Mojitos, a Cuban-American Bistro, opened its second location with assistance of ACityDiscount
Months before Mojitos, a Cuban-American Bistro, opened its second location in the Atlanta area, I stood in an empty commercial space in The Forum On Peachtree Parkway, a swank yet busy shopping center, envisioning tasty menu items that were about to create a food buzz.
To accomplish this, we envisioned the restaurant menu – Cuban sandwich and chicken breast fillet (pollo empanizado), spicy ox-tail (rabo encendido) and so many other dishes – and mapped out their commercial kitchen journey from the charbroiler, griddle, deep fryer or convection oven to the window, ready for customers.
As we walked through the place, drew chalk lines on the floor. We kind of acted out the flow of the kitchen.
My job?
- Ensure that owner Luis Fernandez achieved his lofty goal of opening the second location of Mojitos in 90 days or less.
- Help Fernandez and executive chef Manuel Bueno create a back-of-the-house workflow which allowed dishes to be created with a minimum amount of movement from point A to B.
When you have guys that know what they’re doing, it’s kind of fun, seeing all the minds work. This continued until we were pleased with the kitchen workflow; confident that on a busy Saturday night, while musicians entertained and customers danced, chefs and cooks would be armed with the right foodservice equipment tools to handle a full house of orders.
Flash forward to the Fall 2018. Mojitos No. 2 is enjoying all the success it deserves in Peachtree Corners. Another successful restaurant equipment customer – that’s what we strive for at ACityDiscount.
Working Lunch
Ironically, our business relationship started over a plate of food. Around 2012, our staff spent quite a few lunch hours at Mojitos’ first location in downtown Norcross.
I introduced myself to Luis and over time, convinced him to stop by our Atlanta-area showroom. During later months, we helped him replace equipment at his first location.
By 2014, ACityDiscount was a major supplier of restaurant equipment for his second restaurant project, The Crossing: A Historic Norcross Steak House. At the time, The Crossing’s total restaurant equipment budget marked one of our largest build-out projects.
Luis, though, wasn’t finished.
In 2017, he secured a location for Mojitos No. 2. I’ll be over there first thing tomorrow, I told him.
Restaurant Equipment Plan
This time around, Luis wanted to do everything better. He wanted a flagship restaurant, a top-of-the-line kitchen with restaurant equipment that would last. The dining area and patio could hold 250 covers, so the back of the house needed restaurant equipment that could accommodate the numbers.
In selecting cooking equipment, Luis opted for high-performance units with longer warranties, a move which over time will lessen energy bills and costly equipment malfunctions.
Cooking equipment: Star Ultra Max, Blodgett
Refrigeration: True
Bar equipment: Krowne
What They're Saying About ACityDiscount
“The equipment here; everything is brand new. It's a dream kitchen that every person that owns or loves working in a kitchen wants to have.”
Manuel Bueno, executive chef, Mojitos
“Thankfully, we were able to meet our 90-day benchmark. We did it with a lot of help from ACityDiscount, something we’re very, very grateful for.”
Luis Fernandez, owner, Mojitos
