Latin Times Magazine: In your industry, what would you say separates you from your competition
Rafael J. Feliciano: 2 very important reasons are what allows us to stand tall above the rest of our competition. First, we are a hyper-niche business that’s only focused on food, beverage and
hospitality as a whole. We know that if the hospitality industry is thriving, that means the local economy is thriving as well. We recognized this early on and never steered off course. Second,
we are what is considered to be a “social entrepreneurship business”. Regardless of profit margin, scope or arena, everything we do has some give-back element to the community. From education to mental health, we align ourselves with the right local non-profits and encourage our partners and clients to do the same.
Latin Times Magazine: During Covid-19, tell us about your Biggest Challenge/obstacle and how you overcame it/or are overcoming it
Rafael J. Feliciano: As devastating as Covid has been, the silver lining couldn’t have been more beneficial for both myself and our company. We lost clients and some months we barely kept the lights on. I was forced to look in the mirror and battle some big demons. However, for the first time in years I was able to slow down without distraction and re-calibrate my goals both personally and professionally. In business, we were forced to adapt or die. So we pivoted. We tightened up our operations, thought outside the box to develop more revenue streams, dove head first into community outreach and never looked back. The real challenge now is the
uncertain future the hospitality industry holds, but regardless of the obstacles, we’re confident that we'll do what we did before, reset + adapt + overcome.
Feliciano
2020 Top Florida Latino Lideres
Check out the rest of this interview at: http://latintimesmedia.com/2020/10/rafael-j-feliciano/
Rafael L.