Daniel Figueredo
Appearances
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
My name is Daniel Figueredo, and I'm a resident of Silver Bluff. I am also the owner of Sandwich in Miami. And I'm here at an interesting turn of events. I wasn't going to speak, but Stephen Meadow did something pretty admirable. He apologized. And he apologized for the pain that he had caused our business at the hands of Joe Carollo. You know, that was very big of you. You're forgiven, brother.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
Joe, you once called me a coward on national television. And I'm here in front of you, wearing my shirt. I'm still standing. Karma is cold and it creeps in the bed at night. And I hope you sleep well knowing what you've done to the community of Little Havana and someone like me.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
Thank you for the introduction. You know, when Rose and I decided to leave our careers, we wanted to pursue something like a simpler life for us. And I was traveling quite a bit. Rosa was in the legal field and, you know, she was doing an ungodly sum of hours for the firm.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
And we had our first born daughter, our daughter, and in 2015 and we decided, hey, listen, this is not just the lifestyle that we want to live. So let's let's do something simpler. Right. And And it was my bright idea to open up a sandwich shop. So go figure.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
My idea of being home every day and, I don't know, making sandwiches for the public and having, you know, some sense of community was just, you know, a... It was very attractive and romantic. So we started chipping away at it and we came across, you know, we obviously started working with Bill. Bill offered us a location.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
Yeah. And, you know, I think it's important to say that, you know, one of the things that I admire about Bill is to maintain Cayocho and Little Havana, what it is and what what we all enjoy Little Havana to be. And building a brand, I felt, especially the brand that we wanted to build, aligning ourselves with that community was just our secret sauce.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
I think it was gonna be the best platform for us to succeed. So Bill came to us and he said, hey, listen, I got this great property here that I think we can do something with and give us some thought. Originally it was gonna be in the Futurama building.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
But after some due diligence, I said, hey, we probably can, based on the type of zoning laws that we currently have at the time in the city of Miami and the use of the property and the use of my idea, I think it was executable. So my background has been in design, architecture, engineering.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
And so I knew that if we did a shipping container, the shipping container would in private property afford us the opportunity to exercise our concept. So, we got all the appropriate documentation, we had the use, we got our DBPR health license, and we went to work. So when we opened, it was a huge success.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
I'm not sure if you have any footage of that, but when we opened, the day we opened, we had over 300, almost 400 attendees just show up at our ventanita. And it was a kick in the gut because here we are, I have no experience in the food industry. And to my surprise and our surprise, the community really rallied behind the brand and took to it.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
we had an incredible responsibility to uphold the integrity of the food and the quality of the experience and the brand in an environment that i felt needed it you know little havana being little havana i felt that we were just kind of the right fit for the community and and it was it was a really beautiful time up until joe carollo you know won his election and that fateful i would say it was just it was i believe it was november 22nd my memory serves me correct when
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
We all learned that Joe Carollo was going to be the commissioner. And honestly, if I can be totally transparent, I don't give a shit about politics. I didn't give a shit whether it's going to be Joe Carollo or Alfie Leon at the time. I was just like, I just wanted to sell sandwiches. That really was my only focus. And I had no idea that, you know,
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
the the level of evil that we were going to be facing with that fateful Tuesday or Thursday, whatever it was, when we were bombarded by police and and fire and code enforcement inspectors and what have you to attempt to close us down because they felt that we were running an illegal operation.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
Yeah, and I think it's important that I preface this, is that I'm not in politics.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
I've never been in politics, and so I always felt that there is a formality, and I felt that I wanted to extend the olive branch and really introduce myself, so I took it upon myself to go see Joe Carollo, and I sat down with him very early on, and I really wanted to understand why was he trying to pick a fight, and I thought we were in a bridge-building situation,
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
um economy right we wanted to help our fellow entrepreneurs and and and build relationships in our community and and here he was taking a sledgehammer and destroying an honest family and honestly not i thought something was going to come from it and it just perpetually became worse That's interesting.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
I don't care if it was Adam or Paul or Brian or Jamie Ringo. You represent at the end of the day, you are an elected official whose principal job is to promote and encourage. your constituents and your base. And you don't go in there with a wrecking ball and a torch and charcoal and light the whole place on fire for a personal vendetta, right?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
I think we're all grown men and there are going to be many people that are going to agree or disagree with me. But at the end of the day, my job is to do what's right by my community.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
They're nearly they're nearly nearly bankrupted me. So, you know, we spent a considerable amount of money on the on the on the build out. And obviously everything that goes along with it, you know, the architectural, the building, the you know, the establishment, the food, the employees, everything.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
And to have the rug pulled from underneath you was, it was a very sharp moment in our existence as a brand and as a family. So here I have two young kids, they're one and two. And we're just obviously, Rose and I were very successful in our academic careers. And so we didn't have to do this. I didn't have to do that for like 12 bucks an hour, right, at the time.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
And when that was basically ripped from our grips, it put us in a financial spiral. And Rose and I were on food stamps for a little over six months. My kids got on their Medicare plans. And at one point, I remember asking my neighbor... As I was building out the second location, I remember asking my neighbor, I was like, hey, listen, can you do me a favor?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
I'm running out of cash and would you be able to buy some milk for my kids?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
It's the antithesis of that, quite honestly. You know, it's it's it's very difficult to kind of cut through the bureaucracy of our municipality and understand what we need to do to open a restaurant. Like, for instance, Bayside took me three years and it's 500 square feet. Three years to open a 500 square foot restaurant.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
No, thankfully no. I had an abatement period until I negotiated that once we were able to open, that's when our rent commencement began. But nevertheless, it takes a toll on a big financial picture of a business because you've got all this expense tied into a location that isn't generating any income.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
Um, and that, and that's, and that's not 100% at fault of the municipality, but also Miami Dade County with their, with their Durham and their processes and other like, you know, endless amount of, of paperwork and bureaucracy and hurdles. And, and, and unfortunately, you know, if you don't know anybody here in the city of Miami, it's very difficult for you to get anything done.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
So I've been, I've been, uh, unfortunately, you know, I, I hate to say it, but you know, as, as you start to grow your, your economy of scale here, you really get to know people and you can pick up the phone and say, Hey, like what the is going on? Can you help push this along? And that shouldn't, that shouldn't happen. I think everyone,
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
who wants to come into the city of Miami or anywhere that wants to open a business, it should be a real clear course to completion. And it's not. I remember, I'll tell you this, I was building up this commissary and Billy, you've been here to our commissary in our office. Outstanding.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
I've been very fortunate to kind of cut through all the bullshit and grow my business despite all the impediments that we've faced.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
but i had i had an inspect um it was a reviewer once that i was sitting down and really needed some clarity in some of these comments because these comments just kept dragging on endlessly right it's everyone's trying to cover their ass and there's just too much liability at stake and there's a lot of fear going on and people are walking on eggshells so i'd sit there and i talked to this guy and i asked him hey
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
know i really need clarity here i i've been in this project now for eight months and i need to finish this by two months and he he looked me dead in the face and he said oh you're eight months this is incredible man you should consider yourself lucky this process usually takes two years And I was floored. I was like, how dare you speak to me like that?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
Because you sit here on the other side of this table and you have your, you have your salary, your salary, you're, you're working on your pension and you don't have a lot of disruption. You get to get, you get here at eight o'clock and you check out at four, you take an hour and a half lunch. You take your seven day two week vacations, right? While people like me,
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
are stimulating the economy people like me are investing in a process it's important that i open up not just for my sake but for those that are working for me i'm contributing to the ecosystem of our of our of our city you're preventing me from opening my doors and you think it's cute by saying ah you're ahead of yourself and i think that's the idea that's happening all across the board
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
This is just I mean, it's incredible. Listen, I'm not in politics, but every time I talk to an entrepreneur, I was like, if all these entrepreneurs took leadership positions within their city, I think we can really turn it around because we see things through different optics. And and I would say that, you know, one of the major impediments of the city obviously is the building department.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
It needs it needs a massive overhaul. It's that theory of change that needs to happen and it needs to happen principally there. And I think once you do that, you have conversation with the business community on what we can do better and really open up that pathway, I think there can be real change.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
But so long that we're all in this self-serving stage of politics, I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: The Power of the Cuban Sandwich
Have a good one, man.