Maybe not many people know the man behind the Cactus Cantina. It was Raul Sanchez who own and build Cactus Cantina. He was born in La Havana Cuba, on April 20th. 1939. Raul was not a stranger to the restaurant business. In fact, when he was at a young age, he was introduced to the business because his late father opened a small cafeteria in Havana. This was the time he started to show interest in the restaurant business. His interest grew as the cafeteria was a success.
Havana is an area that received supplied meat and produce at a large portion, thus the area became a hot spot for the hungry customers. This was one of the reason’s of the cafeteria success. Some of the menus of the cafeteria include hamburgers, sandwiches as well as refreshing drinks of beer, tropical juice, milk shake, coffee, etc. Another reason behind the success of the cafeteria is the fresh ingredients. As the cafeteria is close to food vendors, it is never hard to buy fresh ingredients.
Raul helped in the cafeteria every summer holiday, even when he was still a child at that time. He helped out by serving customers and also bought them the merchandise. As a child, he enjoyed being able to be of service and met new people every day. At that time, he did not realize that the simple works he did at the cafeteria became an important experience for his later life.
He never forgot all the details in his serving work and some of the details had helped him to grow his own restaurant. As the success of the cafeteria grew, the family decided to buy and operate a hostel. It was Raul’s mother who cooked all the meals served in the hostels, and even though Raul did not help out in the hostel, he knew the daily routine and the basic things about the hospitality industry.
At the age of 23, Raul Sanchez decided to move to the United States. At that time, he had only five dollars in his pocket. He first spent two weeks in Miami before decided to travel to Washington D.C. and joined his uncle who arrived a month before him. After several jobs, finally Raul joined his uncle’s restaurant by being a server. After being joined by his mother and opened a successful rooming house, they decided to open Al Caribe, their new restaurant. This was the start of Cactus Cantina.
