Roger is the brother of my Torreon host – Ricardo. I would end up spending a lot of time with Roger most afternoons during my 9 days in Torreon. Roger has a coffee roasting company with ambitions of being one of the ten richest Mexicans in Mexico someday. Ricardo, Roger and another brother in Mexico City use to have one of the biggest coffee shop businesses in Mexico with 37 coffee shows all across Mexico. Unfortunately the story did not end well with Roger becoming an alcoholic and drug addict eventually finding himself in one of the worst prisons in Mexico.
Fortunately for Roger the story does not end there and Roger’s story of redemption is truly inspirational. A story about Rogers life and experiences can be found HERE. The article is in Spanish. You can find a Google translated version of the story at the bottom of this page. The journalist that wrote that article was Luis Carlos Valdes. Thanks to Roger, Luis also interviewed me for a newspaper article.
A coffee empire in it’s infancy
Visiting one of Rogers favorite restaurants
With Luis of Milenio Newspaper and Roger
Rogelio Mendoza Cerda’s life has been linked to business successes. The founding partner of firms such as The Buzz Café, which in 2005 planned to open more than a hundred branches throughout Mexico, made him see a promising future. Graduated from UCLA where he studied Economics and Finance in California, the lagoon man, possessing a charismatic personality, was making his way into the business world; so it was. Disconnected from coffee shops, he started a new business in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City. The road was not easy and emotionally damaged, over the years he returned to the origin, Torreón where with the support of family and friends like Sergio, he starts a new project: Innocent Coffee Roaster, a coffee roaster that seeks to fight with the best, in the competitive world of coffee. However, business success has a side that is not presumed, nor does it appear on social media, and many prefer to keep it hidden from press interviews. But Rogelio, now 48 years old, is aware of his role and recognizes that there are still things to solve and many goals to achieve in his life, although for that, you have to hit rock bottom to be able to resurface. How is your personality? I am a very outgoing person, but with guarded feelings. Reserved in my affections, thoughts and philosophy of life. However, within there was an internal conflict that grew into adulthood. My father was an alcoholic, I grew up afraid that things would turn out well for me; It is true, I did not lack what was necessary. What was Rogelio like as a child? I was a happy child. He was funny, infatuated with school girls. Since I was a child I liked doing business. Washing cars, shining shoes, selling his mother’s magazines. I wasn’t motivated by money, just the idea of doing something. Do you have any hobby? I like the job. I have not worked to receive pay at the end of the week. I see it as a hobby, always with the idea of creating something. I read a lot. I love biographies of historical figures or business people; characters such as Alexander the Great, Aristotle Onassis, John F. Kennedy, Napoleon, among others. Knowing that they were dreamers, productive, how they pursue their goals, how they did to change history. How much have these characters influenced your life? Much. I started reading when my parents went to Soriana Colón to the books and magazines department. I didn’t have a poor childhood, but I wanted more and by reading these stories, I began to see that anything was possible. There are no impossibilities in life, everything is achieved by following the right steps. Do you identify yourself as a very restless person, who is always in search of something more? I was always curious, I was always restless. I do not have depressive tendencies, but rather I am a bit manic, I have a lot of energy, ideas come to me very quickly, I have always wanted more and more, and this has been part of my personality and I like this. Being outgoing and energetic, people perceive me as very confident, but no. I am constantly doubting my ability. I know that anything is possible, but I look in the mirror in the morning and I see myself less than I would like to be. There is fear that things will go wrong as well as those that will go well. Growing up in a dysfunctional home, you don’t get used to constant well-being. I’m used to fighting for the things I want, because when they come suddenly and easily, I don’t believe it. Has this helped you not fall into a comfort zone? Of course. With therapy and after hitting rock bottom, I found that something that moved me. Today I accept that I have gifts and abilities like everyone else. That I like them and instead of rejecting them, I appreciate them. It was not like this in the past. I even had to act the part of the successful and dynamic entrepreneur, although it was, but the moment came when I had to act it. I started drinking and taking drugs to relax from work and mental stress and be able to deal with rejection, not people, of my own rejection. Can you identify what could have influenced your previous business experiences? I did well at The Buzz Café but I just did things and sabotaged myself. There were legal issues that I would not have allowed if I had been emotionally well. My dad committed suicide when I was 21, it was all trying to escape, but there comes a time when neither alcohol nor drugs can help you. In Mexico I set up a business in the Condesa that was a benchmark and the same thing happened. I lost everything. I even spent nights in a park because I had nowhere to sleep, consumed by resentments, hatred, it is something that I do not wish on anyone. People try to help you but they didn’t want to. It is a disease that lives in you. Until I hit rock bottom, and I had a spiritual connection with God where I saw that I had to change. So I went back to Torreón. How has this process been to resume your personal and business life? Hard. When I returned to Torreón, my mother died of cancer within a few months. It was rebuilding you from scratch, since everything fell after 43 years of my life. I began to rebuild myself by healing emotions since I was a child, with psychological help, support groups, and opening myself to accept help in a genuine way. It was hard for me to say again that I am an entrepreneur, and this is what I like to be. How does this moment of analysis occur? I go to the gym, I get up at four thirty in the morning; I start to pray and thank the day. I go over my schedule for the day, allowing me to deal with my fears; It is like a kind of ritual that when I get dressed, I convince myself that it is possible, and I tell myself to the mirror that I am worth it and I regain strength; As the day goes by and everything flows, things get easier. There are many taboos, we live in a society and more with social networks, that people say that they have a great time, and admitting that you have screwed up or something wrong has been done and you have problems, it is hard work and you do not want to accept . What do you enjoy in life? Coffee roasting is a hobby for me. We started the business with five kilos and now we roast 100 kilos a day on average. There are times when I come to the toaster, it is like a temple for me, I turn on the machine and make myself an espresso or a cappuccino, I roast coffee, I read. I like to walk, I do deep meditation, I have not been a hobby person. I’m a happy person. The day does not tire me. One of the hobbies I want to have is rebuilding espresso machines. https://www.milenio.com/estados/rogelio-mendoza-meditar-tostar-cafe-quitan-miedo-recomenzar
