Today we’d like to introduce you to Ardi Entezam.
Ardi, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Well that’s a very long story, but I will sum it up in the right amount of words so you can understand a deep impactful journey and all the pieces of the puzzle that lead us upon the path we are meant to be. I started working in the restaurant business at the age of 12, a young boy who came to the U.S. under some harsh circumstances and got thrown into man-hood rather quickly. A pizza cookery was my first experience into what I began to understand what the word “survival ” meant as well as the magical and mystical world of food and restaurants.
As the years moved on and as I grew into my teenage years and young adult hood somehow and always for a reason I never left the world of food even though I had other dreams I pursued. I had dreams of becoming an actor and studied for years with great intent that my focus on this art would be something I would commit to…But life is fascinating and Universe always has a plan far greater than we can see. In the next few years that followed I had experienced a very intense car accident that changed the coarse of my life and as I healed and focused all my energy on rebuilding my body food and restaurants never left my foundation.
Food was always my safe heaven it brought me security and restaurants gave me a foundation where I could escape the harsh upbringing I had…it gave me a sense of peace a place where I could dream and see my dreams come true.
As time goes on and many failed attempts at other goals I had set on I reached a point at age 25 that I was asked a deep profound question. “What do you really want to do and most important what are you really good at that you see yourself being hightly successful in”. The only answer that came to me was “restaurant”. I was determined to build and open my own restaurant. But I had no means of making this happen.
The real journey began from this point on…the evolution of my true essence would also be tested in ways that I could of never imagined. I was on the path with a deeper mission as well as understanding how to manifest everything from a space of nothing.
I have faced homelessness, loosing all I had 3 times financially, physical, mental, spiritual would be tested over and over to build stamina, persistency, endurance, fears, ego, loss, illusions, all to circle back and face myself head on. I have been challenged time and time again if this was truly the dream that I felt like I was destined to pursue. I had a passion for food and the service industry…but I realized passion can only take you so far in the fire and jungle….without purpose one would not be able to forge ahead in such conditions….my PURPOSE was born during this time and with that I changed the intension of my focus from restaurants to building a food brand with a very clear and concise mission. Serving high quality fresh fast food from scratch.
The fascinating part of all this…THE HOW, I was going to get there was so unclear. My path ran a number of unpredictable chapters that would bring me to my knees many times over. But now that I look back it was rebuilding me from the ground up to master my field and more importantly master myself.
Today I have a food truck….not my end goal by any means but the next chapter of mastery, before what I believe is about to become the main platform of all my work and purpose. The truck has allowed me to test the food to many different communities across LA and fine tune our menu items and packaged and bottled creations as well. Now I feel very ready to step into the next level of the brand and mission. Today you meet me here….im 51.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t believe anything great comes from a smooth road…it’s not the way the universe designed it to be….my road has been anything but smooth, but like I said how do we know what we are made of if there were no pumps, obstacles, suffering, pain, fears to face….all of this is by design…we must be pushed to our limits in order to become limitless…I have faced much on the path…homelessness for a period of 10 months….loosing my finances completely over a period of 15 years 3 different times, closed doors more than I can count…failed attempts which played with my mind and created an influx of doubt to where I really have thought at times I was not meant for this road this dream this purpose….
but having said that…I would of never become the man I am today if it weren’t for all this…I am still going through these hard moments as I strive to take this brand to the next level…the difference this round is that I see so clear what is ahead that stopping isn’t even an option at this point…there is a light I follow…a fire that burns inside that fuels me….I know what must be done…that’s my focus…all day everyday.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a creator and visionary at heart…since the age of 5 I knew I had something to build, a purpose, it was an intense feeling to have at such a young age….but I had no idea what that was going to be…all I knew is I wanted to build and create a business of my own. I have always loved building and creating something from nothing…watching an idea being birthed especially when at first you see an image in the mind then through much hard work the idea turns into something tangible….the satisfaction in that process is fascinating…..
I knew I always wanted to express myself but wasn’t artistically talented enough to do it alone and I found myself loving the process of collaborating with many talented chef’s, artists, designers, and builders and watching what was in my mind turn out even better….working with people far more talented than myself is the true essence of building something magical..
My work in its true foundation is built upon service…bringing people together through food. Touching hearts through their stomachs….food is the only thing that unites us all.
Ultimately I have created many different business’s but all had a common denominator. That was creating a memorable magical experience by bringing people together through food.
Restaurants are an vital part of who I am….it’s what I know it’s what I do….my journey though has gone deeper than just building restaurants for the mere purpose of serving food and creating a cool atmosphere…that has been done over and over.
Serving food is a responsibility that must be taken serious, especially during times like these….brands are not even serving food anymore…so much has become a science experiment all for the pursuit of profits and addictions. But now humans understand what they deserve more and more…..
Our foundation is built upon REAL FOOD.NO JUNK. We believe it’s time to go back to our roots and that’s feeding each other real ingredients, hight quality products, delicious tasting food….that’s simply real…we have lost the magic to what we crave….restaurants used to be the places we went for that magic….my vision is to bring that magic back.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Yes this is a very epic moment of time in the world of food…many discoveries and veils are being lifted about what we once thought was food, now understanding the long list of chemicals and additives, bad oils, things we can’t even pronounce, dyes and it goes on and on. but now more so than ever consumers are becoming wiser and demanding larger brands to offer better ingredients. The truth is it’s impossible for the larger companies that have a strong hold on the consumer chain to really change 100% because two things would happen, it would be way too expensive and ultimately would change the taste of their products that made them famous from the beginning. Just imagine for a moment if McDonald’s had to redefine the Big Mac…an iconic classic….it would taste like something else that people are not used most important McDonald’s would have to abandon over 70 years of doing the same thing the same way…it just wouldn’t work
But having said that it’s not up to McDonalds to save the food industry…they already had their time and had their chance….it’s a new era….a new generation that is stepping up with the knowledge and know how to build, serve, and provide the future of fast food and food in general…
We believe we are at the forefront of this new revolution….our focus is fast food from scratch….starting now as a small company gives us the advantage because our ingredients are real, high quality, no junk, so as we grow we are able to constantly adapt to the ever changing demands of the market and building our foundation on ingredients that were designed to be consumed. We are in a great position out the gate to provide what the larger brands can’t manage to get into their supply chain…it’s not enough to fry in beef tallow as McDonald’s has now advertised….because it’s an illusion when all of their entire menu items are processed…beef tallow is not going to save the day for them…On a side note I use this incredible chain as an example not to put them down…but the contrary….they built an empire that changed billions of peoples lives….but to show that when you focus on getting too big and loosing sight of where you came from and what made the brand famous from the start it becomes extremely difficult to go back to your origin when you’ve gone too far off the path.
I love McDonald’s it was my magic place…a place that showed me my dreams could come true one day….now my dream is to build the “ardi’s” brand and bring this magical feeling back to the people.
Pricing:
- pricing is a sensitive topic for consumers, a brand must take this into account when serving the public. It matters to us to price accordingly a fair value for what is being offered. The goal is to not price too large of any demographic out but to offer a value that will allow most to participate and eat high quality food for themselves.
- We offer some of the highest quality beef on the market, make our own buns, ketchup and sauces. Our product is premium so having said that we price for what we believe is fair for what we offer.
- We are right in line with most other brands serving the same but not really because most brands can’t compare to what we do since most of our stuff is house made.
- our menu items range per person between $13-$21
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ardiseats.com
- Instagram: ardiseatsandsweets
- Facebook: ardis eats & sweets
Image Credits
no image credits necessary. these are all my pictures
