Opening NYC's Aldama Taught Christopher Reyes Some Very Expensive Lessons

How long had you and Gerardo been thinking about opening a restaurant together?

Right before the pandemic, Gerardo and I had been talking—“Maybe we should do something together in the future.” It was one of those conversations that deep down, you don’t know when that future would ever happen. But during the pandemic, I started to realize that we were selling a lot at Ponyboy. But it wasn’t Ponyboy’s concept, which is a nightclub and a cocktail bar. We were selling burritos and tacos and mezcal and tequila drinks to go. And all that money was going to someone else because I wasn’t a partner at that point.

So we were like, “You know what? We should just rent a little shop, sell tacos, and see how we do.” If it wasn’t for the pandemic, I don’t think we would have ever tried it.

Many people I talk to who opened something new during the pandemic seemed to feel like it was now or never—like the upside of restaurant disruption was that it felt easier to take chances.

Yeah, that was exactly what we did. That same week we started looking for places, and we found a million different spaces to take over. Aldama was never in the plan—the magnitude of the project we ended up doing. That wasn’t what we imagined. It just unfolded throughout the course of the construction.

I read in another interview that you just randomly encountered the landlord at the space that would become Aldama and made a deal on the spot.

I was riding my bicycle past Loosie Rouge, which had been a popular place that shut down. The landlord was there trying to cut the lock. I was like, “Hey, what happened?” And he said, “They’re gone. I’m going to close the place up, fix it, and I’ll wait until the pandemic is over.” So I said, “Hey, I want to rent it. Can I see it really quick again?” And he gave me five minutes, then told me, “Come back with a check for X amount, and I’ll give you the keys.”

There seemed to be a lot of landlords in New York and other big cities early in the pandemic who preferred to keep their places empty rather than lease for lower rents.

I think the landlord really would have preferred to close it up at the time—because right after we got it, we honestly couldn’t afford it. I mean, we paid on time, but still. Once you sign the lease though, it’s going to be more expensive for him to kick us out, rather than just wait till we open and make some money to pay him back.

Especially with restaurants, I think a lot of landlords wanted them gone because they weren’t going to receive any money during that time. But if someone was in the space, the landlords still had to pay for the gas. The water couldn’t be disconnected throughout the whole building. So they’d probably rather not have anybody there, and wait for the pandemic to finish.

How long is your lease at Aldama?

I got a seven-year lease. Our landlord is actually a very nice guy. He’s very understanding. He’s expressed interest in having us stay a lot longer, and opening  something else at one of his other buildings. But only time will tell because the waterfront in Williamsburg is changing so much. By 2025, that waterfront Domino Park structure is going to be finished. The beach they’re building is going to be done. So I can’t blame him if he wants to make more money out of this building eventually. It’s only going to be big, big restaurants around that area. Small restaurants are not going to be able to pay the rent.

You mean like the big investor-backed restaurant groups?

Yeah. It will take millions of dollars to do something around that area. Peter Luger will survive, but that’s because they own three blocks around the restaurant.

When you were working at other places before this, did you have much visibility into the business side?

I used to work at a company that has a bunch of restaurants in the city, like the Black Ant and Ofrenda in the West Village. The owner, Jorge Guzman, gave me one of my first jobs in the industry. He would let me sit in to learn these details on how to speak to a landlord, how to read a lease, what you should ask about. So I did have a little experience. But when you sit down with a landlord, and it’s your Social Security number on the paperwork, you still learn as you go.

Now that you’ve had that more personal experience, what would you advise first-time restaurateurs to look out for when negotiating on a new space?

The number-one thing people should look for is the seven-month buildout. They have to give you at least seven months of free rent to build out a place, because whatever you and your contractor and your partners have planned, believe me, it’s never going to be like that. There’s always something that’s going to present itself.

At my restaurant every month, I have everything planned out on what I’m going to pay in a budget. And then, boom, you get sued for wheelchair accessibility. You get sued because some guy fell down across the street, and there was a garbage bag that had one piece of mail from your restaurant, so you don’t get a permit from the city. And that really hurts you when you start. A lot of people don’t take into consideration that even before you open, you’re going to spend a lot of money.

Are restaurants getting that long a buildout in New York leases these days?

Yeah, six months is very standard. Though some places only give you three months. On the other hand, if you go to the West Village right now, the area is mostly empty because of these crazy rents the landlords want. All these expensive clothing stores are closed. There’s so many available spots over there, they give you a year for free.

We got an offer to open a restaurant at Rockefeller Center. Who the hell wants to open a restaurant in Rockefeller Center? Unless you want the tourists of course. But they came at us with this idea—“Hey, listen, we’re rebuilding Rockefeller Center. We want it to be a hub for people from New York to come and eat great food.” So then you have all these class-A, top-tier restaurants accepting these crazy deals. From my understanding, the deal we got was absolute trash. They were only giving us three months free rent. But then they were giving all these big restaurants $10 million for buildouts.

That’s insane!

There are definitely landlords who are willing to work with you. It’s just about who you are. Something else I’d recommend—landlords want to see your business plan, and what you own. If you don’t own anything, and you don’t have a restaurant already, be prepared to get the shittiest lease. But if I go in right now, and I own Aldama and Ponyboy? The landlord can say, “This is a sure bet on a long-term relationship, let’s help them out.” That’s what they look for.

Were you able to get any concessions from your landlord about business interruption, future pandemic exceptions, that kind of thing?

Yeah, a lot of landlords did work around that. I asked our landlord, and he told me, “Look, I’m not going to put it in the lease, but I’m a fair guy. If things turn for the worse, I will help you out. Don’t stress.” I was like, okay. A lot of people would have never fucking taken somebody’s word for that. But at that point, I really wanted the restaurant.

Now that you have Aldama running, what are you looking to do next?

I just bought Ponyboy, which is an amazing place in Greenpoint. A friend of mine and Gerardo’s who owns Mariscos El Submarino in Queens, he signed a lease during the pandemic for the space next door to Ponyboy. We’re partnering up to open a new concept in that space, something sort of between Mariscos El Submarino and Aldama. That’s our next project. The branding and construction stuff is almost done. I think that should be open by summertime next year.

It must be nice to look at a new project with the experience from Aldama safely under your belt. What would you have done differently, knowing what you know now?

I would have saved myself at least $300,000. 

That’s a big number.

I’ll give you a big example. I’m a bartender, and I worked at some of the best bars in New York. So my dream was to have the best bar stations and setup that you can imagine. And that costs a lot of money! But that’s something you can get towards the end of your buildout. When we signed the lease, a week later I was already in the hole for $40,000 in bar equipment. I could’ve used that money for so many things that we really needed to open.

My partner and I, we wanted to have all the best equipment. But to run a restaurant, you really don’t need to have the best of the best. You just need it to work. The best equipment is not going to make anything better. It’s going to be cooler, but it doesn’t make anything better. You make things better.

Given that you and Gerardo were longtime friends before you were business partners, has your relationship changed?

We talk about this all the time. Gerardo and I used to be best friends. We lived together for many, many years. I think during the process of creating and building the restaurant, we stopped being best of friends. We’re brothers for life. We spend 10 to 15 hours a day together, seven days a week. But it definitely takes a toll on our personal relationship, of course. We still have a great relationship, but we’re not the best friends anymore. And I think that’s fine because otherwise it would be too much. 

With one of you being a chef and the other a bartender, how do you manage those boundaries in your working relationship?

We’re very cool about it because Gerardo is a very talented cook. And he has another hidden talent—he is the most patient and understanding person I’ve ever met. Myself, I’m more confrontational. When I’m like, “Fuck this, no way,” he’s like, “Okay, why don’t we sit down and do this?” You both have to balance each other out. Gerardo always takes my advice, and most of the time he even uses it. With drinks, I try to listen to him as much as I can, but it’s just my personality where I’m like, “No, I don’t give a shit what you said.”

But putting that in the nicest way possible, I’m sure.

Oh yeah, of course. It all works out.