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Archive for February, 2010

The Beach Pit BBQ…

2 Comments By Amanda Wernick on February 19th, 2010
Categories: Communitiy, Social Media

I’m lucky, let me start there. Wanna know why? Because aside from working with a Real Estate Company that is embracing Social Networking, I have the opportunity to meet and interview people in our communities that inspire those around them.

One such person is Tim DeCinces of Beach Pit BBQ who donated ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE SALES OF ONE NIGHT OF HIS THREE RESTAURANTS TO HAITI!

Why am I so excited to introduce you to him? Well, for one thing upon meeting him you know there is something special going on his life. We had been playing phone tag for a little while, and yet every time we didn’t connect, he would leave me a voicemail informing me when he would be available, and that between certain times he would be busy with his family….I liked that! A family man!

When we finally did connect, he was just finishing up a Valentine’s Day pancake breakfast at his kindergarten daughters school!

He was also in the middle of a big move changing offices from Costa Mesa to Irvine. With boxes everywhere, he invited me to come on down and have a chat.

I arrived as scheduled and could see that the energy in the office was one of total joy despite the chaos of boxes around them. I was greeted by Carolynn who apologized for the boxes with a large smile on her face.

I walked into Tim’s office and thanked him for making the time to meet me. Seeing that he was busy I got to work right away…

Me: How long have you been involved with BeachPitBBQ?
Tim: “We created BeachPitBBQ 5 years ago in Costa Mesa with a family atmosphere in mind. A community place and made sure to include in our business plan how were going to give back to the community….be it sponsoring or supporting Little League, Soccer Teams, Church Events…whatever it was….we felt our dollars were better served there”.

Me: Tell me about what inspired you to contribute 100% of your sales for one evening from all three restaurants, to Haiti.
Tim: “The Sunday before my daughter decided she wanted to help Haiti somehow and so she put together a bake sale to send the money to Haiti. I thought to myself, ‘What could we do at the Restaurant to help?’ We were a little concerned because the weather forecast called for rain and we have lots of outside seating, but people came from EVERYWHERE, in the pouring rain with a great attitude, excited about what Beach Pit BBQ was doing…it was great for everyone!”

Me: How much money did you raise?
Tim: “We raised 19,322.00 between the 3 restaurants and then Caroline’s Dad who is a minister at Saddleback Church reached out and they matched what we raised and sent a Mission Group to Haiti to develop a water project”.

Me: How long did it take you to put it all together?
Tim: “Natalie does our social media and started tweeting about it, posting it on Facebook and sent out one email blast and in 4 days, we got it together. It’s a difficult time for restaurants but we reached out, and vendors donated food and the staff was so excited to be a part of this, plus my daughters got to get out of school to take pictures for the news coverage of their bake sale and they thought that was pretty cool! Plus some of the people that joined us that evening booked catering events and then donated the money to Haiti, One person created a charity within a charity by booking a catering event with the money going to Haiti and the food to the Orange County Rescue Mission!”

Me: What did you do before this?
Tim: I played pro baseball. I started at UCLA, then went to the Orioles for 4 years, traded to Padres and finished up in Oakland. I loved it and I miss it. The Team, the players. I miss the camaraderie…I was also involved in Residential Development”.

I could tell that he was now working with a great team at Beach Pit BBQ and that he was thankful for the people they have working for them.

Natalie, Tim and Caroline

There is still more to come and I will keep you informed as we go along…in the mean time, if you want to book a charity event contact Natalie Venneri @ nv@beachpitBBQ.com or stop by any of their 3 locations:

1676 Tustin Ave Costa Mesa (949) 645-RIBS
560 El Camino Real, Old Town Tustin (714) 929-RIBS
128 N Glassell St, Old Town Orange

Chaparosa Grill holds a Fundraiser for Haiti

0 Comments By Amanda Wernick on February 4th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized

I had the opportunity today to interview a man that has left a deep impression on me…let me tell you why. I’m fairly active on different online sites. This doesn’t surprise anyone that knows me. I was on my Facebook page a few weeks back and got an update that Chaparosa Grill was having a Fundraising event to help Haiti. This touched my heart!

I’ve always been passionate about giving back to the community and I support as many charities as I can. This is one of the reasons I joined Seven Gables Real Estate. I knew that they had deep Community Roots…
like leads to like….

So I called Tony and set the appointment. I was nervous and excited and couldn’t wait for Thursday to come…so much so that it was difficult for me to sleep Wednesday night!

This is Tony :

Q. Who is Tony?
A. The owner of Chaparosa Grill

Q. How long have you been in this line of work?
A. Been in this type of business all my life. I also have a second Chaparosa Grill in Laguna. It’s the third Restaurant I’ve owned.

Q. Where did the name come from?
A. In the original location in Laguna, our location was next to Chaparosa Park-We wanted a local name.

Q. Who chose the menu?
A. I did. Its California cuisine with a Caribbean twist…

And when I asked about that…here’s what I found out…

Tony: My wife and I have traveled the world a bit and go down to the Caribbean. That’s why we were inspired to help. It was just a Natural thing to want to help…

Q. How many People attended your fundraiser?
A. We had 2 events, one at each location so between the two locations, we got close to 200 people with about 64 people who actually dined. Others relaxed and enjoyed some drinks.

Q: How much money were you able to raise at the events?
A: We were able to raise $1,767.00.

Q: Have you had people come back to your restaurant because of your charity work.
A: Most were regular customers, we have a really good support system and a core of people who visit us.

Q: What did you get of helping?
A: I got satisfaction in trying to make a difference. I’m very active in Community events and Charities.

Q: Charities such as what?
A: Well the weekend before the Haiti event, we had an event for Leukemia/Lymphoma, as well as for Cystic fibrosis, March of Dimes and local schools…any major disasters: Katrina or Tsunami’s we find ourselves helping out wherever we can.

Needless to say, I was impressed with his attitude. He went on:
“It doesn’t matter what it is you do, it’s really just about doing something…It’s the way I was raised. I’m from England and when we were young we would have yard sales to raise money to repair the church roof for example…we weren’t rich, so we would ask others if they would like to contribute and we’d sell what they gave us”.
Something that struck me was his humility…that he would do this anyway, without looking for any recognition.

He also holds Culinary Demonstrations! Monday February 22nd at 7 p.m. he’ll be demonstrating how to cook:

Spinach & Ricotta Crepe
Indian Spiced Lamb Shank
Butterscotch Pudding

Cost includes 2 glasses of wine, coffee, tax and gratuity!

So, I am now a bigger fan of Tony and his restaurant Chaparosa Grill:

Find Chaparosa Grill on Facebook and become a fan!
Locations:
Marina Hills Laguna Niguel
30271 Golden Lantern Ste D
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677-5983
Golden Lantern and Marina Hills
Telephone: 949-363-9888
Fax: 949-363-0536

The District
2449 Park Avenue (in front AMC Movie Theater)
Tustin, CA 92782
Telephone: 714-259-9888

Favorite Music:
Caribbean, Reggae, Calypso

If you want to schedule a “Tweet-Up” or other event, contact Toni at his business number or email…
Email:chaparosagrill@cox.net
Website:http://www.chaparosagrill.com