GARY: Next on Start Up, we head to Fort Worth, Texas, to meet up with Paige and Juan, the owners of Magdalena's Catering, one of the area's premier catering companies with a food truck and a permanent supper club.

All of this and more is next on Start Up.

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♪ My name is Gary Bredow.

I'm a documentary filmmaker and an entrepreneur.

As the country faces uncertainty, small business owners continue to persevere, pushing the economy forward with their unrelenting drive and determination.

We've set out for our 12th consecutive season, talking with a wide range of diverse business owners to better understand how they've learned to adapt, innovate, and even completely reinvent themselves.

♪ This is Start Up.

♪ Catering is a billion- dollar industry that provides food and beverage services for a wide range of events and occasions.

Catering businesses range from small, mom-and- pop operations to large, national companies that serve hundreds of events each year.

In recent years, the catering industry has seen significant growth and innovation with a new focus on providing healthier and more sustainable food options, with many caterers now offering organic, locally-sourced and plant-based menu items to cater to the growing demand for healthier and more environmentally- friendly food choices.

Today I'm heading to Fort Worth, Texas, to meet up with Paige and Juan, the owners of Magdalena's Catering, one of the area's premier catering companies with a food truck and a permanent supper club.

I'm excited to meet the team, and learn more about how they got to where they are today.

♪ What is Magdalena's Catering?

JUAN: Magdalena's is our baby.

It's our catering company that we started nine years ago.

Magdalena's was my grandmother.

And the idea behind Magdalena's was to bring people together through food.

GARY: Tell me about Magdalena.

Who is she as a person?

What did you learn from her?

JUAN: She was the nicest lady.

When she spoke, you listened.

She was well-respected in her community, her church community, our neighborhood.

I think one of the core memories, and will always be a core memory, is the moment we drove into my grandma's town and we walked into the door, and my grandma had freshly pressed flour tortillas and eggs with refried beans and chorizo.

And it was waiting on the table for us, nice and warm.

And just the simplicity of her dishes.

She wasn't the craziest cook.

Everything was super simple, but it's those really cool memories that can cherish.

And now we cherish with my boys.

GARY: Did you start developing an interest in food at that point?

JUAN: Nope.

GARY: Okay.

JUAN: No, not at all.

GARY: Okay, gotcha.

JUAN: Not until my senior year of high school.

My senior year, I started working at a restaurant as well.

GARY: Okay.

JUAN: Just to save money for a class ring.

After I graduated, I went to the Art Institute of Dallas.

So the initial plan was to get into computer animation.

I wanted to work for Pixar.

I'm walking through the floor, the animation floor, and I'm looking at all the drawings, and I told my dad and my mom, they were with me.

I'm like, "I'm good, but I'm not that good."

GARY: Yeah.

JUAN: So I got scared and worried.

And the admin, she asked me what I do for a living, if I work anywhere, hobbies.

I said, "Well, I work at a restaurant right now.

"I just got on as a line cook.

"And I grew up cooking with my family, my grandma, my uncles in Mexico."

GARY: Yeah.

JUAN: She said, "Well, there's a new program if you wanna look into it."

GARY: Culinary arts?

JUAN: Culinary arts program.

GARY: Yeah.

JUAN: So I'll introduce you to one of the- one of eight master chefs in Texas at that time.

And you just make the decision if you want to jump on it.

So met him, jumped on board with the culinary arts program, and yeah, it was a done deal.

GARY: You graduated from culinary school?

JUAN: Yep, I did.

GARY: Okay.

And what did you do right outta culinary school?

JUAN: So after working at all these restaurants, worked at a place here called Reata.

My role was, at first it was sous chef.

GARY: Okay.

JUAN: And then after two years, they made me executive chef.

GARY: Head chef.

JUAN: Head chef.

GARY: Awesome.

JUAN: Youngest executive chef that Reata has ever seen.

GARY: Congrats, man.

JUAN: Thank you, thank you.

GARY: Yeah.

JUAN: That's where I met Paige.

GARY: Tell me about meeting her, and how did that first kick off?

JUAN: So she came on board as a catering manager.

And I classified it as a coffee date.

I don't know if she saw it as a coffee date, but we... GARY: It was a coffee for her, maybe?

JUAN: Yeah, we had to go get some coffee at Starbucks, because we had a big catering and I walked with her, and yeah, we just... GARY: You knew that was it.

JUAN: I knew that was it, yeah.

PAIGE: I got hired in as a catering manager.

GARY: Okay.

PAIGE: And just kinda started working my way up there.

So that kind of exposed me to a different side of things and events and I never really thought I wanted to get into the food side of things.

You think, wedding planning, party planning, the glitz and glam, and you don't really think about the food side, and so... GARY: You don't think about scrub dirty plates at three in the morning after that?

PAIGE: You don't really think about that, yeah!

GARY: What was the inception of Magdalena's between you two?

PAIGE: My husband, he loved where he was working, and the adrenaline, the people, everything.

But he wanted to be more creative as far as his dishes.

GARY: Okay.

So being a little restricted in what he was able to prepare?

PAIGE: A little bit, yeah.

Coming home, seeing him, not necessarily defeated, but just walking through the motions every day.

GARY: Uninspired.

PAIGE: And, yes.

Like, okay, let's take the leap.

GARY: What was the initial vision of Magdalena's?

Was it gonna start as a food truck?

Was it straight catering?

What did you need to start a business?

PAIGE: Straight catering, so... GARY: Straight catering.

PAIGE: Straight catering, so... GARY: So you need a kitchen.

PAIGE: Should not say this out loud, but we started out of our kitchen.

GARY: Okay.

PAIGE: So at our house.

GARY: Yep.

PAIGE: And we were doing that, and just kind of self-promoting and we know a lot of people in the industry.

So the minute we said, "Hey, we're starting this catering company."

Some wedding planners reached out to us pretty quick.

GARY: Okay.

PAIGE: Which is great.

And then we partnered with a local kitchen, just kind of a ghost kitchen here in town.

And they were kind enough to let us use their equipment and different things.

But it was my husband, and then his brother started with us, and then myself.

And then we just slowly progressed from there.

GARY: Tell me about the early days.

How did you guys get funding?

Was it self-funded?

JUAN: My dad said to go talk to my uncle in Mexico.

So it was my great-uncle, and Magdalena was his sister.

GARY: Okay.

JUAN: So I told him what the idea was.

Start a company named after her.

GARY: Yeah.

JUAN: To kind of honor her.

And he said, "Mijo, I love this."

GARY: He loved it, yep.

JUAN: Yeah, loved it.

How much you need?

I'm like, "I need 30 grand."

He's like, "Okay, here's a check."

So we signed the lease and we started construction on the first part of the building.

GARY: So you had to hire a contractor to help with the build out, I would assume.

JUAN: Yeah.

GARY: Tell me how that went.

JUAN: So it sucked.

(laughs) It was bad.

The contractor was a friend of mine.

He was in my wedding, and we've known each other for 10 years.

Got to going, we got construction on its way.

When we got to the big stuff, he said, "Hey, I'm gonna need 10,000 so I can order all this stuff."

I'm like, "Okay, here you go.

10,000, 9,000, 10,000."

And that was the last that I heard from him.

He took off with the money, took off with the nine, 10 grand, and never heard back.

Tried to go to small claims court, 'cause it was under 10.

And obviously they're not gonna show up, right?

GARY: Yeah, it's only as useful as your ability to collect.

JUAN: Yep.

Mm-hmm.

GARY: What was going through your head at this time when this guy bailed?

PAIGE: Our bank account got down to about $100.

GARY: Oh wow.

PAIGE: We're like, "What are we gonna do?"

And we had two events on the pipeline.

So we're like, "Okay, well, we just started.

"We're building out this kitchen, what are we gonna do?"

And we had just kind of a blessing from above because the planner that we were working with said, "My client wants to pay in full for her wedding.

"And they wanna pay the whole thing to you, "even though their wedding's not for another six months."

GARY: Amazing.

PAIGE: But they wanna pay it on full.

All of it.

And, my husband and I just started breaking down crying.

We were like, "Oh my gosh, this, I mean, this kind of happened at the right time."

So we were able to take that money.

We were able to finish out our walk-in, finish out the kitchen.

GARY: Nice.

PAIGE: And just slowly kind of start making Magdalena's slowly come to life.

GARY: How did the wedding go that paid in full?

PAIGE: It was a phenomenal wedding.

It was on the Bass Hall performance stage, so it was just beautiful.

And they did cover stories on it in magazines.

So that alone helped just get our name out, and just kind of help pipeline and set up the rest of weddings for us, which was amazing.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ GARY: Talk about the brand, and what message are you trying to convey?

PAIGE: Well, we're a little bit different from most catering companies.

So we like to create the experience with that client.

So we like to, if you will, handhold through the entire process.

Say you're getting married, and you really want grandma's recipe to be part of your wedding, because she might have passed away, or there was a special moment between you and your significant other that was so memorable when you got engaged.

We want you to bring that experience to us and let us recreate it for you, and be able to tell that story on your special day.

And just be able to remember that.

You come in with your vision, we bring your food together, we bring it to life.

And then we help connect you with staffing companies, rental companies.

And then we're on site with you and your planner, helping execute everything.

GARY: Do you have any kind of juicy horror stories, or bridezilla stories?

Obviously you don't have to mention any names, but I'm looking for some gossip here.

PAIGE: Ovens have gone out on us.

Plates have broken, linens have caught on fire.

You know, we've had people screaming at us in our face.

We've had a bunch of different things and it's just... GARY: Yeah.

PAIGE: It happens.

GARY: Part of the business.

PAIGE: It's part of the business, and you just smile, and go through it.

All of our events, even if the good, the bad, we just want everybody to have a good experience at the end of the day.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ GARY: What do you think are the requirements or personality traits for a person to be successful in this business?

In hospitality, in food and catering?

What kind of person do you need to be to be successful in this?

JAMES: You have to love your job.

GARY: Yeah.

JAMES: That's number one.

And you also have to have the ownership backing you in every situation.

GARY: What kind of people are Juan and Paige to work for?

Or just what kind of people in general?

JAMES: Well, Juan and Paige are- they're a great family.

Juan and Paige are phenomenal people.

Truly, when somebody give you the opportunity, and believe within me, that's who I gravitate towards.

GARY: Yeah.

JAMES: And they made me feel welcome.

They treat me like a family.

GARY: Yep.

JAMES: I go to Juan and Paige house for dinner.

I go to all the birthday parties for Lucas and Aiden.

GARY: Yeah.

JAMES: It's a family setting and I love it.

♪ GARY: What is the key to making it work in food?

JUAN: Building connections.

That's key.

And that's one of our core values is connections.

GARY: Yeah.

JUAN: You build a good connection with your client, your guest.

They're just gonna be super excited to try the food.

Obviously you gotta make sure the food is top notch, not over complicated, just simple.

Put your heart and soul into it, and it'll show.

You'll be able to showcase that.

♪ GARY: What are we gonna make today?

DIANA: So today we're gonna make a sort of vegetarian pasta.

GARY: Okay.

DIANA: One of my favorite things to do is convincing people to eat things they normally wouldn't like.

So that's what we're gonna do today.

GARY: Excellent!

DIANA: So what I need from you is to break down our lion's mane.

This is a lion's mane.

It's a type of fungi.

So it has a very similar texture to crab, and I really enjoy that about it.

So what I need you to do is to break it apart into little sort of chunks like this.

Not too small, not too big.

You want to envision it on a fork.

GARY: Got it.

DIANA: That's really what you're going for.

GARY: How long have you been working here as a chef?

DIANA: I am turning five years this year.

GARY: Five years.

Fantastic!

How do you like it?

DIANA: I love it, to be quite frank, and I'm not just saying that 'cause we're here.

GARY: 'Cause we're on camera, yeah?

DIANA: Yeah.

GARY: Does it get pretty intense?

Like catering?

DIANA: It does.

GARY: I mean, there's, you gotta be on, right?

DIANA: Yeah.

You have to be on it.

And when you're on, there's nowhere else to go.

You have to be really present in the moment, and just pay a lot of attention.

Be ready to move and for anything to change for you, so.

Next, I need you to throw that pasta into that.

GARY: Throw this pasta into that.

You got it.

All right.

DIANA: While you are doing that, I'm gonna get our cast iron nice and hot.

GARY: Okay.

DIANA: We are going to sear our lion's mane.

And so we're gonna cook it very heavily and give it an almost braised short rib texture.

GARY: Amazing.

DIANA: So I'm gonna get this really, really hot for us.

GARY: Okay.

DIANA: All right.

GARY: All right.

What can we do in the meantime?

Charades?

DIANA: Yeah, okay!

GARY: Paper, rock, scissors?

DIANA: Okay.

GARY: Okay.

(muffled hand sounds) DIANA: All right.

GARY: All right, I lose.

All right.

♪ ♪ ♪ Where do we sit today with the business?

What- all the divisions of Magdalena's?

JUAN: Throughout the years we've grown into three maybe divisions, four divisions.

GARY: Okay.

JUAN: So our catering, our wedding is one.

GARY: Okay.

JUAN: Supper club is our second.

Supper club is our reservation-only permanent pop-up.

GARY: Awesome.

JUAN: We have our food truck as well, that goes all over DFW, festivals, neighborhoods, weddings, and so forth.

And then Amazon is another account, where we provide lunches every single day, five days a week to- we're in four distribution centers right now.

GARY: You provide physical lunches to Amazon employees?

JUAN: Yeah, so we take hot food and employees buy the food, but we take... GARY: Yeah.

Like lunch service.

JUAN: Yep, yep.

We are opening up a restaurant.

I don't know why.

(both laughing) That was one of the things, I never wanted... GARY: That's definitive.

JUAN: We wanted to open up a restaurant at the beginning, but then I'm like, "This is great, catering's awesome."

GARY: Right.

JUAN: And no more restaurant, and... GARY: Now you're opening a restaurant.

JUAN: Yeah, but, we did say the only reason we would open up a restaurant is if we owned the property, and... GARY: You found a property?

JUAN: We found a property right down the street, couple blocks down.

GARY: And it's zoned for restaurant?

JUAN: It's zoned for restaurant.

GARY: Good, awesome.

JUAN: Yeah.

We're gonna open that up this Summer.

GARY: Okay, good.

Congrats, man!

JUAN: Thank you, thank you.

Small, intimate.

I love it.

It's great.

It's about the experience.

It's not about how many covers we can pump out.

We want this experience with Magdalena's, from the catering to supper club, to transfer over to the restaurant as well.

GARY: Tell me about where we're walking right now.

Where are we going?

JUAN: So we are walking to our new restaurant that we- we're slated to open this Summer, called La Coqueta.

GARY: Wow, what does that mean?

JUAN: La Coqueta is a beautiful, flirtatious woman.

GARY: La Coqueta?

JUAN: La Coqueta.

GARY: Okay, I have to remember.

JUAN: Yeah, it's an homage to all the women in my life that made an impact, from my grandmother to my wife.

It's kind of like a thank you to them.

GARY: Are you gonna be going like more traditional, actual traditional Spanish tapas?

JUAN: We're gonna do a mix of traditional and our modern take on it as well.

GARY: Okay.

JUAN: Still stay true to the dishes, but throw our spin on it.

GARY: Awesome.

Well, I'm excited to see the place, man.

Let's check it out.

JUAN: Yeah, let's do it.

♪ ♪ ♪ GARY: You mentioned a dinner club or supper club.

Tell me about that.

PAIGE: Kind of just like a pop-up, but a little bit more intimate.

Set menu, set price.

BYOB.

We do it about three to four times a month.

GARY: Okay, wow.

PAIGE: And we sit family style.

So you're sitting, GARY: Yeah, you're sitting with people.

PAIGE: You're sitting pretty close to people.

And so... GARY: Like typical pop-up dinners.

PAIGE: Typical pop-up dinners.

GARY: Yeah.

PAIGE: But this one's permanently at our location, versus popping up in different locations with them around the area.

GARY: Tell me about your experience at the supper club.

CLAUDIA: It's a really fun event.

I've gotten to try things that I would've never eaten before.

I'm a very picky eater.

So I've tried a lot of different things that I would've never tried, hadn't it been for supper club.

And yeah, it's just a really good time.

You get to meet a lot of people.

We're still friends with some of the people that we met at the first supper club about five years ago.

GARY: Did it expand your palate?

CLAUDIA: Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

I had never eaten lamb and I love lamb now.

GARY: Fantastic!

Who knew, right?

CLAUDIA: Right.

GARY: What would you say to somebody who's never been to Magdalena's, or done anything with them?

Supper club, catering, anything like that?

CLAUDIA: Oh, I would really encourage them to come.

Like I said, it's really fun.

And I think part of what makes it a really fun experience too, is Paige and Juan, because they're so great, they're so nice, and they're really involved in the community.

So it's nice to support someone that gives back to the community as well.

GARY: What keeps you up at night?

What do you worry about?

PAIGE: His sanity.

GARY: That's what keeps you up?

PAIGE: Yeah.

GARY: Is his sanity.

PAIGE: Uh huh, yeah.

He worries a lot.

He's always worried about providing for all of us.

He always wants to make sure we have enough money to keep ourselves afloat.

GARY: Yep.

PAIGE: And keep the business and keep our dream going.

And so, yes, his sanity.

GARY: As a parent, I feel an extreme amount of pressure to provide.

As a small business owner, that can feel scary at times.

JUAN: Very scary.

Failure.

That's what I think of every single day.

Am I failing my kids?

Am I working hard enough?

What's gonna happen 10 years from now?

GARY: Still?

JUAN: Still.

GARY: How do you pull yourself out of that hole?

JUAN: I have a business coach.

So Paige and I go see a business coach.

GARY: Okay.

JUAN: I do yoga.

It's helped release a lot of the mental thoughts and negative thoughts from, I'm a screw up, and did I do the right thing?

To, you know what?

No, there's a reason why we're in this position.

GARY: Constant voices.

JUAN: Constant, constant.

GARY: It's not addressed, in my opinion, enough, the mental health... JUAN: It's not.

GARY: Aspects of entrepreneurship.

JUAN: It's not.

GARY: Because it's a non- stop rollercoaster.

And for a lot of folks... JUAN: It is.

GARY: It's that voice in the back of their head saying, "I should just go get a freaking job.

What am I doing?"

Like, this is really hard to carry that load.

JUAN: To this day, to this- I mean, and then I don't know if it'll ever- don't know if it'll ever change.

And for Paige and I, we wanna take care of everybody.

And I think that's the reason why we're in this position, is to provide for employees.

GARY: What does the future hold for Magdalena's?

JUAN: We wanna see our employees move into a bigger role, where we kind of step aside and even, owner or employee-owned type of business.

GARY: Cool.

JUAN: They've made us- they've gotten us to where we are.

They've put in the hard work just as much as we have.

And we're super appreciative for them.

I mean, I wanna see Magdalena's 10 years from now, still doing what we're doing now.

GARY: Owning a business can be incredibly difficult.

Maintaining a healthy and happy marriage can be equally challenging.

So what does it take to manage both at the same time?

Patience, communication, empathy, openness, flexibility, and the willingness to accept responsibility for all decisions, both good and bad.

And this is exactly what I saw in Paige and Juan.

Not only are they managing one of the top catering businesses in the DFW area, opening a restaurant, a food truck, and a permanent supper club, they're also raising a family with young children, managing tons of employees, and still somehow squeezing in time for each other.

Over the years, this show has become less and less about the technical aspects of owning a business, and more about the mental and emotional grit of the small business owners featured in each episode.

It's a true day-in- the-life experience.

And from what I've seen, these guys have it figured out.

I'm truly inspired by Paige and Juan, and I have so much respect for them as people, and for the amazing business that they've built.

I can't wait to see what the future holds for this incredible husband-and-wife team.

For more information, visit our website, and search episodes for Magdalena's Catering.

Next time on Start Up, we head to Dallas, Texas to meet up with Lily Benitez, the owner of Blade Craft Barber Academy, a business focused on training a new generation of barbers.

Be sure to join us next time on Start Up.

Would you like to learn more about the show or maybe nominate a business?

Visit our website at startup-usa.com and connect with us on social media.

♪ ♪ We got a long road ahead of us♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us ♪ Got a long road ahead of us ♪ Before we pay our dues ♪ We got a long road ahead of us♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us Oh!

(indistinct) ♪ Before we pay our dues I'm sitting in a cave.

ANNOUNCER: The future is not just going to happen, you have to make it and GoDaddy Airo can help you get your business online with an AI-generated name, logo and website.

GoDaddy Airo, learn more at godaddy.com/airo.

ANNOUNCER: Running a business isn't easy.

BambooHR supports your HR strategies by automating operational tasks, leaving you with more time to concentrate on what's most important to you and your business.

Learn more at BambooHR.com.

BambooHR, a proud supporter of Start Up.

JAKE: Fellow is just a mash up of two of the things I really love: coffee and I really love product design.

We're trying to create something that didn't exist and we're just getting started.

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Amazon, a proud supporter of Start Up.

ANNOUNCER: Colonial Penn offers guaranteed acceptance, a type of whole-life insurance that does not require answering health questions or taking a medical exam.

Learn more at colonialpenn.com or by calling 1-800-372-8383.

Colonial Penn is a proud supporter of Start Up.