Training Day LA
Every time we travel to a new city, I check Google to see if maybe, by chance, they might have a Berlin Doner shop there. We’ve found a few in the past — in Toronto, NYC, even one in Tokyo — but sadly, they never really lived up to those in Germany.
Then we went to Los Angeles and I found a place called Berlin’s. At the time, they had two locations, one of which happened to be near our hotel in Beverly Hills. Given our past experiences, we knew better than to get our hopes up.
We were skeptical right up until we took our first bite. We instantly froze and looked at each other. OMG!! Not only was it as good as doners in Germany, but actually better than most — perhaps with the exception of Daniel’s favorite hometown spot of course. They did it! The sauce, in particular, was incredible — hands-down the best I’ve had. Mind blown, yet again.
To say we were excited is an understatement. I mean, it was to the point where, when we found out their second location was in Venice Beach, we actually purposely booked a hotel right next to it for our following trips to LA just so we could walk down to the beach and have it every day. And we did. Every single day.
By totally random coincidence, Daniel happened to be working with a German guy in LA who mentioned Berlin’s to him saying we had to try it. Daniel told him that not only had we already tried it — we were downright obsessed with it. He mentioned he knew the German brothers who’d started it and offered to make an intro. That’s how we came to meet Mathias.
Now, this was all still a long time before I’d ever even thought about opening a restaurant myself. Funnily enough, we joked at the time that he should come open a Berlin’s in Ottawa. Naturally, he answered that he was focused on the LA market. Everything happens for a reason.
Now fast forward to a few months ago when I have my ‘fuck it, let’s do this’ moment and decide to open our own doner shop. Guess who’s the first person I call. Ja! I told Mathias our plan and he was super excited. He told me many people have asked him for help, but it didn’t feel right and they’d always refused. But we were different he said. He liked us. He liked that Daniel was German. And so, just like that, he agreed to consult for us.
This was huge. I’ve had calls with Mathias almost every week to ask him about everything from ingredients to recipes, equipment to floorplans, service, staffing, flows, etc. I can’t even tell you how much knowledge we’ve gained, how many mistakes were avoided, thanks to him sharing his wisdom from 5 years of experience building Berlin’s.
At one point I mentioned that I was eager to get my hands dirty, so he suggested we come down to LA for hands-on training working at Berlin’s. I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity. So, not too long after we got back from Berlin, I was telling my team to pack up their bags yet again and get ready for Cali. They were pretty pumped.
So here we were in the city of angels, ready for a crash course in the doner business. We picked up so many invaluable tips: from handling spits, to crafting the perfect sandwich — even learning secret sauces recipes! We got to test all the kitchen equipment and get a feel for what size of fridge and freezer we’d need. They introduced me to their meat supplier who specializes in German doner and told me exactly which grills to order — sparing us the headache they went through previously dealing with shitty machines. The trip easily paid for itself as this all ended up saving us a lot of money.
I even got to make my very first doner! Matt was the lucky guinea pig. He said it was perfect! Maybe he was just being nice, but I’ll take it. It may seem simple, and truly it isn’t that complicated, but still, we did learn quite a few tricks that really make a difference in creating the perfect sandwich. Needless to say, it was a productive trip — the best training experience we could possibly ask for.
Perhaps the coolest part is that not only have I gained an invaluable business advisor in Mathias, but actually more like a big brother that’s looking out for me. He even started calling me sister which Daniel tells me is a ‘very German thing’ when they accept and embrace someone — which is very rare. And for that, I feel truly blessed.
