Meet Jose Mojo” Rodriguez | Chef & CEO”

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jose “Mojo” Rodriguez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jose “Mojo”, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Honestly, I was just tired and fed up with dragging around this extreme passion I have for food and hospitality from restaurant to restaurant. Working in the restaurant business since 18 years old doing everything from serving tables, cooking and prepping, and even managing, I started realizing that everywhere I went I was just unhappy. I always wanted to fix or improve something at whatever establishment I was at. I struggled with work ethics and working conditions and the lack if compassion or care towards employees. I hated being this hospitality slave with nothing more to take home than a decent paycheck. Eventually an injury, breaking my foot specifically, led me to taking some time off work. By this time I had started branding myself via Instagram with a lot of food content including home cooked food and reviewing restaurants. In this time I stared practicing more and more in the kitchen but also formulating a business idea and plan. I figured if people knew me as the “food guy” then I would have a foot in there to gaining clientele. I decided to put up some meals for sale offering Latin food and homestyle recipes in the meal prep format, delivering to clients directly to be heated at their convenience. I never went back to my job; the rest is written.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Since young I’ve always been fascinated and passionate about food and cooking. I’ve pretty much been practicing from the moment I was old enough to fry some eggs until now. I cook with passion, not only the passion of creating something delicious, but the passion of creating an experience that can emotionally move someone. I think you can feel that in my food and how I present it to you. And to me, in this industry, passion is everything, you must really love this to endure it. I wasn’t sure I was always going to end up doing this, but I felt like the desire was always there. There was a point where I had graduated with my B.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management at FIU, and I thought my next move was to obviously move out of the front of house FOH and back of house BOH and into management. And boy was I wrong. Most miserable year of my entire existence. It felty like ant personal and fulfilling aspect of what I was doing was sucker underneath me and turned into a mundane world of product orders, schedules and labor charts. That’s when it started clicking to me that I needed to do something for myself if I was to be fulfilled. I created Mojo Meals at home making and delivering homestyle inspired meal plans all over Miami. Nearly 4 years later I no longer work from home, and I’ve been running a successful meal delivery service for 3 years and taken on all kinds if catering and event gigs along the way. Those first 3 years have been the most challenging 3 years of my life. Coupled with a global pandemic to top it off. I wouldn’t change history for anything. Running a business has just been a “front” as I like to say, or the catalyst to the immense personal growth and maturation that I’ve endured since. Today, I am tenfold smarter, wiser, more experienced, and an all-around better person than before I started my journey, and I thank that to all the ups and downs that I faced along the way, that have made me dig deep from within to things and places I’ve never seen. Before being a meal delivery and catering company, I’m just a super passionate individual that genuinely just has this burning need to feed people because I believe that food is so much than just food. Food a common ground for everyone. Its nutrition, its culture, its history, its good times and bad times. Food is my entire life, and it’s the reason I do what I do. In my head, its all about how I can get it across to everyone else to see food in my eyes and appreciate for more than just something you eat.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
So many places so little time! If were talking a weeklong trip, I would say splitting each day into a whole part of town just because Miami is just so big and there is so many amazing things in every little nook and cranny. Day 1 get your Hialeah Cuban food fix, hands down best Cuban food int town is a tiny, family run, cash only, spot called La Vina Aragona in west Hialeah. The sandwiches but more specifically their pan con bistec and pan con minuta are the best around. Get a Cafecito and flan to finish up. After that head over to East Hialeah to Flamingo Plaza for some of the best thrifting around. I had to elaborate a little extra on Hialeah because it my hometown of course. For some amazing Haitian and Caribbean food, you can just drive through South Dixie highway in North Miami and Little Haiti. Every out of towner needs a watering hole and more that’s the local Flanigan’s. There is not one person that can say that they don’t like Flanigan’s. It’s a must for food and drinks down here, they call it church. Other than eating and drinking, my other must dos are getting out on the water. Were surrounded by the beautiful Biscayne Bay and there are so many ways to enjoy it. i personally love kayaking and own a few and think it’s the best and most serene way to experience the bay. When the waters are tight head over to Key Biscayne and have fun on the beautiful calm waters around. If you’re more of a lounger get a charter boat or just head over to South Pointe Park and bum it out on the sand. Just making it to the water is a must for me. Another little pocket of Miami that I love is Coconut Grove. Park your car and walk around the many restaurants and bars, hang out at the coffee shop or Books and Books, get some guava bread pudding at Fireman Dereks Sweet Shop, then walk over to the boardwalk.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would say before giving thanks to any specific person or group or people I would give thanks to the unintentional mentorship that is experience. Working in the restaurant industry for 8 years, in and out of small family run spots, and huge nationwide corporations and chains, simply being there for that time I had taught me more than anything else could. I know it sounds cliché and corny bet experience really is the best teacher for me, I think the more I was exposed to the ins and outs of restaurants really helped me in building my business from nothing. People that I’m extremely thankful for is everyone that ever believed in me. I think my family, friends, and old coworkers always saw the strive and passion I had in the industry, and when I finally took the leap, it’s like I had this massive support group pushing me to do it. This felt great.

Website: https://mojovice.com/

Instagram: @mojomeals