Today we’d like to introduce you to Ray Ricky Rivera.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
As a teenager in high school, I joined a local band (East LA Sabor Factory) and started touring California. That led to full-time work as a professional musician. From there I branched out into, everything from production to event promotions to booking, to music licensing to music retail, and ultimately launched an independent record label called, Triumphant Records.
Although I did not intend to be a solo artist at the time the labels first release was my debut solo album, Neighborhood Fame (2007). Triumphant Records went on to distribute several projects including 2011’s “Juan Lennon Presents: 213 Cumbia Vol 1.” It was a compilation I curated and Executive Produced under my DJ alias, Juan Lennon. The compilation featured some of LA’s up and coming Latin bands at the time like Chicano Batman, Buyepongo, and Mexican Dubwiser. After working with the group Buyepongo on a series of promotional shows for the compilation, I subsequently began managing bands and launched my artist management business Golden Glue Mgmt. GGM allowed me to work with so many super talented bands and singers including Grammy award-winning singer “El Gavachillo” aka Wildog Abers of Ozomatli. I’d like to add, while I was simultaneously running Triumphant Records and managing Golden Glue Mgmt, I was working full-time as a hip hop buyer for Amoeba Music in Hollywood. In 2015, I left Amoeba to work from home and ultimately set my sights on a future venture. One that would eventually allow me to incorporate two of my passions: live music and craft beer.
In 2014, my wife gave birth to our third and youngest child. An unforeseen complication at birth resulted in us having to spend a month in the hospital. To help pass the time I started reading the book, Brewing Up a Business by Sam Calagione. It’s the story of how Dogfish Head: one of America’s most successful independent craft breweries, was built. This book further piqued my interest about the beer industry and ultimately planted the seed for an idea to open up a bar & grill business. I started thinking I wanted to open a local bar & grill that would feature live music and only serve craft beer brewed in California. What came next was a 1 gallon homebrewing starter kit. I figured if I was going to be in the beer business I should learn the ins and outs of beer. So I started homebrewing my own to learn how beer is actually made. I instantly fell in love with the hobby. And like most homebrewers do, I started envisioning myself one day owning a business that served its own beer. I’ve named this dream venture, Norwalk Brew House. I’m still dreaming about it!
In early 2015, I helped co-found the SoCal Cerveceros Homebrew Club. At the time we were just a small group of seven brewers. With over 150 members today, we are known as the largest Latino based homebrew club in the country. In 2018, we were named CA Homebrew Club of The Year, by Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco. As club president I oversee and take on various roles. One is having the opportunity to produce our annual homebrew festival we call Coldxela (pronounced cold chela). My work with the festival has allowed me the chance to provide a unique platform for local talent while organizing an amazing group of homebrewers. We also curate a select group of pop-up food vendors which makes for a well-rounded festival experience. Nowhere else in Los Angeles can you get over 50 homebrewers pouring delicious, Latino culture inspired homebrewed beer in one place. Coldxela has really opened my eyes to what’s possible in terms of creating a unique experience for people. Working on this event has deepened my desire to one day open my own brick and mortar business where I can craft a unique experience for locals in my community.
About three years ago, I met music industry veteran, Julio Trejo. Despite having many mutual friends in the music industry, we met at a bottle share hosted by SoCal Cerveceros. Initially our talks were casual and only related to beer and brewing. At the time Julio briefly mentioned he had a beer-related project in the works. In early 2018, Julio hosted the SoCal Cerveceros for a club meeting in what he called the Cerveceria Mundial headquarters. He finally disclosed Cerveceria Mundial was the name of his beer project. Fast forward to spring 2019 and Julio announces via Instagram his gypsy brewing company Cerveceria Mundial has its first beer ready for release. When the announcement was made, we were deep into pre-production for Coldxela 2019. It just so happened I had been curating a select lineup of commercial beer to be served in the festival VIP area. I took the opportunity to invite Julio to pour his newly packaged “Quail Pale Ale.” The beer had not yet been officially released and Coldxela was the first event to feature the Cerveceria Mundial brand. I became really interested in how and what Cerveceria Mundial was doing. I was really impressed by the fact that this project was mentioned to me a few years back and all of a sudden here it is in real life. We ended up meeting a few weeks after the festival so I could grab some samples of the beer. That casual coffee break turned into a two-hour meeting. It was then we realized we had a lot in common. One major commonality being we both had a background in the music industry and we both are East LA natives. I like to believe we both recognize the “hustle” in each other and it just felt right that we keep in touch and see how we could help one another. As a way to show my support I offered to create a giveaway on social media to help gain some new followers for Cerveceria Mundial. We tried it and it worked. After that we kept the conversation going. One three hour phone meeting later, Julio extended an invite to officially partner with him. I am now the VP of Operations for Cerveceria Mundial.
Great, 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?
Honestly, where I come from life in general is a struggle. I grew up in the Ramona Gardens housing projects of Boyle Heights. Historically families there are low-income and without certain access or resources. No one in my immediate family had any business acumen or degrees or the ability to help me sneak into a prestige university. Where I come from you have to hustle if you want to get out. So, in that regard it has not been a “smooth” ride. Whatever business knowledge I think I have all came from just naively doing things. For example: I launched a record label while living with my grandmother and ran it from a bedroom in the projects. The only income at the time of launch was from unemployment checks. I had no idea how to properly run a record label. But I quickly learned you need a lot more money than what comes in an unemployment check! I’m very lucky. I come from a super supportive family. Everyone around me made sure I was always taken care of. All the bumps in the road for me are from not knowing how to execute certain things. How do I raise capital? How to I brand and market? How do I manufacture and distribute? As the saying goes, you learn by failing.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Cerveceria Mundial – what should we know?
Cerveceria Mundial is a “gypsy” brewing company. We have an office space and work remotely from laptops and smart phones. We don’t have a physical brewery to call our own. This business model in my opinion could be the future of the craft beer industry. Especially for people like Julio and I who are more likely to bootstrap a new venture. It allows for the business to be flexible and to easily adapt to changes in the market. With a physical brewery there are so many factors that can halt your operation at any given moment. The amount of capital it takes to start and run a production brewery is extremely costly compared to what we’re doing. A contract brewing business model allows for more focus on branding, sales and marketing. We develop a recipe, go to an existing brewery and have it brewed and packaged. We then take that beer and distribute it. It’s simple and it’s still a product we created.
In my current role as VP of Operations for Cerveceria Mundial, I’m taking on a myriad of things. It’s a small startup bootstrapped by its founder. That translates into big hustle with little reward in the beginning. It’s a grind. I’d say the work is almost identical to that of managing a new band. In the early stages it’s all about development. It’s all about creating a presence in the local market place and figuring out where are all the fans. To quote Julio Trejo, I’m “the plug.” I’m fortunate to have been able to create a large network over the past two decades. When you’re in a band touring the country you meet people. When you’ve spent eight years working for the largest music retail store around, you meet people. Being the cofounder/president of the largest Latino homebrew club in the country affords me the opportunity to make contacts with people in the commercial beer industry and beyond.
What I’m most proud of is being given the opportunity to contribute. It’s still very early for Cerveceria Mundial. The flagship beer is out and we are building awareness every single day. Our QPA has been selling out consistently at local independent retailers across East Los Angeles. The response and support so far has been great. We have so many milestones ahead. I’m really excited!
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I like to believe that my work speaks for itself. If I say I’m going to deliver, then that’s what I do. It doesn’t matter how big or small the task. People know they can trust me to execute. I think that goes a long way for me. Beyond that I’d say treating people with respect and working with integrity is a great place to operate from. Always follow your passion and do something that motivates you to do good work. Respect the process, have patience and make sure whatever you’re doing, you’re happy doing it. Success is subjective and only determined by you.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @chelasmundial @norwalkbrewhouse
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cerveceria-Mundial-402358753647217/?ref=br_rs
Image Credit:
Roberto Hernandez, Julio Trejo, Ramirez Liquor and Jesse James Galarza
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