Eddie The Rock Star
Appearances
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I came to him, I was like, hey, what should I do? He was like, you should start your own thing. I can fund this. And I was like, okay, cool. Yeah, push it to the limit.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I gave my guys one to two months of notice that I'm leaving. I'm going to do my own thing. I warned them, I'm going to start this. I'm going to be your competitor. And they started laughing. I was like, okay, cool.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
so i got an investor i'm about to start a company against you and i'm letting you know a month or two ahead yeah that's what i told them clearly that's what i said and they didn't take me seriously yeah they didn't think you could do it they didn't think i could do it they didn't think i could become their partner dude were they hating
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
No, like... They were cool, but they were, like, passive-aggressive? They were passive-aggressive, and they were, like, in their 40s and 50s, so they had a different mindset than me. Of course. But, like, they owned, like, a couple restaurants, so they were, like, pretty well off, and that company was just the extra source of income.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
But I didn't realize that my life would turn to this right now, what I have going on, because I was in college and doing this and that. And right now I'm totally like different. And I'm in business now. And I thought that I would be doing a lot of things differently. But now I'm here.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
They didn't want to invest, and the main factor was the investment part. They didn't want to invest to open in, like, many different states because they thought it was too risky with COVID and stuff like that.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
But I had like COVID was the single best thing that ever happened to this business because this business model wouldn't exist without COVID because there was no such thing as a private hibachi event before COVID. And like Japanese food is a staple in America and has been here for about 70 years. And like everybody knows of Benihana. Everybody knows the hibachi tricks. We all love it, bro.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah, so it's definitely a good thing for the business. And next thing you know, I moved to Phoenix. I moved to Arizona. And the reason I moved to Arizona is because they were already big in Texas. So I wasn't going to compete with them in Texas. I moved into Arizona. I started...
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Because it was warm. Like, it was, like, year-round city. And, like, even during the summer, you can cook, like, just fine. And just as long as you're out of the sun, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Arizona was... It's also one of the biggest cities by population in America. It's, like, fifth or something. And that was one of the factors. It was either that or L.A.,
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And LA was a little too risky because of the regulations at that time. And so we started.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
California, yeah. God, I hate it. California. But Arizona was a perfect middle between Texas and California. It's like, I moved to Arizona and I felt like I was in Texas still, which was great.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
it i started there with a couple of my guys um some of the guys that i hired for for that company they used to work for them still and then once i opened my company they were like i want to come work for you i was like okay i'm gonna pay you a little more because you're coming in from the beginning and you're gonna be like a minority partners in some cities if you save up some money but at that time there's like no company it's like it's just me and a
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
have all those permits and LLC. That's it. That's all I have to my name. And, um, and, uh, you know, I had a good chunk of investment money and I started with about 50 to 60 grand, which was a lot of money for catering. And I ended up like using a lot of it just to like get big in Arizona. I partnered up with the biggest like influencers there and
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
That was solid. Yep. And that was the best thing that I've ever done because if you look at it, that was a big risk because if it doesn't pay off, I'm out of money. Yeah. But the good thing is I had a backup. I had my uncle like, I'm going to give you more if it doesn't work out. Yeah. And... But he told me to make it work.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
It was like, he literally told me, you gotta work, you gotta work, you gotta work, yes. And next thing you know, we started parting with all those companies. We started hiring a lot more chefs. And in the next couple of months, we opened up in Texas because we realized, why wait? We can just open up. If the business is not going well, we can always close down.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
It's like, and it takes like about four weeks to get all the papers done, which is easy for catering. It's a lot different than having a restaurant because we don't have a brick and mortar location. And basically we opened up in like in less than five months, we opened up 10, 15 cities and in five states. And we started growing from there and
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
they saw like my ex-bosses they saw the growth that we had and they started investing in their uh business like in their catering they hired some young kid and um to do that it was probably their like relative or something i've never seen the guy to do the marketing to do the marketing to to expand to hire chefs and but like a lot of their chefs were from restaurants it's like
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
When you just get started, the main problem with the hibachi catering service is you don't have a constant flow of parties or events, so your chefs don't get paid. And those chefs would work at restaurants and then call in sick when they have events, but it wasn't sustainable at all. With our chefs, I hire anybody, but most of our chefs were younger guys, a little older than me, a couple years.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
They're hungry.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
yeah they were hungry they were all working and uh they were all immigrants so and they always wanted to come here and they started as chefs at restaurants like the first 15 chefs they were like full-time restaurant chefs and i told them if you come work for me if you believe me we're gonna make a lot so and i would pay their salary from my own pocket like even if they don't have events i would still pay them yeah and took care of your people yeah i took care of my people they took care of me and
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
That's how we were able to compete with everybody else. Because those guys, my ex-company, was a lot bigger at that time. And they had a lot more chefs. And now we have a lot more chefs than them. They're also in a couple cities. But we are in over 30 cities right now, 15 states. And we opened August of 2023. And it's a little over a year now.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Before I hit my first mill.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
About 20 to 25. Dude, that's amazing. That's amazing.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
So it looks a lot different now than it used to back then. Yeah. Because we were just getting started, we didn't even have a structure, we didn't, like we were just getting started. And right now that we already have the structure, we already have everything, it's a lot harder to become that partner in the company.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And most of the partners that are becoming partners now are the chefs that are used to work with us for a long time, since the beginning. But what it looks like is they can work for me, And they show that they can handle the pressure, they can handle being a team leader, having like sharing the vision. It's definitely a must because in the company we have the culture of like
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
We work for the vision. We don't work for money. We look at it, we look at the end goal. And money is just a side effect of doing things right. And that's how we look at it. But some people coming in, they only want to make, you know, a quick cash and then just go do their own thing, which is okay. They also make me money by working, but...
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Those guys that end up staying and becoming partners, they definitely have to share the vision. It's like we're a growing company. It's our second year now, second full year. And now that... Now that we are kind of established and we have that social media presence, we have the presence in the catering industry because nobody else does this like this.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah, so my country is a very small country of 6 million people in Central Asia. It's called Kyrgyzstan. It's right next to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, all those Asian countries. They're a little different than the normal Asian countries that you might think of, like China, Korea, and Japan. So it's a little different. Our country is like 94% mountains, and we're totally different.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
There's a lot of different companies that, you know, do similar things, but they don't take it seriously like us because I know those guys that started those companies and they're doing pretty well for themselves. They're making money, but their chefs are not making money. Their company is not growing. It's not going to be sustainable for a long time. Yeah.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Whereas, of course, in my company, I'm making money. But so is everybody else. Everybody else is getting the share that they work for. And I think that's the best part about the culture that we have is everybody's growing. And if they want to invest money in the company, they open up a new city.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
For example, if you just graduated from a culinary school, you're coming in like, OK, I don't want to come work for you. You work for me for a few months. You show that interest.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
you actually mean it and then you want to become partner then we have the talks of like opening up the city for example we're not in like seattle you want to move to seattle and have our franchise there right now it comes with a food truck in any new city we open it comes with a food truck so you invest a certain amount of money the most that i allow my partners to become uh to get is like 30
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
But the minimum is like you can get as little as 5, 10% and just work. But it's going to be worth it if you go like a little more. And every city is priced a little different because of the market research of nearby cities. For example, we weren't in Vegas for a long time, but we were in L.A., we were in Phoenix, we were in Salt Lake City. And then Vegas was like booming with like...
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Our chefs would drive from Phoenix to Vegas for events. So we opened up Vegas. And one of the chefs that would actually drive five hours for an event, he wouldn't even ask for gas money because he wanted to become a partner there. And I was like, no, you can't do that, dude. And I would still pay for it.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
for gas but it's like he would do it from like from his heart like he was like i want to help the company grow he's passionate yeah he's passionate and i was like okay you want to become partner he didn't even say anything and i actually was the one to offer him that i was like you already go in there a lot but you want to become partners okay let's do it and he had a lot of
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Family members, young hungry guys that wanted to make some money and they came in for training and a couple months of training they started becoming chefs and now Vegas is one of our biggest locations. I love that.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
We have a lot of people in Miami.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Miami is also one of our biggest locations because of all the tourism, all the batch parties. I would think so, dude. Yeah. And not only in Miami, we're in Sarasota, we're in Key West, we're in Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville. So, we just took over Florida.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
We're closer to the Caucasus than the actual...
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah, so with going to Indy's events, and also going to the fault for PBD, one of the best things that he talked about that stood out with me was just adding on to your business.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
uh i'm not sure if you were there but he had a like a diagram of all his businesses they're like they're all connected they all bring some kind of profit to one another and i realized i can do the same thing and having restaurants is good but it's not very profitable right now but having food trucks is like you generate almost the same revenue by not having the same investment
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
So I thought about it and last year we started our first food truck in Phoenix last year in April and it wasn't very well at the beginning because it was hard like we didn't know what to do and it was very hot as well in Phoenix and so we started and then after a few months we kind of like knew what to do we kind of caught the hang of it and We started doing a lot of sales.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah, it is.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Our first real month was about 50, 60 grand. We thought it was really nice. And we net about 30% of that. No restaurant nets 30% of their revenue. Dude, no.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah, dude, it's insane. One to 10% is like the net that they get from the revenue. And it's very sad. Yeah. Because you work hard, you work hard, invest a lot of money and you get less than 10%. And it's like, okay, it's bullshit. But food trucks was one of the best things that we ever thought of.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I spoke broken English. I knew a lot of the grammar because we would go to like English schools, like take all those classes. But like, no, I didn't speak any English, like not like this.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And then we opened up in Dallas and we kind of slowed down on that because we didn't know like how it would work out. And it started working out great. And
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
now we're in february we have eight trucks now we have we have two in phoenix two in dallas we have austin orlando miami houston and we're putting up a lot more and we're rolling out at least one or two food trucks a month to come with those cities because we already have a lot of existing cities and that needs food trucks and
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
getting into that was huge and uh that revenue that 20 million dollars was solely from catering it was from a private events and now looking into this year private events it's also going to be good it's also going to do a lot of revenue but food trucks definitely going to add a lot yeah it's definitely going to grow like that what are you projecting We're projecting.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Well, it all depends on how many we have more. But from what we have right now, we're at least going to double in revenue this year. I love that.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
$40, $50 million a year, which is huge for us because we're only second year in business. And we're still learning a lot. And I can't wait. to like our third or fourth year because by the time we're going to be the sharks in the business. Right now we're baby sharks. We're learning. We're learning from everybody, taking in all the advice. But right now I'm only 24.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I'm going to turn 25 in a couple months. It's like, what is next for us? Because when we go to all these events, everybody's a lot older than me. And they're at least in their 30s, like early 40s. And they already made it in life. And everybody is like... Already successful at that period of time, but I still have 15 years on those guys. Yeah, you do. So I still have a lot of room to go.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yes, it's totally different. So if you invest in a food truck, we have a couple of different investment options. If you want to become a silent investor, just invest your money, park your money in a food truck and do that. That's also good. But we also have...
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
investment opportunities for chefs that want to come work and own their food truck and they would own some share of that franchise and we would all share the profit and but we would be helping with all the marketing with all the paperwork and everything we would be the ones to take care of that is like like a turnkey business.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Basically, you're coming in, you invest your money, but you have to know, you have to go through rigorous training, you have to, because working in a restaurant and working in a food truck is totally different. It's very similar in a lot of ways, but there's a lot of factors that you need to take in, and food trucks are a lot harder to run than a restaurant.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
and there's a lot of regulations they have to follow because once you get caught with not following like regulations you get shot down you you can not open under the same density in that city anymore and that's why you have to if you do decide to work with somebody like that because there's a lot of different opportunities and uh for investment in like different companies other than us
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
well that's the thing when i was a kid i was always like thinking of all these guys like steve jobs mark zuckerberg and i always wanted to be like like them for some reason and then software engineering is one of the paths that i wanted to take because like i'm good in studying i was good in school i was always an eight like straight a kid and uh I thought that would be the path for me.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
but you have to choose to work with the right people that know what they're doing and the ones that take care of all the compliance part is like it's huge yeah because once we grow to this amount it's like because we grew very quickly it was literally like vertical growth and like we didn't take care of a lot of things and we made our mistakes but the best part about it is we learn from them now that a lot of things we're doing is like totally different and um
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
my money somewhere where it grows and with somebody like you who knows what they're doing what would a silent investor invest investment look like for a food truck yeah so we do a lot of different investments and starting from a 50 grand and up and we even had some silent investors that invested seven figures in the business and they're generating passive cash flow and which is good for them because they're already
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
succeeding in life and they're not worried about this but if you believe in the company if you believe in like what you invest in you're definitely like we have a lot of opportunities so something basic we'll be looking at is about let's say $100,000 you invest $100,000 so you can expect 10 to 15 percent of that a year while still having that equity in the business and
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
But as of right now, we're like shifting to, it's like we have a lot of cash flow and we don't really need silent investors unless it's somebody that can bring value to the company. My man. Yeah, that's what we're like, we're shifting towards it because. You have to. Yeah, because our biggest problem right now is the people to run the businesses, to run the food trucks, to run all the cities.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And that's been the biggest struggle, having the right personnel, having the right people that can do that. So if you have the money,
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
it's good but if you also want to come make money because like you're going to make a lot more if you're like if you're actually active in the business in the business exactly you're going to make a lot more you're going to learn a lot and i would say the biggest takeaway for all the investors that i have is the minds like the minds like the mindset shift because they're coming in
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Like a lot of the chefs, they don't know much about business. They only know how to cook. But that's good. That means you can learn. It's never too late.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And that's why I wanted to do something in the field of engineering. But then a little bit later, when I came here, I realized that software engineering is the path to go for me. And that's why I chose it.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
That's what we want.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Because it's also connected to my business, to catering, to the food trucks. And I always wanna like, if I put my money in something, and if I put my time into something, I wanna... make sure that it benefits my other businesses as well. So like I said, we have over a hundred people working for me right now and they need housing.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
So it's basically like they pay rent, but they don't pay rent in a way. Like if the house is like $2,000, they pay only some part of it. Uh, it's like another way of like, of me like giving back to my people and, uh, and they save money and, but also make me money, which is good. And like, By owning those houses, I can like eliminate a lot of the costs that I already have.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
For example, if I would rent a house, if they would rent a house, like a five bedroom house for five people, it would be like $3,000 in Arizona. But if I would own the property,
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
the monthly payment would be half that and that would save them all the money like nobody can find a house for like a fifteen hundred dollars like a five-bedroom house which also has all the nice things and the features but it's like um how do you say like it helps my business because it also grows and it saves them money.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
So it's like integrating all that into the hibachi business because all of our chefs need housing in different states. And my goal is to have at least one house in 33 cities that are already in.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
because they're already making money they're paying rent anyway so why not just own those houses and just own the property just like mcdonald's is like you know what they're doing it's like they're making all the money from real estate from all those guys because they're renting it out to the franchisees exactly and that's what we can do that's what i'm trying to do right now i'm investing in five cities right now i want five houses one here in fort lauderdale and uh
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
which is good, and it's also going up in value, and hopefully it's gonna keep doing that, but I'm not very, my focus is in the catering and in hibachi, whereas buying a house was very simple, but also I'm not trying to go heavy in the housing business just yet, because I don't wanna make sure that my focus stays where it's at right now and we keep growing, because that's the main source of revenue for me.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Well, it was, well, my parents definitely had a lot of influence, but it was my grandma, my mom's mom, that had, like, because she lives here. Yeah. And then she lived here for a long time, and then she would come visit. And when I was little, I grew up with her since I was, what, five or six years old. So I always, like, would miss her, and she would come visit every summer. Yeah.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Exactly. And like I'm not really looking for that revenue from because it's not much. It's like it's more about. having those people stay somewhere nice, having those people with no problems from landlords and stuff like that. I would be their landlord, but I'm not making any money from them. They're just making minimum payments to the house, which is good for me, but also good for them.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
So it's good for everybody. It's a win-win. And that's what I strive for. Like you said, I'm not looking to diversify what I do right now because I don't see a point in that. I see... the vision that I have for the company, it's at least a hundred million dollars. Yeah. And we're trying to like, you know, grow it to a point like that.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And, um, uh, talking with a PBD and, he has a guy, his name's Aaron. And, um, he's a very smart guy. He's a little older than me. And, um, but I talked to him a lot and, um, There's like the vision that those guys have it's and it's also at the Elliot group. I Bryson is my guy He they have that vision for my company. It's like I didn't have that vision.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And I was always like, hey, I wanted to go with you to the States. And but I didn't know what it was like, what it meant to go to the States, because like everybody would say, oh, go to America, go to America. I thought it was the same thing just around the corner. I didn't realize it was so far from family. And in 2015, my grandma came down. I was like, OK, I'm going to take you to school.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
That's a lot I met them because like I was thinking if it can do 20 million, which is great. That's it That's like the ceiling for me. But no right now. It's it's not even it's not even the bottom anymore because I Yeah, it's like we have a lot of room to grow, and if we do everything right, it's going to be a $100 million company in a couple years.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I was 15, 16 years old.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I would say the number one thing is like you have to be able to work for somebody if you want to be your boss like if you want to become the boss you have to be able to work under somebody that's one of the best things that I was able to experience because becoming an employee is like
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
you know, when people look at it, like all the young kids right now, like they don't want to work for somebody, they want to have their own business, but then they don't realize it's like, if you're an employee, you work from nine to five, but if you're a business owner, you work 24 seven.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
So people still have that like illusion of like, they think that being an entrepreneur is easy, but no, it's, it's easy in some ways you have your own schedule and stuff, but it doesn't mean that you have no schedule. It means you just make your own schedule, but it's, it's a lot more stacked. It's like, You have to be able to manage.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
If I had to give one advice to somebody, it would be to have a mentor. To make things easier. It literally makes things easier for you. Why would you want to have the learning curve? Two, three years, do all the mistakes. When there's somebody that's already made those mistakes... and can teach you, like show you the way.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
It's like right now, if like somebody is getting started in catering, it's like, like I didn't have anybody to learn like in that niche, but then I did it myself and it's good. But as somebody that's like starting, if they fail, they might lose motivation. They might not have enough cash to keep going. And there can be a lot of factors. And when you have a mentor, you know that, you know,
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
that guy is going to show you the way he's not going to do it for you in no means for you, but he's going to show you the right way. And I think like it's very like under like it's very underrated. It's like you also need a lot of training in sales. Also, it's like 100%. Sales is everything. It's like you and me talking right now. I'm selling myself to you.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
You're going to come with me and then. The next thing you know, I started doing all those exams, TOEFL, all those exams. And then I started, like, I passed them with, like, flying honors. And next year, I was already here. I was in Houston, Texas. I lived there most of my American life. That's how it all started. My grandma was the number one influence that I had to come in here.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
It's like literally like the number one skill that you should have is like sales. You have to get good at sales. You have to be a good leader. You have to lead by example.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
and you just have to get started honestly like too many people are just waiting for the right opportunity for the right perfection yeah exactly you just have to get started you have to fail and like if i fail right now i'm still only 24 i feel failed by me i'm only 29 and like you can still succeed it's like why not just stack up all the experience all the Because failure is good for you.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
That's how you learn. They don't teach that in school. In school, it's like if you fail, you get an F and you're not encouraged to fail. But in real life, you should fail. You should fail as many times as you can to learn from those mistakes and succeed. And I think that's one of the main key takeaways that I've learned from a lot of different entrepreneurs that I talked to, from my mentors.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
You just have to start. You just have to start somewhere.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
All right. So, like I said, I came here nine years ago. I'm only 24 now. I spoke zero English when I came here and I was able to make it in life. I was able to make it in the new American dream. That means anybody can do it. You can do it, too. All you have to do is just keep your mind focused.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
like be focused on what you're doing like don't get distracted by all the social media right now and stuff like that there's a new study that came out that was 82 hours of distraction every week it's like more than a full-time job and like patrick bidet has a video on that it's like this year of 2025 is a year of surprises and a year of distraction there's going to be so many like
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
things that will take away from you from your path and like but you have to be dialed in you have to get into the monk mode whatever you're doing you can be in school get into studying you can be in like starting your own business you just have to get dialed in
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
have to pay for those mentorships you have to get into the sales trainings and you have to succeed like you have to do whatever it takes like it doesn't matter if you're just getting started or if you have some money if you have some money it's good you you can invest all that in yourself because the best money you can invest in will be in yourself and self-growth self-improvement is the name of the game right now is if you're young if you're under 30 years old you can there's so many people to learn from
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
and i would suggest you start doing that now don't wait for the right opportunity don't wait for the right moment the time is now and it's like dana white said it's so easy to succeed in today's age because everybody's so lazy everybody is like doing on like i don't know on instagram youtube whatever tiktok but if you're dialed in for six months to a year you you'll be surprised how your life can change and um
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I think that advice can apply to anybody if you're already successful, too. If you're making seven, eight figures, if you dial in for six months, you can make nine figures. It's like it's that compound. But the effect that you have on your life is like if you focus in, if you dial in, it's same with me right now. I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't party. I don't go out.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I don't use social media. I'm just dialing on my business. And that's it. I think that's the secret sauce is just keep working, keep grinding. There's there's no secret need.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
like some people are looking for the secret way to do this one way to do it but no you just have to get started you just have to do things don't think too much just have to go ahead and do it keep failing and that's you have to carve your way to this to success and that's your path and everybody has a different story so make your own story write your own story and it That's why, like, I'm here.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I want to, like, if you're looking for somebody to learn from, I'm always here. I'm young and you can learn from me. I'm not going to charge you anything. We can be friends, this and that. Because I met a lot of guys at, like, the Dandy Elliott events. Young guys are my age, but they're not where they want to be in life. So we just, you know, I show them the way.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I kind of, they have, everybody has their own path. But if you have good mentors, you're definitely going to get there.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah. So if you're looking directly for me, you can find me on Instagram at Eddie the Rockstar. But if you're looking to work for us, if you're looking to work for Rockstar Hibachi, that's literally Instagram at Rockstar Hibachi. You can DM us there. You can file a form on our website, rockstarhibachi.com. Anything.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
if you have any other questions with like catering or whatever you want to get started if you want to work for me or would it be anything else just dm me on instagram at eddie the rock star and i'm your guy
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Well, I would probably still be there because if it wasn't for my grandma, like forcing, like literally forcing my parents to let me go, uh, I would probably be there, but I do think that I would still be doing some, some really good things there because I, I always had the vision of, you know, succeeding. I was always like around that. And, uh, um,
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
one of the biggest factors of me having that mindset was my uncle he was always in the business and like doing this and that and that's my mom's younger brother and i spent a lot of time with my grandma and my grandma would come stay in my uncle's house and i would always see him on like business calls business meetings uh at one point he used to own the biggest uh
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
a company that would manufacture suits like in Kyrgyzstan. And my country is huge. And it's like having that as your first mentor, my uncle Alex, and having him like that, that influence was huge on me because I always had that, I would say the entrepreneurship mindset, but I didn't realize that until I came here because all I had in my mind was study, study, study, get a degree.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
get a job, and just go to the office, do this and that. And there's nothing wrong with that. But now that I came here, I saw a lot of people doing a lot of different things. It's like here in America is like land of opportunities, capitalism is great, and everybody can succeed because we don't have that back home. And like a lot of people don't realize that.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
People that were born here, people that live here, they don't realize how lucky they are to have that. For us, it's like a dream just to come to America make like a few bucks and then go back home. But now that I'm here making a little more than a few bucks and like I want to be here, I want to grow here in America.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I want to have my kids here to to experience all this and, you know, to go through this all again, because, you know, I want to help it. Some people like me, because there's a lot of people coming in here with the similar background that I have. And like a lot of immigrants are very smart and bright, but they don't have that person to kind of like show them, hey, look, I did this.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
You can do this, too, because like, hey, let's be real. People coming in here don't have like school degree. Like they always want to be like engineers and this and that. But there's a lot more than that, because you can also use the degree to kind of capitalize on Like a lot of different markets.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
So I would say that we're a little off topic now, but Monco was one of the biggest influences in having this mindset for me.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah. So the story is actually very wild because while I was in my junior year in college at the University of Houston, like I was always like a part-time server, part-time chef. And at one point, you know, COVID happened. And when I was a server, the restaurant kind of closed down for a month. But being in Texas, like we reopened back like right away to like different states and
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
um we were doing like to-go orders and they were down a chef and i kind of seen everything uh how to cook and i like to cook myself and i was like okay japanese food is kind of easy to cook on a grill i just have to learn all the sauces and stuff so i went in to like train and after a week next thing you know i started becoming a chef like as a uh sous chef to the head chef that we had at the location and um
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I was working part time and with COVID there, my school was online. So I started working full time. And next thing you know, it's like I'm already cooking up. I became a really good chef, which I didn't think because I had no idea that would be a chef like that.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
It was right when COVID happened. So it's 20, 19, 20, 20, 20. Yeah. Okay.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah, we should get started. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm 24 years old. I came to the States in 2016, so which makes it a little over nine years now. And I started here as a student. I came here as an exchange student, but there is a program called Flex. I was a student in high school. And then I had a dream to become a software engineer.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Well, it is... Because it's an art, right? It is an art, definitely. It's definitely hard to be a chef. But if you know your stuff, if you're doing everything... Because, like, you don't have to invent anything because everything has already been, like, invented. And you just have to follow the procedures and keep everything clean and...
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
well it's also like i would say it's hard but it's also easy like so it's like from which perspective you look at if you're already a chef if you know what you're doing it's then it's it's easy and it's your lifestyle and that's how i started but if you're not a chef i was like oh i can't never be a chef it's hard like you have to learn all these things but no anybody can become a chef with proper training
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah. Well, the chefs at restaurants, they're not making much for sure. It's like and I'm basing all this on like hibachi chefs because I'm not sure what the other chefs are making. But hibachi chefs are making about four to five to six grand, depending where they are. If they're in California, they're making seven, eight grand. But this is a month. This is a month.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And this is the chefs that work at restaurants. And they're very seasonal because. Restaurants are very seasonal. And they get laid out when it comes to January. That's it. Nobody has a job. Only the head chefs stay. But with us, it's like our chefs... We always in season. Well, we are in, and I'm sure we'll get into it a little later, but we're in 33 cities right now.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And if it's not a good season in one city, it's definitely a great season in another. So we always have those opportunities for our chefs and our chefs are making anywhere from minimum of five, six grand to 12, 15 grand a month if you're a head chef. And that's a lot.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
So I started as a chef, and while I was in school, I was always trying to juggle both school and my full-time job, but then I realized that there's a lot of opportunities in becoming a chef, and I can do my own thing, but I quite didn't have the idea yet, because I always wanted to have something like a restaurant, but I knew that it's not profitable if you don't know your stuff.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
But I was just a chef, and then it comes to my senior year, I graduate, and I was still looking for a job as a computer scientist. And I was looking at it, and I found a job as a software developer engineering test. I got the job. It was like $65,000 a year. And I was like, okay, I made it. So let me ask you, Eddie.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Like, this is a lot of money, but then I get my first paycheck, all the taxes, social security, Medicare. Yeah. I get, this is not much. I'm making the same thing at a restaurant. I was like, okay. What am I doing next? And then I was like, OK, I have to do something.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And then at the same time, the restaurant that I used to work for, they started doing catering events like private events, like the chef would bring a grill to your house, do those events. I was like, OK, that sounds fun. And they started doing in a couple of cities. They started doing Houston, Austin and in Dallas. I was like, that's very interesting. You can definitely scale that.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And, you know, how I come from humble beginnings and like coming from Asian culture is like you always have to be at the top. You always have that cousin that's always like getting those degrees, doing all this and that. And I wanted to kind of come here to pursue my dream, my American dream, which I thought would be software engineering.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And I started learning more about it, how they do it. And I transitioned from a restaurant to becoming a private chef. And I realized that this could be scaled to every city in America. How come nobody's doing it? And the company that I used to work for, they were owned by two Chinese guys. And I came to them. I was like, okay, guys, I'm going to help you do this. Let's grow together.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I can grow this. And they just laughed at me like... You're only 22, 23 years old. Are you coming at us like saying all this, all that? Okay. And I told him, okay, give me a couple months. I'm going to show you. So I grew, I moved to Austin. I quit my job. I moved to Austin. My job being my software engineering job. And then I moved to Austin and
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
I opened up like the location was already there, but they weren't doing much. And I started doing all the marketing and I was always had interest in like Instagram marketing, Facebook, TikTok marketing. And at that time, social media was like the ads were doing a lot better than now. But Uh, Oh yeah. Yeah.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
Yeah. And having a chef come to your house, it was huge because nobody goes to restaurants at that time. And, And we would wear masks like six feet, all that stuff. But the best part was the cooking was outdoors. So like there were like zero like scare of like, you know, catching COVID or whatever. And I started doing that and we quickly grew to a team of 10 people.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
And I was like, okay, let me expand to those other cities that you have. I was like, okay, no, we already have partners there. I was like, I'm not a partner. I'm just trying to help you guys grow. And they started like shutting me down. It's like, okay, we know what we're doing. And they started copying what I do and opening up into different cities. I was like, okay, let me become a partner.
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From $65K Job to a $20M Hibachi Empire: Eddie’s Unstoppable Rise
We're going to grow together. And next thing you know, they were like, no, you're not going to become a partner. You're just a chef. And then... i was kind of sad at that time i didn't know what to do because uh i had some money to start my own company uh like i said my uncle alex that was in my country he also was here uh doing a lot of his businesses here as well and then