Today we’d like to introduce you to El Secreto Bartending.
Hello El Secreto Bartending, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
We’re El Secreto Bartending, a family-owned and customer-centered bartending service based out of Southern California. Being first-gen and immigrant, our story starts many thousands of miles away in Mexico, which is where we have our familial roots. Joel and I (Karla) are a sibling duo whose mom is Oaxaqueña and dad is from Guadalajara. Roberto (my boyfriend) was born and partly raised in San Luis Potosi. Though we have spent most of our lives in Los Angeles and San Diego, we have remained extremely connected to our culture, which holds community and celebration at its core. And that is what El Secreto is all about.
If you know anything about Oaxaca, Guadalajara, or San Luis Potosi, you know these are places with Mezcal and Tequila as their signature spirits. Throughout the past few years, we have visited distilleries in our home country and have continuously been in awe of the process and this craft. A few years ago (before any of us had even dreamed of El Secreto), Joel and Roberto, each decided to go to bartending school in their free time. Joel attended Long Beach Bartending School, and Roberto attended Gaslamp Bartending School here in San Diego. I have always been the unofficial taste tester of their latest drink recipes. Little by little, we began to play around with the idea of starting a mobile bartending business. We started having regular meetings to talk about name ideas, business models, etc., and now we are all official founders and co-owners of El Secreto Bartending.
Our team is pretty unique and dynamic, we all bring different knowledge, skills, and ideas, and that is what makes our work so exciting. Joel is currently working on his Business Marketing Certificate at a local college and has many years of experience as a bartender for major music festivals and in the food service industry. Roberto obtained his undergraduate degree in International Business from UC San Diego and has many years of experience in accounting and customer service. I obtained my undergraduate degree from USC and master’s degree in Higher Education from Harvard University, and bring my years of experience with project management, assessment, and communications.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As first-generation business owners, there have definitely been a few struggles along the way. We didn’t have experience or models for how to create a proper business from the ground up. It has taken many long discussions, lots of research, and getting creative with the resources we do have to build up El Secreto to what it is today. There are so many moving pieces to this work, especially so much behind-the-scenes work that can sometimes be overwhelming, especially when you consider the fact that we all have full-time jobs outside of El Secreto.
From filing legal paperwork to defining our internal processes to the actual preparation that goes into each event, our team has been able to navigate these challenges well and lean on each other’s strengths. Another challenge has been getting the word out about our business, we have leveraged our social media platforms to build an audience, and thankfully those have created successful leads for us.
Although there have been some challenges throughout this process, the good has definitely outweighed the bad. We are very lucky to have supportive family and friends in this journey. Our families have let us store our materials in their homes, borrow decorations and needed supplies, and much more. Even though we are just getting started, we have so many big ideas of how we want to continue to grow, and it can be a challenge to figure out a healthy pace of growing fast as we develop our business.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
El Secreto Bartending is a family-owned mobile bartending business serving Southern California, primarily the San Diego and Los Angeles areas. We specialize in curating an affordable luxury experience for each of our clients and their loved ones as they celebrate the exciting moments in their lives. From birthdays to weddings or graduations, we want to bring your vision to life through our craft cocktails, mocktails, and signature service.
We are best known for the experience we provide our guests from the very moment they reach out to us. As we plan the event, we create a custom-designed menu based on their theme with fun drinks to go along with it. We use the freshest ingredients for our drinks and can create just about anything that our clients wish! Some of our signature drinks include our Mango Margarita, Watermelon Mint Refresher, and our Mexican Candy Shot.
Our business is unique because we aim to provide you with an experience, not just a service. During all our events, we aim to make each guest feel comfortable as they indulge in our drinks! We are proud of our commitment to being customer-centered, we truly believe in quality over quantity, and I think it shows.
We’d love to work with you! We offer a variety of packages depending on our client’s needs; for each package the clients provide the necessary alcohol. All you need to know is when and where you’d like for us to join you; we take care of everything else.
Check out our Instagram and TikTok to follow along our journey!
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson we have learned along our journey has been to remain focused on our goal of providing a customer-centered experience to everyone who comes in contact with El Secreto. We care about developing genuine relationships with our clients as we help them celebrate the special moments in their lives. From our first message or phone call to the menu design and drinks consultation, we make sure each client knows how much we care about making their day extra special. We
We truly pride ourselves in delivering excellent service and making delicious drinks. We are constantly looking for ways to improve and make sure our drinks reflect the craft that goes into them. By the time the event comes around, I think both us and the client are so excited to meet each other and celebrate the night away! We take great care of our clients and by doing so, they take care of us in return by spreading the word and supporting our work.
Pricing:
- Signature Package (includes full bar set up): starting at $450 and up for small events
- Classic Package (everything but the bar set up): starting at $350 and up for small events
- Bartender Package (just the bartender): starting at $200 and up for small events
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elsecretobartending/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090184234904
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/el-secreto-bartending-san-diego
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@elsecretobartending
Image Credits
El Secreto Bartending
