is a program that is designated to assist kids that come from homes that the thought of going to college is just non-existing because their parents never went to school. Their parents always worked low income jobs. So that is kind of what is expected out of you. You're going to graduate high school and you're going to go get a job down the road where you're going to be collecting minimum wage and living paycheck to paycheck.

Tim Shoop

Where does that program originate?

Geo Zelaya

It is a state of Florida program.

Tim Shoop

Yeah, okay.

Geo Zelaya

It's the entire state of Florida and the program what it does. It guarantees every student that is part of the program a full right scholarship. That's amazing A full right scholarship to any public university in the state of Florida. So to me, that was the reason why I joined the Navy was because one of the reasons why I joined the Navy when I graduated high school was because I couldn't afford college. I had the grades, I had the SAT scores to get in, but I did not have the financial support to go to school. And I joined the Navy for the education aspect of it. But to have a program that guarantees a scholarship, a full right four year scholarship to a kid, that is an opportunity that I said. I want to be part of that because I want to ensure that the student has the resources and tools they need to be successful and all they have to do is make sure that they stay out of trouble. Maintain a 2.0 GPA, that's it. That's it 2.0 GPA and no drugs. That is all they ask of the student.

Tim Shoop

And they get a full ride.

Geo Zelaya

They get a full ride.

Tim Shoop

I've heard of Tech, stock and Children. I think it was through a program I was involved with called GrowFL, which is a program out of Tampa Florida that recognizes fast grow businesses in the state of Florida, and we ended up becoming alumni of that, I think starting back in like 2017 or 2018, we they called us and they said you're in, and I was really excited. But I know that they invest in Tech, stock and Children and that's where I first saw it. So when I saw it on your entry form for Nerds on Tap, I was pretty excited that you get to come on here and talk about it.

Geo Zelaya

So yeah, it's an amazing program and it's throughout the entire state of Florida and they are always looking for mentors, because if there's no mentors, then they. You know, these kids are coming from homes where the simple words like hey, I believe in you. You got this. It's life changing because they don't have that.

Tim Shoop

They don't hear it.

Geo Zelaya

They don't hear it.

Impact of Local Business Investing

Tim Shoop

Yeah, see, and that you know, I see that and I'd never experienced that. I mean, I came from a lower middle class to middle class family. I was the baby of six children and you know my dad just said you know he was that old mentality. He passed away a few years ago and I remember him telling me just work hard and good things will come. And I didn't want to burden them with college tuition and bills and everything. So I went in the Navy because I didn't want to put. I just didn't want to. Besides, I was the baby of six.

Tim Shoop

None of my brothers and sisters had the opportunities that I had and I didn't want it being rubbed in my face either. So I chose to go in the Navy. But I will tell you that it's very hard for me, from a personal experience, to understand what a lot of these kids go through in their personal lives growing up as a teenager or a tween and finally understanding. Wait a minute, I wasn't dealt the same cards as you know, tim Shoe or whoever, and but they don't. You know, it's all they know.

Geo Zelaya

Absolutely. For me it was the same, even though we didn't have the resources to go to school. But I never came home to a oh, you can't do this because we didn't do it. It was totally the opposite.

Geo Zelaya

My mom it's because your mom my grandparents hey, you work hard, anything is possible, you put God in front of you and you can do anything, and the tamales that we have in front of you. So growing up, my mom had. She was. She had two jobs and one of her jobs was every other weekend we would make tamales and this, our tamales recipe, has been in our family for a while and I was her little salesman and the tamales would get us out of a lot of okay, but now we have enough to cover our water bill and our electricity.

Tim Schaffer

Wow.

Geo Zelaya

But it was never a. We're poor, so, and I don't even.

Tim Shoop

You were solving a problem with resources you had.

Geo Zelaya

And even using the term poor is just not. I've never felt poor. But you know, I look back now and I'm like, yeah, we were challenged with difficulties, but I had a family that, hey, everything is possible. Hey, we just got to work, work, work, work, work, work and we're going to come out of this and that's how it's always been.

Tim Schaffer

So I was a single parent home as well and definitely lots of struggles, barely having any funds, Mom working three jobs, hardly being home because of that kind of life. So I understand. On that front it was challenging.

Tim Shoop

Well, it's going to be hard to change the subject or change the topic after talking about all this, so I kind of want to stay on it for just a minute, but I do want to change the angle of it. Let's talk about the impact of investing in the community. Obviously, you know you work with, take stock in children, but investing in the community and supporting local businesses Always been true for me and my wife Kathleen. You met her at Entracon.

Geo Zelaya

I've ran into her a couple of times actually Since then. Yeah, she's been. So I actually just moved to Pensacola I lived in Pace and I ran into her and she I was telling her how I was having issues finding furniture within my budget and she sent me pretty, pretty great recommendations and yeah, she's pretty awesome.

Tim Shoop

Yeah, kathleen is awesome. I definitely married above my pay grade that right now. She keeps me in line and you know we did a, and this is off topic, but I'm going to put this out there because she listens to every one of these shows.

Geo Zelaya

Really.

Tim Shoop

And I know she's excited about this one because she knew you were coming on. But she, what was I going to say? She keeps me in line and we interviewed. It was her 10 year roast for working at Digital Boardwalk this year at the Christmas party. So I took my camera and interviewed everybody at Digital Boardwalk and gave them a series of questions. And one of the questions was if Kathleen was the boss for a day, what would she change? And you know what most people said I thought she was the boss. Oh, so, just like I think your mom's the boss that talk is so fluffy.

Tim Shoop

I don't know.

Geo Zelaya

I guess we'll never know.

Tim Shoop

You know why I'm doing this right? Because I know she's going to listen to this show. She's going to get a kick out of it and I can't wait to meet her.

Tim Shoop

Absolutely, because she's raised an amazing human being. Thank you so much. So I want to thank you for being the way you are and for giving back, because it's really important. So, getting back on the community, what would you change? What tell me your take on investing in local businesses? Because obviously, if I spend money at your restaurant, you might go down to Bubba's sweet spot and buy a piece of candy or a bag of candy there You're putting money over there and then Bubba Watson might go down to a jewelry store and buy a ring and so on and so forth. So my take is keep the money local. The money will keep turning. What is your take? Along the lines of what is your take?

Geo Zelaya

Along the lines of what you just mentioned as well, being in the entrepreneurial space of seeing how supportive other small businesses are with each other. It has been fascinating and a place I never really saw myself being in, but I can 100% agree with what you're saying. Yes, two days ago I was at a Wolfgang was having their party draw meetup, meeting up to the event and just being in the room with 60 other individuals that are invested in the community and growing. All of that attracts tourism, which we all end up benefiting from, because if someone goes to Lamontes gelato shop, that I just mentioned earlier.

Geo Zelaya

What do they do? Oh, are you looking for any tacos in town? This is tacos of fluffiest. Where do you?

Tim Shoop

think I'm going to send people.

Geo Zelaya

Exactly so. Is this, this idea of since being in the space, it's never felt just like the taco shop you were mentioning earlier tacos Mexicanos, I mean. The owner gave another incredible individual. It's never felt like it's been a competition of who like it's me, me, me, me. I can only have people. There's 8 billion people in the world. If I get caught up in the oh well, they're doing this, I got to do this, it's a competition, then I'll lose sleep over it and it's just. It's annoying, it's boring, it's a little pathetic really.

Tim Shoop

Yeah.

Geo Zelaya

When I talk.

Tim Shoop

Sorry, you have to focus on somebody. A mentor once told me this he goes quit focusing on competition, quit focusing on what the others are doing, and focus on you and what you're doing, and focus on your evolution and your growth. And in the future you'll be talking about where they go because you have overcome the challenges, whereas they were too focused on copying you or doing what you want, and so on and so forth. So it's just a great thing. Sorry, tim, I didn't mean to cut you off. I. We're getting close to the end of the show and I kind of want to wrap. So what I want you to do, Geo, is tell our audience again where they need to go to get the most fascinating tamales and tacos and fresh ingredients Breakfast too.

Tim Shoop

And oh my goodness, somebody asked me that today Do they have breakfast?

Tim Schaffer

We have breakfast, so describe the breakfast, if you can.

Geo Zelaya

Yes, Breakfast, oh our breakfast. We have breakfast tacos, breakfast burritos, which are like what's a breakfast taco?

Tim Shoop

I'm swigging by.

Geo Zelaya

They come on flour, tortilla with beans, and then you can get eggs, potatoes, chorizo that we make in house. It's not greasy, it's not salty. We also have pork skin, some other, and green sauce. So again, we're a very in in house gourmet kitchen. So we're buying the port but and out of the port but we make the al pastor, which it wasn't one of the tacos. We make the al pastor, Then we make the chorizo out of it and then the belly, the pork belly. We turned that into pork skins and the pork skins will smother them in green sauce or red sauce. And the byproduct of making pork skin is large and we use the large to make tamales.

Tim Shoop

Wow, it's a whole process Full circle.

Geo Zelaya

Full circle. We don't waste anything.

Tim Shoop

So tell our audience what kind of special they can get. Let's repeat that again Tell them where they need to go or where where they can go online to find you, and maybe if you have some social tags and then you have a discount. So tell them what they need to hear.

Geo Zelaya

We are tacos of fluffy and we specialize in serving quality, authentic Latin food and we're open Tuesday through Sundays. We do breakfast from 8 am to 10 30 pm On the weekdays and on weekends we do it from nine to about 11 ish and we're located off of a North Pace Boulevard. Our address is 707 North Pace Boulevard, pensacola, florida, 32505. And you know what, tim, if you come to tacos of fluffy and you mentioned nerds on tab, 25% off 25. I thought it was 15. I thought it was 15.

Geo Zelaya

I did say 15, but if they stay on and watch the four show they can mention 25.

Tim Shoop

All right, 25. I will make sure it happens that way too, and that we don't give any teasers at the beginning of the show. Exactly so we'll see how many people.

Geo Zelaya

How many people come in and mention 15 and how many people come in and mention 25?

Tim Shoop

So let's wrap. We're going to drink one more beer. You're not even done with your coffee. Chocolate beer. He's going to down that salute. We're going to wrap the show. We're going to go ahead and drink one more beer and then we're going to have a couple more words with Geo and wrap it up. So the next beer is Bell's Brewery. It's a Bell's Too Hard at American IPA. This is a good one. Have you ever had this?

Geo Zelaya

No, but IPAs are my favorite.

Tim Shoop

I think you're going to enjoy this. This is a very good IPA, right after Fishing Waters in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Too Harded is an American IPA brewed and dry hop with 100% centennial hops Beloved by long time and new craft beer drinkers. Too Harded is an iconic ale that's perfect for any occasion. So we will wrap up the show by cheers.

Geo Zelaya

Cheers and I just wanted to say thank you so much for having me on Again. It's one of those things Small businesses supporting each other. This is huge for us. We're 10 months in and we're still. We can't believe what we've gotten ourselves into. But thank you so much for this because it means a lot.

Tim Shoop

Thank you for coming on, and I will definitely send people your way, and you got to come in too. Oh, I'm coming, so I'll be there. Do you have a website?

Geo Zelaya

Coming soon.

Tim Shoop

Coming soon. All right, Stay tuned, and when you do get a website, let me know and I'll get it out on my social feeds. Okay, Thanks everyone. Have a good day. Let's try this. Beer Cheers my fellow nerds and beer lovers. Stay tuned for more Nerds on Tap. Oh, and one more thing Help us spread the nerdy love and the love for grape brews by sharing this podcast with your friends, colleagues and fellow beer enthusiasts. Let's build a community that embraces curiosity, innovation and the enjoyment of a cold one.

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Tim Shoop

Host