An Interview with our Store Manager, Alejandro
EMILY: Okay. Hi, Alejandro. Thanks for joining me. All right, so let's just jump right into it. My first question is what got you interested in food and or food retail?
ALEJANDRO: I honestly love people, so I love people of all walks of life. I love people of different places. And I think that food really just connects and unites all of us. When we all collaborate and come together in a space, I just think we make beautiful things happen. So that's what originally interested me to work at a grocery.
EMILY: Yeah, I was going to say like, food is definitely the great unifier, but definitely you see that come through in a grocery store. Right? I feel like it was never made more clear than during the pandemic when it was like, okay, these are the things that will stay open-- you can count them on one hand: grocery store.
EMILY: Next question is a little bit more specific. If you're kind of like, you know, you're not going to have a lot of time to make dinner but you're hungry. You want to bring home something yummy and fresh. What's your favorite go-to Luke's dinner?
ALEJANDRO: The first one that comes to mind would absolutely have to be a Zero Zero pizza. The second thing that comes to mind, I know. Plagiarizing. The second thing that comes to mind would be our Luke's fried chicken.
EMILY: That's a good one. I don't think anyone has said that yet.
ALEJANDRO: Yeah, great go to quick dinner. Delicious. I looooove fried chicken. You're getting your protein.
EMILY: Do you like to pair the fried chicken with anything?
ALEJANDRO: I like to make my own rice with it. So I'll do like a fried rice. I'll just get home and quickly throw like a fried rice together. Sometimes I'll do like sautéed veggies on the side as well. So I'll do the fried rice, our chicken, some veggies.
EMILY: Is your fried rice usually like odds and ends, what you need to finish up in your fridge, or do you have certain elements that you're like, this must be in my fried rice?
ALEJANDRO: We don't usually have leftovers, I don't like to have any extra food that might get wasted. And so I will make the rice from scratch. And we'll usually finish it!
EMILY: Sweet. Okay. And we wanted to talk a little bit about the holidays, obviously, since 'tis the season. Very exciting for us. Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving dish that you always look forward to making or just eating every year?
ALEJANDRO: Stuffing. I love Stuffing.
EMILY: Are you a traditional stuffing kind of guy or do you like to dabble in like, a cornbread stuffing?
ALEJANDRO: Pretty traditional.
EMILY: Do you usually make it yourself or..
ALEJANDRO: I make it myself. I love stuffing and mashed potatoes. I just love mashed potatoes, I don't know what it is about them but I just loved mashed potatoes.
EMILY: The last question for us is going to be about food memories. You might've been in a meeting where I asked this question. What is the first food memory that comes to mind when you think of childhood?
ALEJANDRO: I would say for me, it was Christmas ..just watching my mom make tamales... that's how I knew that it was holidays, because of all the amazing food. For me, the holidays were never about what are you going to get, it was always about...who're going to eat that food with? You're going to come together and have a great time and enjoy each other's company. So for me, food, once, again, like you said, is the unifier.
EMILY: And do you have a favorite tamale? Mine's pork.
ALEJANDRO: Mine is jalapeno and cheese
EMILY: ..oh, yum. I don't think I've ever had a jalapeno and cheese tamale.
ALEJANDRO: I make them from habaneros, but nobody can really eat those except me because they're so spicy!
EMILY: Ohh I would try it.
ALEJANDRO: Yes?? Okay. So I'll make you one cue.
EMILY: Yay! Thank you Alejandro!
ALEJANDRO: Thank you Emily!
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