Meet Rita Patel of Shantesh Investments

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rita Patel.

Rita, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I moved to the United States from the United Kingdom at the tender age of 13. I finished my high school here, and at the young age of 18 was sought after for an arranged marriage, as our Hindu Culture traditionally required. It led me to follow my husband to the small island of Trinidad & Tobago.

During my time there, I managed to gain great business experience from the retail industry my husband owned and operated. We continued our business for a great 5 successful years. Following a coup in 1990 and the unstableness of the country’s economic stability, my husband and I decided to move to the USA. I still had my citizenship. Once here we had an opportunity to follow our family footsteps and join the hospitality industry. Starting from a small 13 room motel eventually to constructing bigger luxurious franchise hotels in Hiram, Georgia and Tupelo Mississippi.

Whilst my husband continued his projects I decided to pursue banking and commercial real estate and also attaining a few rental properties. My husband eventually sold his projects and was on the prowl for his next venture. The economic turmoil during the Bush presidency, the commercial real estate market was looking gloomy. We knew it was time to invest our time into other opportunities, besides the hospitality industry. During our search for businesses, I decided to pursue my passion, the beauty industry. Creating a cosmetic line that catered to the everyday woman. My sensitive skin issues with mainstream cosmetics were just not cutting it for me. I wanted to create colorful cosmetics for everyone with aging and sensitive skin issues.

Partnering with celebrity makeup artists and online retail markets, I had a pretty successful line I was really proud of for seven years. Whilst pursuing my passion, my husband decided to attain a new investment a little Deli & Cafe in Suwanee, Georgia. With no food experience in the food industry, we knew this was going to be a challenge. Seven successful years later we are thriving and at our busiest, and a huge increase in profit growth since we purchased the restaurant. Recently I took over the bookkeeping, payroll, accounting & finance due to our previous bookkeeper leaving us high and dry with approximately 3 years of unpaid taxes and embezzlement.

It was a stressful time for our company and we were highly disappointed we allowed something like this to happen. I made the initiative to move forward with legal proceedings against our former bookkeeper to pay back the stolen money. With the support of the local Suwanee police department and a fabulous lawyer, I was able to recover most of what was stolen. It was a great learning lesson for us and a step for me to solely take over the bookkeeping and finance of our company. With the cosmetics company and the restaurant, work was finally taking a toll on me. With literally no time for me to spend on myself, my passion for traveling and doing things I once used to love, I knew it was time to let the cosmetics company go.

Earlier this year I made the decision to dissolve the cosmetics company and focus solely on our restaurant. Since then, I have created a beautiful website with a fully integrated online/mobile ordering system. I am also involved in the marketing of the restaurant and looking into attaining services with local mobile delivery services such as GrubHub and Uber Eats. I’m sure we’ll be here serving our great community of Suwanee, Georgia for many years to come. As with any business, there are ups and downs. It’s up to you how you approach the situations and take the initiative to fix whatever needs to be done. You can be successful. You just need that mindset and love what you do.

Has it been a smooth road?
All businesses have their ups and downs. I think with hospitality business, we learned from the economic downfall during the Bush presidency that it was time for us to think outside the box and look into other opportunities outside of that industry. With the restaurant I took our bookkeeper’s embezzlement and used that as the initiative to take full control of the finance of our company. I take each downfall as a learning lesson. You have to move forward to fix the issue and overcome situations. Strength, motivation and determination are three main words in my vocabulary.

Growing up with my parents, there were some pretty hard times. I remember our downfalls from getting food stamps to getting handouts from churches just to get by. I promised myself to never allow this to happen to me ever again.

When things are down, I remind myself how strong I am and how successful I have become on my journey. I’ll look for inspirational quotes. My favorite is from Oprah Winfrey “Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.”

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Shantesh Investments story. Tell us more about the business.
I was pretty most known for my cosmetics company MiA BelleZZa Cosmetics. Making my rounds within the U.S.A. with speaking engagements, TV appearances and Media interviews. I felt I was always trying to meet deadlines, conference calls and meeting with buyers. Since letting go, I’m actually enjoying my new found freedom from the corporate conglomerate beauty industry.

If I’m not globetrotting the world (a major dream and passion of mine since growing up) I spend most of my time at the restaurant. I love going there daily, enjoying visits and talk often with our amazing local community, many who have become close friends. Brown Bag Deli & Cafe is located in the beautiful Suwanee Town Center Park in Suwanee, Georgia. It is situated in a multi-retail and residential use complex. We specialize in gourmet sandwiches, bagels, salads, desserts and Assorted Imported and Local Beverages.

Our breads and produce are freshly delivered. Keeping our breads and ingredients fresh, is a high priority at our restaurant. It also helps with unnecessary spoilage and waste. We are highly proud of our Suwanee Community. We greatly attribute our success due to repeat customers, supplying local offices/businesses and the amazing support of our friends and family.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We are preparing ourselves to hit another increase ingrown and profits with the construction behind the restaurant of new residential apartments with a retail center below complex and a huge new parking deck to provide more efficient access to all the festivals and events that take place in the Amphitheater in Suwanee Town Center Park.

The restaurant is also located where there are residences above our retail space and close proximity to multiple residential townhomes and single-family homes. With the new development, I can use this growth to implement more marketing ideas. We have considered a second location, but we are a bit hesitant as this one alone is sufficient and incredibly busy taking up most of our time and effort as it is.

Contact Info:

• Address: 340 Town Center Ave Suwanee, Georgia 30024
• Website: www.BrownBagDeliAndCafe.com
• Phone: 678-682-3496
• Email: BrownBagDeliAndCafe@Gmail.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrownBagDeliandCafe/

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