Melody uses sign language: They asked her if I was deaf.
My mother said yes.
They saw me as a liability.
Narrator: Melody was 19, and had applied for admission
to the California Culinary Academy.
She wanted to learn how to cook so she could open her own restaurant,
like her father before her.
But now, her mother was on the phone with the school’s admissions office.
They explained that if students were in the kitchen
making a big batch of soup, for instance,
I wouldn’t be able to hear them shouting to get out of the way
as they carried it.
It might spill on me and I would get hurt.
They told her they were sorry,
but they couldn’t accept my application.
Despite that rejection, in 2011, Melody and her husband, Russ,
set out to open their own restaurant in San Francisco.
They would make delicious food while providing
the types of opportunities for Deaf professionals
that both Melody and Russ had been denied.
At the same time, we would show the Deaf community
that if we [Russ and I] can do it, they can too.
But from raising the money she needed to get started
to surviving a slowdown in sales,
Melody would face a crush of challenges
as a first-time restaurateur.
I remembered when the banks turned us down
I thought it wouldn’t happen.
I realized that I needed to persevere and stay the course.
I couldn’t give up.
I didn’t want my first restaurant to fail.
You just started your dream business.
How much profit will you need to pay your basic living expenses,
like rent and ramen?
This is a show about the economics of entrepreneurship
and founders turning their dreams into reality.
This is "Ramen Profitable."
Text: Stein Residence, Los Angeles, CA
When I was a child, I would draw from my imagination
pictures of me owning a business.
But Melody's husband Russ, a cautious, business-minded person,
he...
well…
He told me that 90% of restaurants fail in the first year.
Despite that risk, Melody and Russ decided to start
a fully Deaf-owned-and-operated restaurant together.
They would serve authentic Neapolitan-style pizza.
But first, Melody needed to learn how to make it.
In Italy, they have their own sign language.
I asked my mom if she would join me in Italy and be my interpreter.
My mom was unsure; she’s not a professional interpreter.
I told her it would be fine. Italians gesture anyway.
Aww, haha.
I learned different philosophies of pizza-making.
I made my first pizza and it was delicious! I was thrilled!
(Melody and partners make pizza)
Melody was ready.
With her business plan in hand, she went to her regular bank
in search of a small business loan to start her restaurant.
I was very excited, and I felt fully prepared.
The banker asked, “What kind of business do you want to open?”
Then I gave him my business plan, and he saw the word “restaurant.”
He gave it back to me.
He did not even look at my business plan.
He said, "I can't give you a loan for a restaurant.
It is too hard to give you a loan because so many restaurants go under.
I can't give you a loan."
Melody and Rylan, her son and dough apprentice, make dough in their kitchen.
Entrepreneurs often have two ways to raise money:
They can get a loan or they can give away equity,
an ownership stake in the business.
Melody couldn’t get a bank loan, so she would try the equity route.
Melody invited friends to come to her home
so she could pitch them on her business.
But first…
Melody serves a variety of delicious pizzas. So good!
- 5 stars. Delicious!
I wish I had a money tree
because I don’t like asking people for money.
With pizza tasted, Melody had their attention.
She made her pitch.
I explained my vision of following Neapolitan tradition
with some added Asian influence.
I wanted unique things that people have never seen.
Her guests didn’t want to make an equity investment,
but they were interested in helping.
I told them I could become their bank,
and give them 6% after five years, guaranteed.
If they just left their money in the bank for five years,
the interest rate would be tiny, like .1%.
That was an appealing offer for them.
Melody got the loan she needed.
She had five years to make a profit and pay it back.
Our first year was like a honeymoon period
with how many customers we attracted.
We weren’t taking a cut at that time. We just paid our staff, the food costs, utilities, and rent.
the food costs, utilities, and rent.
The first year, we didn’t make a lot, only about $8,000 in profit.
But I realized we were making it.
It’s not because we are Deaf. We have skills and knowledge.
We can run a restaurant.
But then the honeymoon period ended
as competition from new restaurants lured customers away.
To keep her doors open,
Melody needed to bring in more revenue, fast.
People would reach out to us and say,
“I really love your pizza. Have you considered catering?”
I was unsure about catering because it only takes 90 seconds to cook our pizzas.
to cook our pizzas.
If we deliver, the pizzas would be cold and not fresh.
But with declining sales at the restaurant,
Melody had to get creative.
So I thought about the wood-fire oven in the backyard.
We talked it over and decided to experiment.
We could put it on a small trailer.
We already had dough from the restaurant.
I think they had about 100 guests.
Yeah. She took on a wedding for her first catering experiment.
That's bold.
It was a wedding, you know? It was scary.
Everything needs to be perfect.
And we just kept turning out the pizzas
as the guests were eating the other dishes.
In the end, it worked out wonderfully.
Catering suddenly seemed like a viable, additional revenue stream.
But to capture the opportunity, they needed a bigger oven.
They found one in a food truck modeled after
the iconic San Francisco cable car.
We asked where it was located, and they told us it was
all the way in Florida.
Yep. Florida.
So Russ and Melody drove it cross-country themselves,
and made a dope road trip out of it.
On the way home, we could make stops and sell pizza
to the Deaf community in different states.
We wanted to encourage young students to follow their dreams.
You can be anything you want.
For the first year, we had a goal of catering 50 events to break even.
I ended up with 180.
The brick-and-mortar restaurant supported the catering operation,
whose revenues in turn supported the restaurant.
You need to be more creative and figure out what works.
Maybe you can’t survive on profits from the restaurant alone.
After seven years of successfully running their business,
the changing circumstances of Melody’s life made it necessary
for her to leave the restaurant behind.
She was disappointed, but sold the restaurant and catering business
to a nonprofit that supports Deaf professionals.
And those loans?
She paid them all off.
But Melody hasn’t given up on entrepreneurship,
nor working with family.
Taysia, Melody's daughter and partner: So this is our San Francisco collection.
We have them in two colors.
San Francisco is known for being cloudy and foggy,
so we decided to go with fog gray.
What are the bags made out of?
- (Person on video chat) It’s a post-consumer material.
- Okay, cool, because we are a sustainable clothing company,
so we are definitely interested in using recycled materials.
(Melody and Taysia film a promotional video at home).
I look up to both of my parents
because they started a business from scratch,
and they were successful for many years.
Melody and Taysia’s sustainable fashion company
is facing challenges, like all businesses do.
But they find meaning in building something that’s theirs.
I miss serving creative food.
We hope that within five years, we can establish a store with a café.
(Melody and partners laugh and make pizza)
There was a time where I thought I wouldn’t make it and
that I should give up on my dream.
Now I can say I actually did it!
Melody teaches cameraman to sign: I. Love. Pizza.
- Here, have the plate.
- I wish every shoot was like this, haha.