Have you ever played that game where you have to find the differences between two pictures? Shortly after our photographer shot Mick, he uploaded an Instagram photo in front of their menu board announcing that they are now open both Saturdays and Sundays! That's a Karma burger any day of the week. Winning.
This may be our second installment, but there's more to his story. Karma will come back around soon enough. In the meantime, remind Mick to smile more.
Read our interview with Mick Schepers of Mick's Karma Bar, Part One. (Get your reading glasses out for that one!)
And now, on to Part Two. . . .
Where did you grow up? If you're not from Orange County, what brought you here?
I grew up in Castelldefels, Spain; a beach town a few miles south of Barcelona. Went to University in the UK, where I met my wife. We operated some restaurants over there for a period of time. We came to the OC in 1998, two years after our first daughter was born, primarily for the reason that in the restaurant business you never get to see your kids.
What other professions have you had?
None, really. Graduated as an electrical and mechanical engineer, studied most modules for a MBA, and never finished my final project.
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Hardest lesson you've learned:
Probably this one: I would never open an amenity at the bottom of an office building again, because you are susceptible to bubbles (where you customers just evaporate). This is not the first bubble. There was the dot com bubble. I was lucky that mortgage companies grew, and my catering elsewhere exploded. Today, I am lucky I am in the individual customer business, right out of a mixed use project in Irvine. Not a hamburger store, really, or a juice bar, or a cafe. Completely driven by the social network.
For me, I will be at Main Plaza as long as my landlord sees some value having me as a tenant, possibly the strangest amenity ever. We sell only a handful of products, just because I chose to execute the product that the social network wanted in the best possible way, and forgot the rest of the menu. People consistently ask me how I did it. In my old age, I consider it a good sign when people come out of nowhere (to order) via their telephones.
Are you superstitious?
If anything can go wrong it will. Anything left to its own means will turn into chaos.
Favorite holiday:
Boating holiday on the river Thames. Kind of strange, but actually a lot of fun.
What's the toughest thing about being a parent?
Making time to see your kids.
Last thing you looked up/searched online:
Chorizo and isolated soy product. Yes, soy products in Spanish chorizo. Spanish chorizo makers put isolated soy protein to add water and vegetable oil to produce a chorizo that has less cholesterol and that is better for you. If only pigs could fly, pork fat back is a valuable product. Isolated soy protein is some processed leftover stuff. I have no idea which product is good for you!
What would you be doing if you weren't in this business?
I have no idea, but I'd most likely be bankrupt!
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A contributing writer for OC Weekly, Anne Marie freelances for multiple online and print publications, and guest judges for culinary competitions. A Bay Area transplant, she graduated with a degree in Hospitality Management from Cal Poly Pomona. Find her on Instagram as brekkiefan.