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The stories of entrepreneurs, leaders, coaches, and interesting people.
Matt Lavinder: Manolo, it's been a while since you were, uh, since you were at King and I saw that you were in town. I said, man, I've gotta, I've gotta have him on to tell this Incredible, it's this incredible story of what you've been doing the last
Manolo Betancur: 20
Matt Lavinder: 20 years.
Manolo Betancur: 21 years.
Matt Lavinder: on the way in, I'm make a stop at Weigel's and I get [00:03:00] a $2 coffee and I'm sitting there drinking.
I'm pouring my Wild Tiger coffee from Weigel's, and I think, uh oh. Manolo's from Columbia. He's gonna, like, I can't be taking, I can't be taking Weigel's coffee in
Manolo Betancur: I'm glad you didn't bring coffee for me.
Matt Lavinder: and then I
Manolo Betancur: I'm very picky about coffee.
Matt Lavinder: I know, like I, I feel, I feel, uh, uh, like I've let you down. But then I thought, well, he's not the type, he's not the type that would be too judgmental.
He is been in America long enough to, to give me a pass on bad
Manolo Betancur: coffee. Our American coffee is better than British coffee. I went to England once, man, and you know, the first three days I was good with the British Tea. British Tea. And then I started having British coffee. Oh my gosh, man, I really need to have some Colombian coffee.
Yeah. So I love,
Matt Lavinder: love, I love England. I love London's one of my favorite places, but I don't, I haven't found anything I like to put in my mouth over there.
Like whether it's drinks or, or food. [00:04:00] Like, it's not where I, it's not its thing.
Manolo Betancur: No. You know, they, they have some good recipes around Guinness. Well, but that's more from island.
That's right. Yeah,
Matt Lavinder: That's right. Um, well man, you're, you're, what you've been doing is so centered on food and coffee and drink and just high quality stuff and all the work that you're doing, uh, and how you, how that's become an extension into your why.
Yeah. And really making, really making a difference. So I was trying to catch up on all you've been doing. It's a fascinating story, man. I can't wait. I can't wait to hear about your business and how you've used the to, to go beyond just
Yeah. Yeah. Um. Man, I, I wanna start, I wanna do this one a little bit differently.
I wanna start with where you are going, like, what is, what is the vision? And then I want to go back and I wanna walk [00:05:00] through, like, how, how did you get here? how did you make all of this happen? So,
Manolo Betancur: well, it's a very, very interesting approach. Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: gosh, man, I, I wish I could say, you know, this is my, my plan and I'm gonna be follow it. I, I have some ideas of what I want to do, but life has changed me and life has. Chose me and God had brought me to all these different places and situations that, that had created a lot of change in my life.
And I guess that's why I became the change baker. But there is, uh, something, something, some ideas that where I want to go and where I want to be once is I, I want for my businesses to keep growing. That's one thing We have, uh, this beautiful bakery and keeps growing. Thanks. God keeps growing in Charlotte, [00:06:00] North Carolina.
We also, with my wife, uh, we have this gelato place, then we made gelato. But what is special about this is, is a vegan gelato.
Matt Lavinder: Ah,
Manolo Betancur: And, and that's the future. People are becoming more mindful about what they, what they eat,
Matt Lavinder: uhhuh
Manolo Betancur: and they, they love it and the business keeps growing. So I want to franchise this business.
A lot of people wants to buy the franchise. So if you or anyone who is hearing this, I want to approach me more than welcome,
Matt Lavinder: I know a little bit about franchising. Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: Uh, and also we have a partnership with a church where we have a coffee shop in Charlotte. And, and the good thing is, um. This is a different model of business.
The church doesn't charge us for rent, but we donate 100% of the profits to the mission department of the church. And we have a very big mission. There are employing minorities, people with special abilities and people [00:07:00] who that needs, uh, secondhand opportunities in society. And everything about this, uh, COVID shop is about supporting small businesses and local businesses, and people love the idea and that business is growing like crazy too.
People really like and love to support us. So as a business, that's where I want to go, where I want to keep growing. Uh, but. Nothing makes sense to me. If I'm just making money, I really need to be making social impact and social change. Uh, my nonprofit keeps growing as well, so it's called by Immigrant Hands So hopefully maybe in in, in two weeks I'm gonna be in Jamaica supporting and helping a bakery there because the hurricane last week, in a couple of months I'm gonna be back in Ukraine. So,
Matt Lavinder: and you spent, you've, you've been to Ukraine twice now?
Manolo Betancur: Uh, three times. Three times, yeah. Yeah. I, one of the, the missions of my non-profits called Always a Hope.
So whenever there [00:08:00] is a a hard situation, I go there and I help bakeries. If I'm helping a, a baker, if I'm helping a baker, I'm making sure that people are gonna have, gonna be having bread in their bellies. And if they have food, their spirit is alive, and if their spirits alive, there is faith. So you are not gonna give up.
So that is one of, but pretty much I, my future, where I would see myself is just 100% philanthropy, traveling, maybe writing a book or two books. I have some ideas, but it's gonna get to a point. And my business is gonna move to the site, and I'm gonna just dedicate myself to philanthropy.
Matt Lavinder: So what, what drives you is, is the philanthropy.
Manolo Betancur: I, this morning I was talking a kink about it. You know, I, I learned to, I fell in love with philanthropy here in Bristol. there is, uh, people cannot imagine how much [00:09:00] I love this town. Uh, it's, I, it's like my second home. Uh, I don't know if people from North Carolina are gonna be hearing this once in a while.
I say that in cello because it have been so long. But it was here where my really, my life really start here in Bristol, at King University and with the community of this beautiful town, because it's here where I start receiving too much love and too much compassion, and for the people that didn't know me from the unknown.
And it was like, gosh, I'm receiving all this love and receiving all this gift and receiving all these things from unknown people. I just need to give back. So my culture of learning, going, giving back, it was born here in Bristol Wow. Well, I cannot wait to, I cannot wait to connect, uh, to connect these dots between Bristol and the big things you're doing now
from Bristol to the world.
Yeah. [00:10:00] And from the world to Bristol as well.
Matt Lavinder: and important stuff too. I think. I think churches have been criticized for being I about ideas. Yeah. And not enough about actually serving, making a difference where it most matters to people. Which is exactly what you're doing with your, such a unique thing, man, taking your bakery skills and expertise and using that to change lives in these, in, in these communities.
Whether it's Ukraine or Jamaica.
Manolo Betancur: Let, let, let's, let's start right now with the crying.
Matt Lavinder: Ah,
Manolo Betancur: We are gonna go to a cry, to a crying part to, to the touching part, to touching hearts to, to, I don't know why it's gonna be while we are gonna be ending, talking 45 minutes after this.
But, um, I just give you an example. One time I heard the story of this, uh, [00:11:00] nonprofit and they don, they celebrate the birthdays for the home homeless. And I said, wow, that's so cool, man. No. one Thinks about those things. We, we give
the individual birthday
Yeah, yeah. These people, of course, man, it's about their dignity. They, they have a, a life.
They, it was a day and they were born. Um, maybe. Some of them, they are like, they don't, they don't even know where the family lives or you know, they're far away from their families and nobody knows where they are. So, so I approached the nonprofit and I told them, where, where are you getting the cakes And they said the birthday cake they said, we cannot afford a birthday cake. how in the world you celebrate a birthday with a birthday cake. That's doesn't make sense man. For me as a baker, that wasn't impossible. You know, man, that's, that it would be possible. So I told them, Hey, you know, for now you go to a bakery and pick the cake [00:12:00] and you your birthday.
Birthday okay. Yeah, they were very. I'm very, uh, very grateful. And they came to the bakery, but they picked a full sheet cake,
and I thought they were gonna pick a small cake for the person who was having their birthday. And that is a very fancy
cake. And that's every two weeks. And this happened 12 years ago.
Uh, and, and then it was a time that I was having a very hard time at the bakery and I was thinking, maybe I need to talk with this nonprofit and tell them, please come to get a small cake because I'm having a hard time and I, and I need money. And when I was thinking about. Approaching them, bringing this idea.
Somebody from the non-profit approached me and they said, are you the cake guy? I say, I guess so. She says, she said to me, you save a life yesterday. How in the world, save a life? You know you, that's you're making a [00:13:00] mistake. And she said, let me tell you how we save a life. You, well tell me. And she said. We got around our neighbor because they call them neighbors and I love that word because they're our neighbors
Ah.
and we start singing happy birthday to him in front of the cake and he start crying.
Or the cake, when we ask him, why are you crying? He says, it was the first time in his life that he had a birthday cake. And because that cake and that celebration, he didn't kill himself. He took, you know, his pistol and put it next to the cake. They want that. He was gonna shoot to himself that day. And he said, gosh, man, you know, that's huge.
I said, man, if a cake can save a life, if a gesture of love can save a life, any gesture of love can save a life. We're all heroes, man. We just don't recognize ourselves. So, but that is,
what did that story,
what
did that story [00:14:00] teach you about humans? people?
just, it is, it, you know, I have my own philosophy that is called the power of opportunity to meet this person, create an opportunity to me to make a better person, to be a better person. You know, uh, donations are good, very important, and people do it all the time, which will have more people doing it.
But when you leave their lives, and especially now that Thanksgiving is approaching, that, it could be a good message for people, you know, uh, approaches. They were known. And learn from their lives, share their lives, share their stories, and by then we are gonna be learning from them. You know, by the end of my film, I, I'm telling my son, never lost faith in humanity.
Uh, and, [00:15:00] and that's the biggest lesson. I, I, I cannot believe and walk my life and live my life knowing that I'm losing hope and humanity, I still living in. And a hundred percent that good people are, are the majority.
Matt Lavinder: I'm, I'm, I'm still trying to figure out humans. Like I, I constantly like, are they, are we simple? Are we complicated? You see, you, you hear stories like what you just shared and, and then you see the masses on social media
Manolo Betancur: Oh, hate. Yeah, yeah,
Matt Lavinder: full of hate. And then, but then you see the same people in.
Personal situations and they're, they're the heroes of the story. Yeah. It's like, what, what is going on
Manolo Betancur: Well, I, this is a fascinating topic [00:16:00] for me because I, I, I love to debate about what you were saying because, um, we, as a, as a hu humans, we have make a lot improvement, you know, through the history of the war.
You know, now we have better quality of life. We have heat, we have cars, we have technology, we have medicine. But we haven't changed in our hearts and our souls man.
Matt Lavinder: Hmm.
Manolo Betancur: We still crying for the same things. We still laughing for the same things. We still, it, it just like, why? Because we, we choose, by this time, we choose how to figure out man, how to be better humans in our hearts and our souls.
But, but I, I think a big, I think we, like I was saying before, the, the good side of humanity is bigger because [00:17:00] just we are abusing our freedom of technology and, and we, and we are becoming, but this is my own territory, you know? Please don't take me wrong. I think we are becoming more lazy to think about how to be proactive, how to be good, good, good people.
Because we want everything fast. You know, if the, if everything is slow in the cell phone, which is not good enough. Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. The, the, the technology has made everything more convenient.
Manolo Betancur: Exactly. Exactly.
Matt Lavinder: But, and, and, and, and the technology has changed so fast. I mean, you think about like, when we met at King, the, the internet was barely a thing.
Manolo Betancur: Oh my God. She took me forever to talk with my mother and, and in South America through, you know, waiting,
Matt Lavinder: But it, it was like no time ago in, in history. Right. Like it was the other day and we were having to go to a, a special computer lab to get on the internet.
Manolo Betancur: Sadly, sadly.
Matt Lavinder: but, but it's changed [00:18:00] so fast. But what I hear you saying is that we haven't changed Yeah.
Like the core of who we are Yeah. And what makes us happy. Yeah. And what makes us, um, joyful rather than pulling out a pistol and shooting ourselves. Is that hasn't changed. Like we're still, we're still the same. It's like we're still the same humans. We were Yeah. Have always been. Yeah. But the world is.
Changed.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. And we are allowing technology to change us, you
Matt Lavinder: we're adapting too much.
Manolo Betancur: exactly. Because by, by the end, by the end, you know, the, the cell phone or the, you know, the, the technology is telling us what an algorithm wants for us to know. Because, you know, if, if it, if what you watching in your phone is, you know, or the area where you are is, is too much soccer.
the cell phone is gonna be sending you all [00:19:00] this soccer, soccer
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: You know, what you watch is about cars and motorcycles. That's what you know by what you watch is, you know, hate. It's gonna send you hate. So. I, I do this on purpose. I, every morning I watch the most liberal newspapers and the most conservative newspapers.
Mm. So I'm playing my cell phone. Mm. You know, and I watch, uh, you know, what people are saying in England and what people are saying in South America. So I'm playing the algorithm
Matt Lavinder: Mm-hmm.
Manolo Betancur: and that way I'm not gonna be just stuck in one, in one philosophy on one way of thinking, because by then I cannot afford to lose so much people that I love because what they think of how they feel, you know, I got people in both streams and conservatives and liberals, and I bought both of them, so
I'm not gonna lose them.
Matt Lavinder: Well, you've got, you've got such an interesting, unique and valuable [00:20:00] perspective because what you do. Bread. Yes. Right. And bread is such a, it's just a, such a universal, like it takes us back to humanities, the beginnings.
Right. It's the one thing in life that probably hasn't, hasn't changed as our need for bread. And, and then like the bread, like all the symbolism of just society of we come together, we come together around, around bread and drink. It's what it, it brings. Yeah. It's so elemental.
Manolo Betancur: Well the, the Bible talks about the bread of God. Yeah. The Bible doesn't talk about the being of God. You know, it is, uh, like you say, every single culture, every single country and every single religion around the world has bread in common.
And bread is the first, you know, there is trucks of bread. 8,000 years before God, before Jesus Christ. So bread has been [00:21:00] always forever. We, every single society in the world has bread in common. But bread also remind us, talking about symbolism, you know, the, the, the beauty of life and death, you know, as sea has to die in order to become a plant, you know, the, that rain has to die in order to become flour.
And then you mix this with water and this life again, and then has to die in an oven. Pre fight in an oven, 400 degrees to become bread. That rain give us life, but we need to die in order to give life to somebody else. So that's the, the infinity circle of love that God talks about it. So I'm so blessed and I, I get to be a baker in my life.
Matt Lavinder: Wow. Wow. It's so refreshing. Like so many, so many people are doing things that are, they're not, they're not [00:22:00] tangible.
Like you can't see what you've made. No. You know, it's technology and it's all convenient, but you can't put your, you can't put your hands on it. You don't see your, you don't see your customer. Yeah. Like, you know, like Yeah. It's the, there's a, the social part of what we're doing, it's, it's not convenient.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. I, I love invite people to make bread. There's a lot of people that haven't made bread in their lives, and my life change forever the day that I put my hands and adult, you know, I decide to mix flour with water and, and some salt.
that, that
it was like, you know, I was getting, I was receiving life from the adult.
So The
Matt Lavinder: time you knew, you knew that this was your thing?
Manolo Betancur: Yeah, when I, yeah, I became a baker by accident. I wasn't expecting to be a baker, but I, when I mo, when I left Bristol, I moved to North Carolina and I entered this [00:23:00] bakery and I saw the lines of people buying bread.
I said, oh man, this is a good business. I just saw the potential as a business. But then I had started getting complaining from my employees, you are not Baker. And people start calling me, you're a baker And my kids dad, you are not a baker. So I, uh, so I told them, well, if it's such a big deal, I'm just gonna become a baker.
And I start making bread. And
Matt Lavinder: And how old were you?
Manolo Betancur: Oh, that was 10 years Yeah. I'm 49 right now. I was 39.
Matt Lavinder: I was 39. So you're in your late thirties, almost 40. And that's when you discover Your, your art.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Yeah. Like, like I say, you know, I discover my heart here at in Brito. Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: You know, I'm not saying that in Colombia I was a bad guy, you know, I was a regular, normal person, but, but my life changed forever when I arrived here and I left Bristol.
Matt Lavinder: Wow.
All right. So [00:24:00] you come to Bristol to, to go to school.
You probably like any college student, no idea what you really wanted to do. Hadn't been like, all of us had never done anything, so we don't know what we wanna do. Um, but you come not knowing. Did, did you, you only speak Spanish knowing English?
Manolo Betancur: I just knew their numbers from one to 10.
Matt Lavinder: So how did you, how did, why King?
Manolo Betancur: uh, I.
I.
when I was in South America, Columbia was part of the military forces. I was like with the Special Forces group, and I was killing each chair with my people. And I got to a point that I'm done with this
Matt Lavinder: because Boal was Yeah. Tough place
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Yeah. All Columbia, you know?
Yeah. All Columbia, we the, you know, the war on
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: the gorilla, the cartels, or the paramilitary groups, you know, I was in the middle of all of that. So I decide, I say, this is not for me. I left, I left Colombia, um, by that time, um. [00:25:00] I, I, I met, uh, Heather and she used to work Aquina as well. And, and she, she helped me.
And also I met these people in a church in Miami because I, I left Columbia move to Miami and I said, if I want to move on in this country, I need to learn the language. And Miami was the right, it was, and it's still the wrong place if you want to learn the language, because everybody was speaking Spanish there.
So I wasn't at church and, uh,
Matt Lavinder: so did you go to, did you go to Miami alone? Was your, was your family with you or were you alone?
Manolo Betancur: just myself.
Matt Lavinder: Because you were older, you were a little bit older than the traditional
Manolo Betancur: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. When I arrived to to America, I was already 25 years old. Yeah. And I came to this country, you know, not the language, no.
900 bucks in my pocket. No. Even clothes, you know, I was, I just had like three shirts, three pants That's it. Because I was in the military [00:26:00] forces and $900 in my pocket. That's it. That's how I
Matt Lavinder: To Miami.
Manolo Betancur: That's how I came to this country. Nothing. But I knew that one day I was gonna be rich. A million dollars.
You know, I have a big, big dream because I was raised, believe about the America is a land of opportunity and dreams come true here. This is the American dream. And I, and I came with a philosophy with that mentality and I have been chasing that mentality. I will fight for that because I still believing that is truth.
And I and I am a walking proof that the the American dream is still alive.
Matt Lavinder: Wow.
Manolo Betancur: You know how many, now I own three businesses. I employ almost 35 people and ourselves combined, this past year was $2.5 million.
So, and I walk in proof. Wow.
Matt Lavinder: Wow. So you get to
Manolo Betancur: Yeah,
I got to Miami. [00:27:00] Sorry. Walk away.
Matt Lavinder: serve? No, man. I wanna, I wanna talk about all of
Manolo Betancur: it.
Matt Lavinder: Um,
you get to Miami, I've always been fascinated
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: this and I, and I think first generation It's something that the rest of us don't have, like appreciation grind, this, this mentality that so much of us who have been here and taken so much of this for
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. We just, we just don't, yeah. We don't have it. Yeah. And I've seen, so coaching, I've seen so many
Manolo Betancur: international
Matt Lavinder: international students that are the first generation to come here and they, so, so, but you can't do it alone.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. Right. So you, you come, you come to Miami, like, what, what does that look like? You got a hundred dollars in Miami, that doesn't go very far.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Well, it's,
it's,
people don't, I don't realize, uh, about the sacrifice that we I used to have [00:28:00] an American friend that he's no longer with us, he passed away and he used to say, we should feel proud about these immigrants who are right here, because they're the bravest people in the world. You gotta be brave and smart to lead your, your loved ones.
You're lo you're living your culture, you're living your mother, you're living, sometimes you leave your kids, you're living, you know, the good quality of life, good or bad. You have your own language where you are back in your countries and coming to a new country, new culture, new language. You, you knew everything.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: Uh, and so, but I give you an example, it took me almost 14 years to have a Sunday you know, is, uh, when I, when I was here at Kink, I remember in the mornings I had to learn the language before I wa before I was taking the class, I was at the dining hall working. Then I went to take classes, [00:29:00] then dining hall again to work lunchtime as a dishwasher, then go back taking more classes, then dining hall, then a snack bar.
By 11:00 PM is when I started my homework. And I went to bed maybe two, three in the morning. I slept four hours, but back in Miami I was a gardener. You know, I had to ride a bicycle.
Matt Lavinder: because you have no, you know, no English. You
Manolo Betancur: knowing none,
Matt Lavinder: to 10 and that's
Manolo Betancur: that's it. And say, my name is Manolo. And, and, and smile and say yes to everything. So you could say you are the ugliest guy in the world.
I will say Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I will smile. Yeah. And that's how I get to Bristol as well, you know, so, so Miami, I was in the warehouses. I was a dish watcher as well. I was a gardener. And, and that's when I met these people at this church and they told me about King University. By the time it was King College, she made a call because she graduated from King [00:30:00] and her, what she knew, this guy, his name is Bobby Griffin, that maybe a lot of people knows him here.
And he was, by that time, one of the trustees at King. Right. So I drove from Miami to here. No GPS?
Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. And, and to go back in time, like Yeah. Like there was no GPS in 2002. Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: We an
Matt Lavinder: barely an internet.
Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: Well, we drove it, uh, you know, and, and it was, um, we, you know, following the maps, paper maps, big maps. Then you get in gas
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: We arrived, we met Bo Griffin. He, he told me that if, uh. The, he, he liked my story and he said, I'm gonna talk to King so we can support you
Matt Lavinder: So the first, so the first person you met in Bristol was Bobby Griffin.
Yes. This huge
Manolo Betancur: Yes. Yes.
Matt Lavinder: I wish we could, we could spend a whole hour talking about this guy, just a, a [00:31:00] serial entrepreneur.
Manolo Betancur: it. And his story is full of, he's a miracle
Matt Lavinder: huge
Manolo Betancur: He
Matt Lavinder: personality. His, his daughter, his daughter Lauren is, has got all of his entrepreneurship. Like she's doing all kinds of things
here.
I
Manolo Betancur: I would love to meet her. You know, I haven't seen him like in 20 years. Uh, and so he told me if,
if, if you do, you have to keep good grades and you have to work hard and, and I help you, but I just can't help you.
Like one year. So when I, so I left, I left Miami, moved to Bristol, and I wrote, uh, you know, the paper in one of the dorms. One year to learn English. Uh, and my goal was one year I had to learn the language. So, so that was, you know, putting, you know, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself, you know, that was my biggest goal. And, uh, I [00:32:00] get to meet everybody here, making all these friends. Uh, and then one year passed, I went back to Miami
and
by that time I, um, I was married to Heather
and. And we got this call from, and I wasn't planning to come back to Bristol. I wasn't, I was planning, I wasn't planning to be back in King because I couldn't afford it.
Private school.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: And, and then, uh, miss, uh, Arlene Boucher. You remember her? I
Matt Lavinder: remember her very well.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. She, she called me and she said, somebody told me that you're not coming back. And I said, yeah, you're right. I said, why you, I cannot afford it. And she says, uh, well, what about if her works at Keen and then you can get your education.
So King opened a position for, for Heather, so we can come to, to get my education. And that's [00:33:00] how I end all my education at King. Like you see all these gestures of love.
Matt Lavinder: Hmm.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Uh, and then I. At the same time I met Howard Smith and Sheila from the car ate Dojo. I nap out and, you know, in the main, in the main street.
Yeah. You remember the School of Karate there for
Matt Lavinder: karate school. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. So they become a Mja family. Like the karate kid. Okay. Yeah. I, and, uh, and a black, a black belt, you know, se uh, second, second D in karate was part of the Colombian national team. Uh, yeah. Yeah. And, and I remember very well. That's another cool story.
Uh, I remember I was working at a dining hall and it was this stand, and we had like some, uh, overtime, so I make some extra money and I had that saving and I was walking in,
in
in, the main [00:34:00] street. Stay lined. Yeah. Stay line. Yeah. And street.
Matt Lavinder: Stay straight.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. And then, and then I saw he has a promotion. He says, uh, we have a half, half price this month.
So I, I went to know the door, I say, oh, I know karate. And he test me that night, man, I had to fight everybody that night. You know? I got kicked so bad by kick zone too. So. And I, and I trained all that month. And, and then, and then, you know, again, I didn't come back next month because I didn't have the monitor for it.
And one day I was walking on campus and, uh, you know, Shehan and say,
Matt Lavinder: Mm-hmm.
Manolo Betancur: went to Keen and I saw him in the middle of the world.
Yo, you, what are you doing here? He says, why you hand me back you, because I cannot pay it. And he said, have you seen Karate King, the movie? He said, yes, I seen it go [00:35:00] to the dojo.
And I went to the do. And he says, you see the ceiling? Yes. You see the floor? Yes. You paint it and you clean it. You don't have to pay And that's how I became part of that dojo. And then later I became my family. And I loved him so much. Man. So when, when Howard passed away, he has, it was very, very tough that day for me in my life.
He
Matt Lavinder: yeah. I never met him, but he was a big personality.
Manolo Betancur: Oh my gosh. He's one of Bri angels man. And his family as well. He just, my, my father passed away, but, uh, we knew that he had cancer
and we had time to say goodbye and, and take care of all this situation. But, you know, one night I just got a call and say Howard got
killed just by an accident.
Oh gosh, man, that was so, so, so tough for
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. But it's these individual, these individuals [00:36:00] that crossed paths with you.
Manolo Betancur: you. Yes.
Matt Lavinder: That made all the difference. They, they, you crossed paths with people when you, when you needed them. Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. And
Matt Lavinder: And they made, they, they made a difference.
Manolo Betancur: Absolutely. You, you see, so far I have mentioned, you know, king, everything that came down for me, Ms.
Boer,
all the professors, you know, Karen Haw, Kara Anderson, Dr. Anderson. Yeah. All the mentors there are and the, and the, and the community. Tim Hickman, the tutor. Stephanie, we still, I still in touch with Stephanie and she's running part of my nonprofit. Uh, and, and Heather, you know, so all these people, man, you know, they're became like my angels.
And then how are Smith and his family, you know, Sheila and, and their kids, you know, Marcus and
Matt Lavinder: Yeah,
Manolo Betancur: they, they [00:37:00] are like,
Matt Lavinder: what
what,
what's so interesting to me is like the world is so politically charged Now, if you went on Facebook, you would think no one would be, where do I find nice people?
Right? But if, if you came to Bristol again today in the same situation. I think you would cross paths with individuals, Who would do similar things.
Yeah.
Like that hasn't
Manolo Betancur: Oh no. Like
Matt Lavinder: our online world
Manolo Betancur: that
Matt Lavinder: not like that.
Manolo Betancur: why, why I keep saying we cannot get. We cannot take the risk to, to felt in this trick of, you know, while medias feeding us. I give you like a example and, and I forgot to mention Alice on Dan,
our and Sheila's daughter to Dan.
I was in her marriage. I brought the cake from, from char to, to Bristol.
Matt Lavinder: you just, uh, like
a
just random people became your village. Became your village
Manolo Betancur: [00:38:00] Exactly. But I give you a very fresh sample of how, how we need to save humanity and bring humanity back to us.
Matt Lavinder: Please.
Manolo Betancur: I, I went to, when the war in Ukraine started.
Matt Lavinder: Mm.
Manolo Betancur: My first thought, oh, I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna be kinda, you know, I used to be part of the military forces. I'm gonna go there and fight. And then I saw my very, yo gosh, I'm no longer that Rambo.
Matt Lavinder: So,
Manolo Betancur: uh, I say, okay, what I'm gonna do now, I'm gonna be helping bakeries. So I, and I start, I, I wrote a post on Facebook, Hey, I'm helping Ukraine people come here and support me.
That amazing, all these unknown people came to the bakery, making donations, buying cakes, all those things because I was donating 10% of the sales for this. So a matter of a week, I had like $10,000. And I went to the bank to send the money and, and the bank, I say, I, I want to [00:39:00] send this money to Craig. And I says, we don't know how to do that.
Okay, that's fine. I deliver myself. And, and that day I had lunch with a, a, a pastor, a missionary pastor from a church.
And he said, where is new? I'm gonna go to Crane, to, I'm gonna go to Crane, to, to deliver this morning. And he said to me, Manolo, wait for me, let me talk to the church and with some friends, and maybe we can fly together back to Poland because the church is not gonna allow me to go inside Ukraine.
Okay, that's fine. So two months later, we were in Poland and, and I was with this pastor, another pastor for another part of the country. Uh, gosh man. So we, it was like, you know, my first time ever traveling with missionaries
and he go, wow, man, you know,
It was a cool, a good hotel and people were treating us so nice.
I like the [00:40:00] way that these people travel. But, but then, then few days after we, you know, we were visiting refugees, we were visiting all these people. Um, we, I asked this my friend, why people are treating this world? And he says, because this other guy next to us, Joe, the other, his friend Joe, what, what about him?
His name is Adam Hamilton.
He's a
very, very famous pastor here in America and he has wrote many books and he has like 35 churches. He goes, so he says, well, we. You wrote $10,000. We, at the church, we were able to get like almost $150,000 and this guy is bringing like half a million dollars something. What?
Quarter million dollars. It was something we a million there.
Matt Lavinder: Hmm.
Manolo Betancur: Uh, and so we, we are bringing a [00:41:00] lot to this country, yo. Gosh, man. You know, because Hui was born at the bakery. So then we went to the border with Ukraine and we saw the people coming out, you know, the women with their suitcases and the kids. And then I say, I had to go inside this and I need to go inside Ukraine and tell these people they're not alone.
So come back. I'm gonna make this story short. I promise, I, I, I got, I say I need to go, I need to find somebody that can take me. Sign Ukraine. So we find this American pastor, his name is Thomas, and.
He, he had lived in Ukraine for 20 years. Married there, had like, you know, missionary work as well with soccer.
Oh, very important person. You know, he's teaching kids to play soccer and to read the Bible and follow Jesus Christ there. And, and, okay. I made the connection, flew back again to, to Poland. I met him at the [00:42:00] airport. We left the airport. 20 minutes later he said to me, why you hate Trump so much? Yo, gosh man, you, I'm trusting you my life to, to take me Z War country.
And this is the first thing you
Matt Lavinder: where he goes.
Manolo Betancur: And I told him, I promise you, then we are gonna get to know each other. Hmm. Uh, and, and we are gonna find a common ground and we are gonna love each other. And we are like friends and brothers, man, you know, I go to his house, he come to America, and we spend time together.
You know, I don't allow, you know, our political views to, to determine my friendship. I might love to each each other. So I, I can't, I, you know, we need to stop that So that's, so that's why I told you, I give you, you know, a very
Matt Lavinder: good, yeah.
Manolo Betancur: that it's, it's okay to have different political views, ma'am, but we can destroyed [00:43:00] ourselves and our society and our country because what we believe is different than the other ones.
Matt Lavinder: we've always had different political views, like we've, no one has ever, we've always disagreed on
Manolo Betancur: Sadly. That's,
Matt Lavinder: But what's changed is I think people used to disagree like
Manolo Betancur: Exactly.
Matt Lavinder: In person over bread.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Right.
Matt Lavinder: Over coffee,
Manolo Betancur: A soccer team.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. What's in like
disagreeing isn't new.
where we disagree. Like physically. And like you just say things to
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: that you would never, you would never in that
Manolo Betancur: sadly. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But
Matt Lavinder: But it's like we've lost. It's, it's like we, what we were talking about earlier, like we've, we've lost the, the physical connection To each other. Yeah. Into, into place. Yeah. Somebody was asking me [00:44:00] just the other day, it's like, why are you, why are you still live in Bristol? man, I, I really value roots.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. You know, like the physical place that you are matters. Yeah. The people matter.
Manolo Betancur: Absolutely. Yeah. Totally agree with you 100%. And this way is to escape.
Matt Lavinder: Hmm. And,
Manolo Betancur: And, and I told the director of the film, uh, you know, when I went to the first film festival, I told her It's too easy to be in a place where everybody loves you. I really want for the film to be seen by people that don't like me.
Matt Lavinder: Mm.
Manolo Betancur: And I want to be with the people.
I want for them to get to know me and to see the, to see the funeral, to see the humanity that we are bringing to, to the nation. And, you know, and family separation is not okay with me, but I totally agree with anyone who wants to have a safer country.
Mm.
Yeah.
So we can do to both things at the same time.
Matt Lavinder: both at the same time.
Manolo Betancur: [00:45:00] Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. If
in person we can. Absolutely. Like if, if you take away, if you take away this, yeah. Right. If you take away the physical proximity, I don't know that we can do two things at the because then it becomes just two different worlds. Like, but
Manolo Betancur: The only I tell people, you know, when, when, when sometimes people, you know, go to the bakery and everything looks new for them.
I tell, I tell them, Hey, the only risk here is to fall in love. Ah.
Matt Lavinder: So, yeah. So I wanna Your bus, your business is, is the bakery. Yeah. Like, it's such a, uh. Raw. Yeah. It's such a raw that takes us talk about roots. Yeah. You know, roots matter. Like it takes us back to our, to our roots. Yeah. To, to, to one another, to community, to our basic, our basic needs. [00:46:00] You, you, you, you fell in love with baking, but tell me, tell me about this. Tell me about this business. Like you learn, you learn it, you fall in love. You said you fell in love with the art of bread making. Like when you put the dough in your
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: That's when you knew
Manolo Betancur: But then you need to learn everything else about running a business.
You know, you need to know how I get to, that's another beautiful thing that we have in this nation, all this knowledge. And most of the time it's free knowledge. There's no that luxury, we don't have it. You know, it's a matter of just approaching to SBA and tell them, I'm opening a business and I need to know how to run it.
And they say, oh, we have all these seminars, we have all these people that can help you and can teach you. You approach the Chamber of Commerce, they have all this knowledge. Uh, you approach the, we had Charlo, we had the Latin America Chamber of Commerce. You have all this knowledge. [00:47:00] Then because what I had done, I was able to get a free scholarship in Stanford University about how to run my business.
So it's about all putting all this knowledge, you know, taking the risk sacrifice again, working Friday, Saturday, Sunday, waking up early, going bed late. You know, receiving the punches, there's gonna be hard times. You know, the recession hit me very bad in 2008. Very, very bad. We almost lost everything. Then I got divorced again, another punch.
Then we had COVID again, another punch. Then the political arena, one more punch, you know? But it, it's like when Rocky said, you know, it's no matter about how hard life treat you, you know, it's how you stand up and keep moving forward.
Matt Lavinder: I've, I've had this conversation a lot recently. It's like everything is hard.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Like, if you think it's gonna be easy, anything's easy.
You're just,
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.[00:48:00]
Matt Lavinder: it's not like everything's hard. It's like entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is like, just keep putting one foot in front of the
Manolo Betancur: Exactly. And especially in hospitality, man, actually, like I spend 10,000 eggs a week
Matt Lavinder: 10,000 eggs.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. And you remember, you know, a few months ago when, when we had the price, the egg price is
Matt Lavinder: Ah,
Manolo Betancur: and then the modifier, you know, is a, a product that we use in our case and we bring it from Canada.
It went from 300 to $900. I cannot change the prices on my cakes and my recipes and the same percentage of, you know, like, than, than, than the, than the political changing it. So I need to keep like fair prices, but sometimes it is, I had to get the lost. It's about just, it's a matter, just keep the business open.
It's not about getting the profit profit maybe next year and two years, [00:49:00] three years last year. It was a wonderful year for me this year not, but
Matt Lavinder: It's, it's always new challenges, like, right. Like, it, it's, it's not the same thing when you're growing a business.
It's not the same thing. That's hard year after year when you're growing. It's something different. That's hard every year.
Manolo Betancur: exactly.
Matt Lavinder: I was trying to explain, I was explaining this to somebody the other day, like, when you're growing a business, like as soon as you. There's always a weakest link.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Right. Like you fix the weakest link, like you strengthen the weakest link.
And if you're growing like, then something else is the weakest link,
Manolo Betancur: man. Something new, man. So once I went to to my knees and I told God, man, one more punch. Yeah, yeah,
Matt Lavinder: yeah. Well, what drove you like when you were, when you were beginning? Like you, you explain what drives you. Now. It's the philan
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: When you got [00:50:00] to the country, you said you wanted to make a, make a million and you wanted to have a successful business. No, it was, it was that American dream that drove you. Yeah. When you started the bakery, you put the dough in your hands. What was driving you through those early years?
Manolo Betancur: I give you a few, I a few answer for that. It's not just one answer. One is, um, I, I wa I was graduated from one of the most elite expensive academies schools in Columbia when I was, became as second lieutenant from the Columbia Navy.
It was, it was a private school. Very, very expensive. So my parents spent a lot of money on my education, a lot. And, and my mother, when I told them I, I'm living Colombia, moving to America, moving to USA, my mother wrote a note and I still had that note. And she says to me. And she, I mean, I always get [00:51:00] emotional with this.
I told my, she said, remember that you're the representation of this country that in your shoulder you carry, you know the good values of your family and you cannot come back to this house as a broken person. You know? So you always, Your are gonna keep your head up and you're gonna show the world who you are.
Because this is your mother and your father education. So I had that money, that note in my wallet when I came to Bristol So that was a big responsibility. I knew it and I couldn't come back home. We, and for many, many years, I, I couldn't explain myself what she meant by it Anot. It was just, wow, half a million dollars, a million dollars being famous.
But a few years ago, I start a program in Columbia, uh, giving back philanthropy, giving back to a [00:52:00] small businesses who are creating a change.
Matt Lavinder: Mm-hmm.
Manolo Betancur: And that's when I find the peace about that note. I, that's when I told my mom, okay, now I'm allowed to come back to Columbia anytime. That was one thing. The other one, believe it or not, it was maybe being at the dining hall, uh, being at dishwasher here.
A
Matt Lavinder: King.
Manolo Betancur: A king because, um, my first job was taking the leftover from the plate and putting on those in the trash cans. Mm-hmm.
Matt Lavinder: Uhhuh.
Manolo Betancur: And remember the kitchen is in the, like second or third floor, and the dumpsters are down,
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. so
Manolo Betancur: you have to walk with the, the trash
Matt Lavinder: Mm-hmm.
Manolo Betancur: So I had to walk, put that back in my, in my back and walk through a dumpster.
And by the time I got to a dumpster, all the left oil from the juices were my, my, but, and in my
Matt Lavinder: Ah.
Manolo Betancur: that was so, so nasty And that, that gave me the strength [00:53:00] to, to move up. always going to happen to me. I was doing that every night. I was saying to come to Uh, and, and the other thing is. Knowing that everything is possible You know, whenever I drive to expense neighborhood or going to a nice cool mall, and I see, you know, how people live, say, well, they were able to uncapable I, I know that if, uh, if, if everybody can, I, I can as
Matt Lavinder: I think Americans too often go through those neighborhoods and there's some resentment, like they compare themselves to people like that. Yeah. But you, you, it, it inspired, it inspired you.
Manolo Betancur: yes. All of them inspires me. Yeah, [00:54:00] because who knows, you know, maybe some of them
it belong. You know, they, they were born rich, no worry.
There is no another country then. Can people, people can come. Nothing. We start from zero and create, you know, wealth and I, I love wealth man. And that's the cool thing about this. You know, I love philanthropy and I love wealth as well, and I can't have both together. There's nothing wrong. You have work hard.
You deserve to, to have a very good vacation, have American Express in your pocket and, and drive a nice car, you know, so. I, I, I, I love and I, and there's a lot of admiration for these people don't live in that way. They have worked so hard in this life, and they're very smart. They have to invest a lot in education.
That's why I don't like when people say, oh, you are a socialist. No, [00:55:00] I'm not, man. You're not. I'm not so far away
Matt Lavinder: from that. You appreciate capitalism in a way that Americans probably never could. Yeah,
Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Yeah. That's the only thing is why I say it hurts me a little bit when people are, you know, when I, sometimes I think the American dream is killing, the American greed is killing the American dream.
You know? I love to find the balance. You know, then you work hard, you make money, but also give back. Both things are possible, but when I see this ultra reach, you know, big companies and they're not doing enough for helping our neighbors, our homeless, or helping our local schools for helping our people to, to come on, just don't, don't give the sandwich.
Just teach them how to cook. Yeah. You know, it, it is possible. We all can do that.
Matt Lavinder: there. There's also, there's also something [00:56:00] going on called the consolidation of
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Where small bakeries are getting bought up by large. Private equity
Manolo Betancur: Well, Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: and that first step on the, that first step on the ladder
Manolo Betancur: Yes.
Matt Lavinder: is becoming,
Manolo Betancur: would,
Matt Lavinder: would you, in your experience, is it, is it more difficult that first step on the ladder now than it was 20, 25 years ago when you, when, when you got to Miami?
Manolo Betancur: Uh, yeah, but gosh, man, I don't know how many times people had shut the doors to too many, many, many times people have say, I just too more for me.
Your business is too more for me. But keep, keep, you know, pushing, knocking doors and opening the doors. And I already had, you know, those approaches from, you know, rich, big pockets, big companies. I want to buy you bakery. I want to [00:57:00] buy 60% of your bakery. I want to buy the, the rice over your gelato business.
I want to have your gelato business in five, six states. I give you a million dollars if you gimme the rice over your recipes for the gelato business. And I say, no. I keep saying no. Uh, and sometimes people say you're making a mistake, but for example, the person who approached me about the gelato business,
He said, I said, oh man, I love Paco and I love, you know, how Colombia, what Columbia has done in the world. You know, talking about drugs and all those things. I hate that man. Mm-hmm. That have brought a lot of suffering and lot of pain to
Matt Lavinder: Mm.
Manolo Betancur: I hate in narco television. So that's at
Matt Lavinder: saw it firsthand. Exactly.
Manolo Betancur: I
felt it.
You know, I saw the first people got killed when I was 16. Six people got killed in front of me. My family lost everything because a bomb, my father and my mother got kidnapped and [00:58:00] hijacked in an airplane when I was 14. So what you see in the movies is so cool, man. Leave that light to see that, that cool.
So different. So I always keep saying my soul is not for sale, man. So it's gonna be maybe the right time
Matt Lavinder: Hmm.
Manolo Betancur: to, to, to.
Yeah, I will say it to the right person, but not to, not to anyone who just have money. There's people so, so poor. So poor, and the only thing that, the highest money in their lives.
Matt Lavinder: I've heard you say the bread is an extension of the soul.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. And
Matt Lavinder: And, and I hear that again in what you just, in what you just said. It's not just bread. It's not just money, it's, it's more than that.
Manolo Betancur: And my business and Extens myself too. There was a moment in my life that I was having hites with my identity. I was embarrassed of my accent. I was embarrassed of my business.
I was embarrassed of why myself. And then, uh, a mentor, her name is [00:59:00] Brenda Anderson. She told me, she says, well, you're embarrassed of all of this, and you want to have a good business. You need to change your philosophy. The day that you start talking from your heart, everybody's gonna pay attention. She was right.
You know, that day I decided, man, I'm just gonna feel proud to, to have my business, to sell my, to sell. We very honor that represent what I, what I have, what my culture brings, and that everything changed that day.
Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: How
old were you?
Manolo Betancur: I'm 49 right now. When
Matt Lavinder: When that happened? When that happened?
Manolo Betancur: uh, when that happened, it was like 33.
Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. That was a big change that year. Changed a lot of things in my life.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. I think you, I, I think we learn a lot about ourselves
Manolo Betancur: I don't know why I learned a lot that
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. Um, you're challenged in ways that I don't think you were challenged before. No, [01:00:00] no.
um, so you, like a lot of your, a lot of your path to success is, is inspiration from your, your roots, your family, the, the note from your mother, like you burn the boats. People that burn the boats are more likely to succeed in whatever they're doing. The hard work, the first generation immigrant mindset.
Yeah. You saw it as an but it doesn't explain everything. Like you've built a really successful business. And just to give context, um, like this is not, this is not like a, this is not like an ordinary bakery. No. This is a very, very popular
bakery. No, you have. Lots of unique breads from different countries.
Your cakes are highly sought after. Yeah. These are not sheet [01:01:00] cakes from Food City. These are really, from everything that I've read, you're
Manolo Betancur: gonna get trouble with future
Matt Lavinder: from everything that I've read. These are really, really,
Manolo Betancur: yeah.
Matt Lavinder: High, high quality product
Manolo Betancur: The USA today. Just call our bakery award us as the second best cake in the nation. It's a huge country. Second
Matt Lavinder: best cake in the
Manolo Betancur: nation. Yeah.
By the USA today. It wasn't, you know, and, and myself, in 2021, I got an award is called World Bread Hero, USA you know, like one of the best bakery in the nation too.
So
Matt Lavinder: And, and the philanthropy wouldn't be possible if you weren't successful with the business. So tell me, tell me.
Tell me how you built this business differently, because it's hard to build a successful business. Like you, you had to create, you had to create profit margins from a relatively difficult product to make. Totally.[01:02:00]
Manolo Betancur: Yeah, totally Right. You're
Matt Lavinder: People start looking around looking for the most profitable way to make money.
They don't think about, they don't think about bread.
Manolo Betancur: there's, there's, that's why we don't have too many bakeries.
Matt Lavinder: So how did you do it? How did you do it? Tell me about your, how
Manolo Betancur: that.
Is that, is, uh, something about, um, a combination of three factors. One is, um, branding, marketing, and good quality product. And
the two very interesting things happen once in Charlo. My one time somebody told me Charlo is know about and, and they, that that message will apply to any city. Shadow is know who, who you know is, who knows you.
there's a,
Matt Lavinder: who you know, it's who knows
Manolo Betancur: yeah, you can know, you can know everybody in Bristol, but nobody knows you, man, you're lost. So, so that, that message recognized very, very well in my head and I said, so I need for [01:03:00] people to get to know me. And then I start working very hard in personal, personal, personal. No business.
Personal branding.
Yeah. And I have a very wonderful mentor, Carlos alum. He's, uh, he's a wonderful person, knows a lot about that. And at the beginning he was just, gimme some free knowledge. And then I got to a point, I really, I'm gonna pay you and let's do something big about this. Uh, and so we work very hard about personal branding, a lot of things about, about, you know, what you see and then having a good thing than
Matt Lavinder: what's, what's an exam? Can you tell me an example of that?
Manolo Betancur: For example, uh, whenever I go to a very important meeting, they had to wear a suit.
I, I have a pin in my suit. And it is, it is a, it is a, a toro with some crystals 100% of the time. People in that meeting approach me. I said, what that [01:04:00] And that means, as I tell them, that means wisdom patient.
And it is meant, it meant to be this moment breaking the eyes.
Matt Lavinder: Mm.
Manolo Betancur: So, and if I go to, to a meeting, then there is, then I need to let a business meeting with a woman who, who, who runs a company. I, I I wear a, um, a golden rose with a, with a pair in that pin, and that then bring some female torch to the suit.
And she, most of the time women say, you're so brave and you are, you're capable to wear something like that.
I said, yeah, well, I want, I, I want to create this moment. I want to start this conversation. So that is about, you know, personal branding, just covering this message in my, in my chest. You know the name of my bakery here if you want to.
If you want [01:05:00] for somebody to remember your brand, they had to manipulate the brand seven times. So it, when you open the door of my bakery, you see all the fa, all the, the Facebook, Instagram links to get to the bakery, number one. Then you get, and the smell of the bakery number two. Then you're touching the bread, number three, then the packaging number four. Then when you go home and you open again, you're seeing again the brand, the
Matt Lavinder: Mm.
Manolo Betancur: number six, and you're eating it number seven, seven times. So
Matt Lavinder: So you, you create, you create those that, that extended experience.
Manolo Betancur: Exactly. Yeah. So that, that's,
that,
that's the, that's the branding. And then I have a wonderful, uh, team, you know, it's run by Mauricio Uren.
He's in Columbia, uh, um, uh, a writer that ruins all my social media, marketing, [01:06:00] pr and so, uh,
Matt Lavinder: Can you tell me how you. At, at, at the beginning, like who were your, who were your first
Manolo Betancur: hires?
Matt Lavinder: Like I think, I think man for a business it that you, you look back and you think, man, my first employee that I hired, I did such trepid.
Like, it was so scary. Yeah. Because I couldn't really take care of myself. Like everybody goes through this,
Manolo Betancur: No, absolutely. Absolutely. And I love, because I had a foreign story, how I got these people in my life. My, uh, I, when I bought the bakery, I couldn't pay myself.
We were in so much bad shape that I couldn't pay myself. So every night I was driving drone people. That was another job they had. Uh, and one that was before Uber.
yeah. So people call me and I
Matt Lavinder: you like a personal taxi without
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. I was a the driver. Yeah,[01:07:00]
Matt Lavinder: You knew karate. You got a black belt. You're all
Manolo Betancur: yeah. Well, new karate was for the military forces.
Once in a while, I had to face some tough drunks. But one of my biggest customers, he had like 12 restaurant. And one time I told him, I asked him, I told him, Hey, I'm not gonna charge you today for the right. Tell me your secret. And he put his big hunt over like this, you need to hire people that smarter than then.
They're very loyal and they're gonna work for you. So pay them well and treat them well. You who are the five people? And I said, you know, first of all, a good CPA or bookkeeper, you know, a good attorney, a good operation manager, a good baker, a good pastry chef. Uh, and so far so good man. You know, so I have my internal bookkeeper, very, very smart guy, and he's [01:08:00] always next to
Matt Lavinder: Did you do it in that order?
Uh, or did it
Manolo Betancur: no. The last one was the attorney. By that time I didn't have an attorney. The first, it was, you know, a good pastry chef and a good baker, you know, and a
Matt Lavinder: so when you opened the doors, when you opened the doors, did you have employees or was it just
Manolo Betancur: It was already open. The bakery wasn't funded for me.
You know, the bakery was founded by
Matt Lavinder: somebody.
Manolo Betancur: you know, by the, the, my, my kids grandpa's, by their motor side. So, but the bakery was already funded, but I, I, I, I made sure to bring, you know, good bakers. That was, you know, that was the most important thing. Later on I brought, you know, the bookkeeper because I was keeping all the numbers by hand.
Mm-hmm. I didn't know that much about it. And finally, you know, a good group of attorneys. And
Matt Lavinder: Hmm. So the, the branding you, you mentioned the branding. Yeah. You mentioned the employees and there's, there's a lot of people that are good at personal branding. [01:09:00] Yeah. Like the world, the world social
Manolo Betancur: no. More than ever.
Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Social media is full of great self promoters. Yeah. And branding who, who have never created a product. Yeah. At the end of the day, you have to have, you have to have
Manolo Betancur: good quality product. Yeah,
Matt Lavinder: Right. It's not just the brand. So what did you do differently? What did you do differently to create a product that could create profit margins?
Manolo Betancur: Uh, few things. One is you gotta be very honest too. You know, a lot of people, you know, put the picture of a nice cake, and when people go there and buy the cake, it's not what you put
Matt Lavinder: Mm.
Manolo Betancur: you know?
Matt Lavinder: Mm.
Manolo Betancur: do people see in the picture is what people buy.
Matt Lavinder: Mm.
Manolo Betancur: one thing. The other thing
Matt Lavinder: lot of that.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. The other thing I, I, I had a very good, smart wife next to me, a very hard worker person. Uh, and, and she follows me all these crazy ideas, [01:10:00] like, for example, uh, we, we, we were invited to, to a festival in Salisbury. Were to cheer. Wine was.
Matt Lavinder: Cheer wine. Yeah. Yeah. I saw you had a cake with
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. The soft drink.
Matt Lavinder: flavor. I was gonna ask
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. So, so, so I, so I told my wife, we need to create a, a cake around cheer wine. So ladies start, combine, you know, cheer wine with all these things and she knew how to make cheer, wine, jelly, uh,
Matt Lavinder: wine for people that are not from this immediate area. Like this is an east Tennessee, Western Carolina brand of cola. Yeah. It's unique to here. Like cherry coke, but better.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. And, uh, and that cake came off so good, man. So we had, let's just share wine
Matt Lavinder: that was, yeah.
Manolo Betancur: I don't know, man, who is crazy, myself or my wife, man. We do all these crazy ideas about pro, you know, uh, and, but. In, in the [01:11:00] hospitality industry and restaurants, a lot of, there's a lot of food.
And that's something that has bothered me a lot. Why there's not enough food on, on the baking industry. So, so everybody deserves to have the right to do what they want with your product. So, you know, I had this moist cake and I had share wine. Why not to combine both and make a share. Wine tree, let cake.
And then so we happen with the Nutella, and then paying attention how your customers react to the product. So the, the, the biggest nightmare for me is to invite, to be invited to a party where everybody's gonna be eating my cakes, but by the end. Uh, when people are eating the cake and look, and I walk around and I looked at what they're doing on the tables.
So at the beginning I used to see, and that happens a lot, I promise you, and maybe you have, you haven't seen it, but you haven't noticed it. [01:12:00] People eat the cake and left the cream of
Matt Lavinder: Mm-hmm.
Manolo Betancur: People, most of the time they, oh, there's so much sugar, you know, so they eat inside, but they don't eat the cream.
So, and cream, that cream, when you cover the cake is very expensive. I say, well, why I'm investing in this. So most of our cakes are called the Naked cakes. We don't cover them so much because people are gonna throw this away in a way. And so we are saving money. We, so there is, the profit is bigger and we just, you have to read your customer.
Matt Lavinder: Hmm.
Manolo Betancur: need to understand and please be open to talk with them and tell them, please gimme your feedback. Today I brought some bread to King and I and I was walking around. I was asking them how, how you like it? And also I apologized to them and I said, it's kind of dry. But being honest, you know, this bread was baked yesterday, like four or five in the morning and stay yesterday, all day long in the car because we [01:13:00] drop spend the night here in a very dry place.
So it wasn't as fresh as it could be yesterday. So just be honest with the customer, you know, and people are gonna understand and really appreciate that there's the worst thing that you can do to a customer is light. Don't cheat your customers, man. Don't sell them cheap products as well. Cheating is no good.
Matt Lavinder: Hmm. Yeah. And there's a lot of good branding that is really cheating.
Exactly. They're selling something that's, that's different than the, that's different than the
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Especially in the banking industry. It's too easy to be a cheater here in United States. There's too many. Options in the market of how you can replace your eggs, how could you replace your flavors?
How you can replace the, the, there's too many chemicals, so the, the bread will halt. We don't put chemicals in my bread. So in three days the good bread is no, it's no longer good. [01:14:00] And sometimes I buy bread with competitors I put on my desk and one month later it's still there. Yeah. The same.
The, the other day lady was so mad at me because she came to the office, why is smell so bad?
And, and I had this bunch of new breads that we were tasting for a restaurant. And I told her, uh, I'm holding them here to see how, how, how, how far they survive. They were raised so bad.
Matt Lavinder: Just preservatives, the preservatives that we load in bread in America. Does anybody else in the world do this?
Manolo Betancur: No, I don't think
Matt Lavinder: I mean, I, I've never gone anywhere where sliced bread was a thing.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. No,
Matt Lavinder: No. Only in America.
Manolo Betancur: yeah. No, no. We're not preserved on
Matt Lavinder: So is that, is that like the, the bread that we buy off a grocery store Shells?
Like is it just
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Man. Well, it's, it's so sad the, the east that you put on the bread,
it's so
[01:15:00] nasty, man.
It's like having a cigarette. The bread industry will ha hate me when I, when I tell,
you know how bad is, and I use that at the bakery because that's what it helps bread to rise.
Matt Lavinder: Mm-hmm.
Manolo Betancur: And celery, the process.
because
the natural way will be through fermentation. know, it's our dose. Mm-hmm. What I used to make many, many years ago.
But it takes forever to have a, a piece of bread ready when you are using a starter. So that's why you use, have these chemicals. So many, many of our flour, they have very bad products for our health as well. So the best way to, to have real piece of bread is, you know, you make your own flour and you go through fermentation process and then you're gonna have very, so something very good for your belly.
Matt Lavinder: Hmm.
Hmm. [01:16:00] Yeah. It's, it's so much
Manolo Betancur: We, we had talk a lot about different
Matt Lavinder: a long time about things we do in America that they don't do anywhere else. Um, wow.
So,
so you've, you've built the business over 10, 15 years now
Manolo Betancur: we have been, uh, from the bakery. The bakery was founded 28 years ago, but I've been working with this bakery 20 years. 20 years. I came there first to work, then I bought 50% of the bakery, and then later on I bought the other 50%.
So now I'm this whole owner.
Matt Lavinder: So you've, you've created a product, you've created a brand in Charlotte that is beloved. Like, it didn't take me long to figure out how many people were raving fans
Manolo Betancur: of Yeah. Of
Matt Lavinder: of the, the bakery and what, how important it is to so many people.
Um, you've built it into a, a profitable, a profitable business. [01:17:00] And, but it's every year is, every year is a different challenge. Just like any, any other business. You've built a, um, uh, the, um, Italian Ice
Manolo Betancur: a Gelato
Matt Lavinder: and it's uniquely
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: vegetarian gelato. I love, I fell in love with gelato in, in, in Rome a long time ago, and I've never, I still haven't tasted anything like that in America.
Yeah. Um. But this is a vegetarian version. And so you're growing, you're growing that, you're growing that
business.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: And is is that, got a storefront as well? It's got a separate
Manolo Betancur: storefront. Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: you built that from, you built that from scratch?
Manolo Betancur: No, we bought it. We, it was already established too.
Okay. Yeah. But again, you know, we came in, we make some changes, and, and, and lady, the one who runs that business, it's her baby and Sheah so Well man. And
Matt Lavinder: I've, so I've got, I've [01:18:00] got another, important
Manolo Betancur: No.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. Like this, throughout this whole time you've been giving back and, and you mentioned, you mentioned earlier in this conversation about the, the home, the, the story about giving birthday cakes to the homeless population.
And that was at a point where the business itself was struggling.
So you were giving. When you really didn't have anything to give and you were questioning whether that was the right thing.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: I think people that are growing businesses and with businesses, you never feel, you never feel comfortable.
Like you always feel like, you always feel like you're putting the, uh, on the airplane where you put the, the mask on yourself before you put it on the, on your kid. Like you always feel that way. Right. Because you so much responsibility in business. Yeah. How did you navigate the philanthropy part? Like it was never, it was never, the business part was never easy.
Yeah. But you, along the way, the philanthropy [01:19:00] became more important.
How did you approach, like how did you approach that?
Manolo Betancur: Gosh, man, that's a, a tough question.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. I'm genuinely, I'm genuinely curious.
Manolo Betancur: Look, it's, uh, our brains are designed to think about ourselves and there is nothing wrong about us. You know, you are cold, your brain touch you, you know, get warm. You are thirsty. Your brain touch you has something to drink, but your brain is not designed to think of Manolo is thirsty. You, it is impossible for you to fill this and has water.
So, so it's, it's, it's nothing wrong because that's how God designed us. But, but, but God gave, gave me this gift about be able and capable to think about people. [01:20:00] Uh, and I was for many years trying to walk away from because as. That brought me some trouble as well.
You know,
Matt Lavinder: You can be easily taken advantage of. when, when when you
Manolo Betancur: No, it is just about, you know, the jealousy of the people and the envy. Like even, even your their ones, they, they, it was a point that somebody, you know, uh, a very, a relative from my family told me, you just do that because you just want to be
Matt Lavinder: recogniz. Ah, ah,
Manolo Betancur: And, and, and for example, I, the first time I went to Crane, I didn't tell lady I was, I was living the country and I got in trouble with that.
And it's so hard for people to understand why I, why I think about somebody else. And uh, but I told if I cannot save my marriage, how it's not even worth it to save somebody else life. So, so God. [01:21:00] God gave me that gift.
I'm so blessed and, and later on I was able to understand that and, and my marriage. Now we lady understands and maybe my family and my kids, they understand that, that I then, I'm capable to share, to think and to feel for somebody else and everybody supports me.
So now it's, we are a team of, of, of a family team that, that likes and loves to support people around the world and well locally too. We do a lot, a lot of things locally.
Matt Lavinder: That's
who you are. Like that you write and you and you. It,
Manolo Betancur: you. It's in my heart, man.
Matt Lavinder: But, but it took you time to, to recognize that
Manolo Betancur: Sadly, I, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't want to.
Uh, you know, I, and, and it, and it's, it is when you get to be notice it is, is hard to deal with that. Sometimes you have lost friends [01:22:00] because, and sometimes you don't know who is approaching you and what the reasons of the, the people that is approaching you now. You know, I get to know famous people now and, and I travel around film festivals and I get to be around famous people and, and sometimes there's people that just approaching you
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. When you have some success, you, you, you begin to question people's motives and friendships
Manolo Betancur: exactly.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
I can see, I, I understand how celebrities just Yeah. It's not healthy. Like you can't trust anybody.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Yeah. I know. And, and, now. And now you get the comment. Oh, because you're famous. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh, you forgot about us the other day. Like, like, give you an example. This, this person that I, we have met each other 20 years ago when I arrived to, Hmm.
I know her, she knows me, but because we have it in the same places.[01:23:00]
Matt Lavinder: Mm-hmm.
Manolo Betancur: But now that, uh, I've been in film festivals, that I've been interviewed all these things happening, and she, she start calling me on my phone and I didn't answer because for 20 years she
Matt Lavinder: Mm. I
Manolo Betancur: I never hear anything about because I, and I'm busy.
You know how many people drive me and I don't know, I just. You know, I, I didn't even mean not to answer it. Just, I, I was so busy. And he said, well, if it's important, they send me a message or they call me back, things like that. And the other day she wrote this, uh, post on Facebook. Well, Manolo, congratulations about all this award.
But, uh, please don't forget the people that help you when you were starting,
Matt Lavinder: Hmm.
Manolo Betancur: and I haven't forget them, but if she was meeting her, she hasn't been in my bakery ever in [01:24:00] 20 years. She doesn't know. She doesn't even know how my bakery look like
Matt Lavinder: inside. Mm-hmm.
Manolo Betancur: So why has to make this. Nasty comment and we make everybody to read it and to see it.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. You
Manolo Betancur: You know, so now I'm facing that, those kind of situations. This, it wasn't like that five years ago, but now I'm facing a new kind of situation in my life.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. Yeah. When, when you're, when you're growing, when your business is growing, when you're personally growing, like those things go together and it's, it's different challenges.
Manolo Betancur: every
Matt Lavinder: It's different challenges all the time.
Manolo Betancur: I have a friend has this, uh, she used to be my manager. She says It is painful to grow,
Matt Lavinder: It's what?
Manolo Betancur: painful to grow
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
Manolo Betancur: yeah, yeah, yeah, You remember when, when teenagers are growing that sometimes they, they complain about, you know, I have pain in my joints.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: We,
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. But I think, but I think from the outside, people that haven't gone [01:25:00] through it, they look at, they look at you growing and think, oh, well let's, they only see the, they only see the, the, the good parts of it.
Right. Like, like they think you're living in all this
Manolo Betancur: and there, you know, to me, one of the biggest insults ever is when people say, ah, you're so lucky.
Matt Lavinder: Hmm. Oh yeah. Especially to you.
Manolo Betancur: so lucky.
Matt Lavinder: What?
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Lucky than, uh, than, uh, I have health and, uh, and God has been always next to me. That's what you mean. Yes. I'm so lucky, you know, I, and I have people that lost me and people that love that are next to me. Yes. Yeah. But you mean lucky because I have gotten all these businesses and this kind of life, and this is style of life because nothing is insulting.
Yeah,
Matt Lavinder: yeah, yeah. People
don't understand
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: the grind and the, and the responsibility. The
Manolo Betancur: How many people had open, yeah. There's a lot of immigration for [01:26:00] people who don't start a
Matt Lavinder: Mm-hmm. You
Manolo Betancur: You know, but keep that business open.
Keep it, uh, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years
Matt Lavinder: Get through the 2000 twenties. Yeah. The 2000 eights.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
That's a, that's a different, you know, a lot of respect when the people has been around for more than 20 years. know,
Matt Lavinder: so if, if a Manolo was arriving in Miami today, aside from, aside from all of the political
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. craziness Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: going on arrives in.
Miami with a hundred dollars in The challenges are different. Right. What advice, what advice do you give to him that you think is still true today? That was true 25 years
Manolo Betancur: Keep believing in yourself because there's too many times that nobody listen. You Yeah, [01:27:00] you have just, you just need to follow your heart follow your God, what your God 'cause there is gonna be too many times that even your loved one, because they protect you, because they care of you. They say don't do it. But
Matt Lavinder: mm.
Manolo Betancur: if you believe in that, you believe in what your heart is saying, just do it, man. Follow it.
Matt Lavinder: People, people are trying to always, people are protecting you, but they're holding, they're holding him
Manolo Betancur: back and people judge from their fears.
Nothing you know about, they judge from their lives, from their realities.
Matt Lavinder: There's
Manolo Betancur: There's nothing wrong about that. You know, we, I'm not worried to judge people, you know, but
but
don't bring me your, your background, your life, and your beliefs on my life. You know,
Matt Lavinder: Believe, believe in yourself. It, it, it's, it's a simple truth, but it's, man, it's profound too because like all along the [01:28:00] way people have, like, if you're depending on other people to believe in you, in those, in those hard moments.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: you look around, you look around on the entrepreneurial journey.
Yeah. And there are steps, there are places along the way where the only person that believes in you is you.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Right.
Manolo Betancur: Gosh. Yeah, man, I
I remember, uh, gosh, maybe around 2008 when I the reservation man. No, at the bakery. Believe in No worry. No worry. In that moment. Believe in me. People were saying to me, sell the bakery
Matt Lavinder: Hmm. because
Manolo Betancur: this is a, you are lost. Uh uh. And I remember this American guy that was working with me, man.
You are the owner and you can't even pay yourself well, and you, you are driving this tragic car. You, you are in the wrong [01:29:00] gosh, that was so painful hearing those words from And plus, you know, that is, it's harder when you are an immigrant. This American guy is saying this to me.
So I had to prove himself. I had to prove myself and I had to prove him, and I had to prove this country that I'm capable to do it. Hmm. You know, it's, it's harder to make mistakes here. Oh, yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Oh, yeah.
Manolo Betancur: that's what I'm telling my, my, my people this, these shoulders and carrying the responsibility of a race.
Yeah. If I do something wrong, there's no one, they're not gonna see minorities, something wrong. The immigrants do something wrong.
Columbia did something wrong, you know, so that's, it's not easy. It is heavier. What I carry is heavier
Matt Lavinder: It's like bigger than the, it's [01:30:00] bigger than the note that your mother sent you away with. It's not just the family. You can't come back broken Yeah. To the family. Like you're representing something. You're representing something bigger.
Manolo Betancur: representing my country. I'm representing to my, I'm representing my kids and representing to the immigrant community of this nation.
Matt Lavinder: For that. Manolo now, who's 24. Arriving in, in Miami,
Manolo Betancur: Mm-hmm.
Matt Lavinder: you still believe that there is, this is the land of opportunity?
Manolo Betancur: 100%. 100%. There is not another country. I've been around 27 countries in the world, and there's not another country like
United
States of America.
This is
the land where my kids are born and I will fight for this country.
Mm.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah, man.[01:31:00]
Manolo Betancur: from
Matt Lavinder: a long time, but I think
Manolo Betancur: looking for, for the comment.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: I, I, I, I, I really, I really, you know, you allow me to, just to send out last message. I just really want to say that people that are hearing this, I say. We, we have been, you know, in the history of this beautiful nation, we had hard times and we have been able to overcome those challenges times and get back and united as a nation. And, uh, we, we don't want bad, I don't want bad people in this country, but the biggest majority of the immigrant community here is, uh, good people. And there is a, a broken immigration system that we all together as a nation needs to fix because we all want, like I told you, I had a deportation order myself.
It wasn't my fault. And my brothers are waiting [01:32:00] for almost, for 21 years to be able to come to America in the, in the right way.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: So there's a, it's not perfect like any other nation in the world. There is a room to, to improve and to do better things. We need to fix it.
Matt Lavinder: We're not gonna fix it on social
Manolo Betancur: Oh, no,
Matt Lavinder: We're gonna make it worse. Yeah. Right. We're, I don't, I don't even, I I think the, I think the,
the,
way we fix problems like that is to, is to break bread together,
Manolo Betancur: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And there
Matt Lavinder: and do it with people. Do it with people that you, that you disagree with.
Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: And you, and you discuss and you ask questions and you learn open to new ideas.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah. If anyone wants to see the change Baker in their church and the community in their school, and the neighbors, we love it. We talk just with the [01:33:00] director and she, we love it because the director, myself, we are agree on this, that we want for, for people, anyone to see the film, you know.
Matt Lavinder: So tell me about the film,
Manolo Betancur: the Change Baker.
Um, this director read, uh, my story in a, in a magazine and she called me, she says, I want to make a film about, about, about your life. And says, you're, who is playing this joke on me? It is no serious and, and legit. And so she interviewed me and then they came in 22 and, uh, we accrue and they were shooting and filming. Then in 23, she come back again, 2024 pass. And this year she called me and she says, we made it to Mountain Film in Telluride, Colorado. That's a big film festival. Yeah. And, and, and now we having an eight film [01:34:00] festivals. We have gotten like six awards, two official selections. And, and, and that's what brought me here to King University, to my alma matter.
Matt Lavinder: What about that? What about the film do you think is resonating with audiences?
Manolo Betancur: the film is, um, uh, it is very well done, very artistic, very well, well done is, uh, you, you laugh, you cry, and there is hope by the end.
Of course, we touch a little bit the political atmosphere of, of the reality that we live, but it's full of humanity and it's full of hope. And it's full of love.
It's anesthesia of myself, again, an extens of my soul,
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. The bread is an extension of the soul.
Manolo Betancur: Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. And it touches to our point, to our point earlier, like it, it touches our human, the, the part of our humanity that [01:35:00] has.
It hasn't changed
Manolo Betancur: Exactly. Exactly. Still the
Matt Lavinder: we haven't, there's fundamentally what it is to be a human changed.
Manolo Betancur: Exactly.
Matt Lavinder: The spaces that we talk to one another have changed, we haven't changed.
Manolo Betancur: Mm-hmm. We still celebrate love and happiness in the same way, and it has to be like that forever.
Matt Lavinder: And it means something to us when somebody else acknowledges our birthday.
Manolo Betancur: Oh, yes.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: And then we are getting
Matt Lavinder: Yeah.
Manolo Betancur: We're married, getting more wives. Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Lavinder: Yeah. Well man, thanks for all the great work you're doing in the world. The America is so much better with you here. Um, and. All that you've given, all that you've given to Bristol. I know you talked about how much Bristol's given you, but that's a mutual thing, man.
Like how much you [01:36:00] gave to this town and now giving to the rest of the world through, through your, through your business and your
Manolo Betancur: Thank
you so much, brother, for having me here, uh, for doing this, for taking the chance to share my story, uh, and you know, let us keep celebrity in life.
Thank you brother.
Matt Lavinder: All right. Thank
Manolo Betancur: Thank you.