How Family, Flavor and Creativity Built Chefs on the Run

Jodrick Ujaque: Absolutely. My name is Jodrick Ujaque. I’m a native of the island of Puerto Rico, but I’ve been living in Florida for the past 25 years or so. We’re located at 10 East Mario Drive in downtown Homestead in Florida. We operate and run Chefs on the Run gastropub, which is our first Caribbean American gastropub of its kind. And we mainly focus on Caribbean flavor influence and fusion.  

We offer the essentials of Puerto Rican cuisine that most people are looking for. Then, we take the rest of our menu to elevate creative food. And we try to make sure that in our little restaurant, we have enough to take care of everybody, from foodies to people with dietary restrictions. That’s our main focus. Our main focus is on food and satisfying people’s needs. 

Jodrick Ujaque: A funny story about that. When I started my career in Orlando, I worked for a restaurant called Café Tu Tu Tango, which had two stores in California and two in Florida back then. This was over 20 years ago. And one day, on my day off, I’m sitting down on the floor just relaxing with my family. My mother-in-law said, “Jodrick, if you had a restaurant, what would you call it? And the first thing that came out of my mouth was, ‘Chefs on the Run.’” 

And she said, “Why Chefs on the Run?” And I said, “Well, it’s because I’m a Chef and I’m always running.” And she said, “Well, I don’t understand.” So I told her what my version of a Chef is. 

For me, a Chef is not just somebody who stands behind a service window, scrutinizing the work of others. A real Chef still goes in there, and he boils, fries, sautés and grills. He’s a hands-on person. If he has to run silverware, he will. If he has to sit a guest, he does. And if he has to wipe a table, he will. 

So I told her, “I’m a Chef, and I’m always running.” Then, a month after that, I received a piece of mail in my mailbox, and it said my name and the official crest of South Florida. And I thought my license or insurance got revoked again because that’s the only way that I’d receive mail from the state. 

And then when I opened it, my mother-in-law purchased the DBA name for “Chefs on the Run” with my name on it. She told me, “One day you’ll use it.” Fast forward to 2008, and I lost my job during the market crash. Like many people, I ended up working from home, which turned out to be a blessing because it gave me time with our son and family. It also opened doors we never expected. Suddenly, we had this name in our hands, and we decided to ignite Chefs on the Run as a home-based startup. 

By 2011, we opened to the public in Homestead, where my wife was born and raised. It was a rare opportunity because the town lacked restaurants, and the location was turnkey with a grease trap, pressure system, and everything we needed. The name was my idea, but the DBA was a gift from my mother-in-law. From there, we just started, and we’ve been making culinary magic ever since. 

Jodrick Ujaque: Well, thank you so much. Jack of all trades, master of none, right? 

Social media is definitely huge nowadays. And, I personally actually do all the social media work — the videos, the editing and any other kind of ideas. I actually run everything ourselves, but mainly it’s because I don’t think anybody can really duplicate what’s in my head. 

But at the end of the day, it’s all about budgets and need. We have a great fan base, but we are in a lower-traffic area. So we work hard because we know that we have to bring the traffic to this side of town in Homestead. 

As a kid, my nickname was “Vacuum Cleaner” because I would eat anything around. I will eat everybody’s food. So my idea of eating — of always wanting to try something new — never ends. One time, I talked in my sleep about food, and my wife helped me remember one dish. I woke up in the morning, and on the bathroom glass we would write our to-do lists. I saw she had written “key lime empanada.” I asked her about it, and she told me I was talking about it in my sleep, telling her to taste it and how good it was. 

And then I remembered how I was thinking of combining empanada and key lime — two very powerful words when it comes to food in South Florida — and key lime empanada became our best-selling dessert. I’ve been a very creative and extroverted person since I was a kid. I bounce off walls and love to meet people. I love to have new ideas. And that might be the reason why [our social media is the way it is] because I’m always thinking of what I can make outside of the box. 

Jodrick Ujaque: Well, it’s definitely not easy. There are over 6,000 restaurants because they span from Broward all the way down. We are the tip of the measurement when it comes to restaurants. In fact, the Florida Keys have fantastic restaurants, and no restaurant from the Keys made it, so we’re the most Southern restaurant listed on that top 100 list. 

It’s not just about creativity. We serve real Puerto Rican food the way it’s meant to be made. For example, arroz con gandules — most people grew up eating it, but over time, everyone started taking shortcuts, using powders for color and flavor. We threw all of that out and went back to tradition, using medium-grain rice as our grandparents did. Something so simple has brought guests to tears at our tables because it tastes like home to them. That’s powerful, and that’s why it’s more than just being creative. 

We’re able to capture both audiences because we embrace the creative and the traditional. Our guests are going to come because we’re doing both. It’s worth the sacrifice.

Jodrick Ujaque: For us, our name is everything. Everyone in our town knows it’s my wife, myself and even my 79-year-old mother-in-law still cooking, so there is that abuelita feel. As a family, you have to agree to commit. If you’re going to go at it, go hard. 

Our guests tell me they can taste the passion, but I wonder if they can taste the sacrifice and determination, too. We trim every chicken and steak by hand, smoke our own brisket and make everything to order — this is an artisanal kitchen. Many big tourist restaurants focus on numbers; we focus on the experience. And that’s why people come from as far as Germany to eat here.  

If the numbers are not making sense, then you have to be proactive and see what you’re missing or where you might not be investing properly. 

Jodrick Ujaque: If you’re in a trendy area, focus on the numbers and the guest experience. Because you still need reviews, you need everything and your numbers have to be there. Focus on the guest experience because most of our guests are people who are going to come back because we are in a small town. My demographic showed that while we have our locals, our analytics showed that people are viewing us more on social media or through Google. We actually have more clients in Miami than we have down here. Homestead has become like the countryside of Miami. The wealthy head out to the Redlands to get away from the noise — no restaurants and no construction. Just relaxation. And a lot of them come to see us on weekends and bless our business with their presence. 

We’re a small restaurant, and we work hard. Sometimes we’re understaffed because payroll, wages and food costs keep rising — that’s part of the sacrifice of running a small business. Balancing food and service is crucial, and I tell my staff that every person who walks through our door is a body up to the neck with a dollar sign on their face and they’re willing to give us their money in exchange for good food and excellent service. 

Knowledge in our restaurant is important. I make sure my team knows exactly what we’re serving — like our half-pound 80/20 burgers with Schweid & Sons. They need to know it’s high quality, and they need to be able to answer questions confidently. We’re serious about celiac and gluten-free, too. Not because it’s trendy, but because it’s a necessity. 

From dedicated fryers to checking with suppliers, we make sure everything is exactly as we say it is. I’ve seen it matter — like a young girl with a service dog being able to eat fries safely for the first time in years. I grew up in the service industry, and I take guest experience very, very, very seriously. I think that the guest experience, aside from the food, is part of our success.

Jodrick Ujaque: Our next move for the restaurant is actually, when the pandemic happened, and the reopening of outdoor dining became a thing, we had a patio that we were not really using at all, mainly because of the surrounding area and the business itself. But when the opportunity came, and guests were done eating in a box and everything, we pushed for a patio. We had some ups and downs; obviously, it was not covered. Fast forward three years, and we just got done crossing that bridge. We have an awning on our patio. 

Now we’re going to be offering indoor and outdoor dining. There are a lot of guests who prefer to sit outside, while others prefer inside, and online orders are still a big thing because people have gotten comfortable eating at home. 

Our next move is where we’re expecting growth — having an outdoor patio, bathrooms, everything in place, proper shade and more seating capacity. That patio will also be an event area where we can host bridal showers, baby showers, weddings, graduation parties and any type of event. Hopefully, getting beaten by the sun while enjoying a great meal is not going to be a thing.