Right Place at the Right Time

We’ve written many articles over the years introducing you to the chefs behind your favorite dishes and the teams that run your favorite kitchens. We haven’t spent a lot of time in the front of the house with the people that you recognize because they greet you by name, they know which table you prefer, they remember the dish that your daughter loves the most. The best ones field your compliments and your complaints with equal grace and, if they need to—and many of them did need to during the height of the pandemic—they can run the front of the house all by themselves. We’re talking, of course, about the general managers, and we’re looking forward to giving them their due.

Francisco Juani is the general manager at the Bee Ridge location of Mi Pueblo and he’s a busy man. The Bee Ridge location is packed from lunch to dinner and it’s easy to see why from the moment you walk through the door. The décor is inviting and authentic and transports you immediately to an intimate Mexican cantina. In the middle of a relentlessly sunny and humid Sarasota day the muted lighting and cool tiles conspire to tempt you to linger in a booth with an icy Margarita and a fresh tableside guacamole.

Francisco was born in Argentina and raised in Uruguay. When he was 14 years old he moved with his older sister to live with their dad in Fort Lauderdale. Their father, who was in construction, moved the family to Venice, where Francisco graduated high school in 2007.

Francisco admits to a time in his early 20s when he was feeling a little lost and the appeal of partying too much threatened to derail his future. Then he took a job as a food expediter and server at the Venice location of Mi Pueblo, where he says that the servers were all his friends’ mothers. A year later, he reached out to his own mom to come and join him. He went from server to bartender very quickly and he credits the owners of Mi Pueblo—cousins Hugo Nunez and Bonifacio Caro—with recognizing something in him that he didn’t necessarily see in himself at the time. Hugo urged him to learn every aspect of the restaurant so that he could become a manager. He shrugs modestly at the memory: “I was in the right place at the right time.”

Francisco’s first shift as a manager was on the same Sunday that Argentina was to play in the World Cup. He knew he was dedicated to the job because he worked during the game. Argentina lost, but Francisco proved himself. Eleven years later he’s weathered the pandemic and he’s running the Bee Ridge location with ease and a natural inclination to hospitality. His favorite dishes at the restaurant are the steak fajitas or the fish tacos but when he’s at home he likes to cook Peruvian or Argentinian dishes like Lomo Saltado and he makes his own corn tacos. He has dreams outside of the restaurant too: plans to one day have a lifestyle brand that makes use of his talents as a barber.

“I like to take care of myself and to look sharp. The family story is that when I was 3 years old, I wanted shampoo for Christmas instead of toys. They got me toys, so I cried until they got me the shampoo.”

During the height of the pandemic the restaurant operated on a skeleton staff that basically consisted of Francisco, the chef, and a delivery driver. “We learned that we could run with a lot less. Managers become more flexible when there’s no staff. You keep going, you don’t whine.” Today Francisco is at home at Mi Pueblo, his mother is a server at the Venice location, the owners are like family, and it’s obvious that both his staff and his guests are happy to be here.

> Mi Pueblo: 4436 Bee Ridge Rd, Sarasota; 941-379-2880; mipueblomexican.com