Going to Juanito’s? Which one?
Bakery latest addition to business owner’s stores around train station
JEFF HUNTLEY Juan Torres takes a moment out of his schedule to sit down at a table in his restaurant on the corner of Monmouth and West streets in Red Bank.
Take a look around the area of Monmouth and Bridge streets in Red Bank and it’s hard to miss. Someone is hard at work opening businesses around the borough’s train station. That someone is Juan Torres who will soon be adding a bakery to his restaurant, grocery and retail stores, all operating under the name Juanito’s.
The bakery will be the fifth business for Torres in Red Bank. His first business venture, LoChina Poblana, a grocery store, is on Shrewsbury Avenue.
He also will be opening another restaurant, Juanito’s II, on Route 9 in Howell next week.
His most successful enterprise is Juanito’s, the highly acclaimed Mexican restaurant that he has owned for five years now.
"The Howell restaurant will have the same menu as Juanito’s I," Torres said, referring to his original full-service restaurant.
Juanito’s Gourmet Mexican Bakery at 186 Monmouth St., where Zebu’s coffeehouse used to be, should open sometime in the next two weeks.
The retail store sells Hispanic music CDs, cowboy boots, leather goods and other Mexican-style merchandise. And the grocery has a take-out counter. "I have a kitchen at the grocery store where we make more authentic Mexican food," Torres said. "People come in at lunch time or after work to get takeout."
The bakery will specialize in Mexican-style cakes, especially for weddings and birthday celebrations. "Right now I make them in the restaurant," he said.
"Mexican sweetened breads are popular as is a cake called pastille de tres leches, which is made of bread that is soaked in three different kinds of milk and filled with fruit like strawberries or peaches," he added. "It’s a traditional Mexican cake."
The bakery also will specialize in gourmet pastries, not only Mexican style, he said.
Torres doesn’t plan to stop acquiring businesses. He has ambitious plans to open a self-service laundry. "If I can find a good location in Red Bank, the next thing I will do is open a Laundromat with TVs and games," he said. "It will be clean and well maintained."
He also would like to buy three or four houses that he can renovate and turn into apartments for the Mexican workers who are immigrating to the area.
"I have people coming to me all the time looking for work or for an apartment," he said, adding that he employs about 30 people right now.
"I have been approached by a customer who wants to help me open a Juanito’s in Florida," Torres noted. "He said, ‘Hey, Juan. I’ll help you open in Florida. I guarantee it would be successful.’ I forget the name of the place, but I’m thinking about it."
Torres, who comes from Mexico City, said about 80 percent of the Mexican population in Red Bank comes from a little town called Publa, which is about one hour from Mexico City. "That’s where one of my pastry chefs comes from," he said. "The other one comes from Puerto Vallarto, but he’s an international pastry chef."
Torres also is an international chef who has created his own cuisine. He learned to cook while working in his family’s deli and restaurant businesses in Mexico City.
He has been living in the United States for 16 years now, first in Brick, then Middletown and now Red Bank. Divorced with three daughters, he was a chef at the Navesink Country Club for six years before opening LoChina Poblana in 1993.
"I did well, so I put money together to buy what was then a deli here on Monmouth Street," he said. "Right away, people liked the food. I was leasing at first, but I decided to buy the building. I enlarged it and converted it to the restaurant. It cost me about $300,000."
Torres said he had built a summer patio in the back of Juanito’s, but during the following winter there were often up to 75-100 people on line waiting to get into the restaurant so he closed in the open patio. The enclosed patio is stucco with a colorful striped awning and Spanish roof tiles for decoration.
"Now I can seat people there all year long," he said.
Torres says his business philosophy is to watch over everything and to keep his mind clear and focused. He works seven days a week and runs from place to place.
"I spend a few hours every day in each place," Torres said. "Also I have cameras in my office downstairs (in Juanito’s). I can watch while I do paperwork."
He also believes in taking care of good workers. "If I see someone washing dishes who is smart and hardworking, I train him to become a chef," he noted. "I treat him like family. I tell workers, ‘If you are not happy here, just quit.’
"When I find good ones, I take care of them. I can train anybody to do anything because I know how to do everything, from washing dishes and waiting tables to cooking."
He has five cooks on staff, plus himself. "Every cook I have, I have started out doing dishes and than trained to be a cook," Torres said.
Whatever he is doing, it works. His restaurant has received favorable mention in the Zagat Survey 2000 and in local media outlets.
Juanito’s was named after him by his first wife. The name was taken from the Mexican for "Little Juan," something he was affectionately called as a child. Little Juan has grown into a big man in the Mexican community and on the west side of Red Bank.
"Business is good," he notes.