The problem is, Rivera never intended to sell the meat.
The New York City native and barbecue enthusiast fell in love with the piquant sauce he tried at a Mets game in 2009. He wanted to recreate it at home, and that quest led him to leave a stable job as an executive chef and enroll in culinary school.
By 2019, he was selling his own sauce that evoked the flavors of traditional Puerto Rican cuisine, using the name “Father and Son” and featuring a snapshot of him and his son stirring a pot on the label.
After that, Rivera, who was forced to stay at home due to the pandemic and an injury, tried to gather information on the internet.
In 2021, he started selling the sauce on weekends at Gun Hill Brewery in the Allerton section of the Bronx, but it closed last month. A friend brought in a meat smoker to make it easier for customers to try samples of the sauce. The food was gone within three hours, he said.
“The food was better than the sauce,” he said. “The breadwinner was the food.”
What Rivera thought would just be a weekend operation is now turning into something else, he said. With help from his wife, Jasity Soltero, their 17-year-old son, Mason, and cousins ​​when needed, he's trying to turn it into a full-time small business. Rivera has created a menu featuring his own take on Puerto Rican staples like roast pork and yellow rice with pigeon peas. He wants people to remember that indigenous Puerto Ricans also barbecued meat.
“His brisket is the best I've ever had,” chef Miguel Antonio Salamanca said at a recent community festival in Co-op City, adding, “I thought this was the place to go.”
Depending on the amount and quality of meat in the sandwich, the price of a meal there can range from as cheap as Rivera's best-selling menu item in New York City to more than $20 elsewhere.
Ben Goldberg, co-founder of the New York Food Truck Association, said challenges and surprises abound, including fluctuating meat prices and rising costs for diesel fuel and paper products. The pandemic has led to more outdoor events, which food vendors say could be more profitable than selling food on the street, he said.
Still, Rivera's business is hard work. He prepares some of his food in a commercial kitchen in Westchester County, which can cost $100 to $300 a pop. He often spends the night in his pickup truck cooking meat for events, and he customizes some of his menu items. Co-op City offers combo plates of meat and three sides for about $20 extra, and also offers hot dogs, fries and juice boxes for family-friendly meals.
Ms. Rivera has had to act quickly, like when her pickup broke down and renting one would have cost her $500 for the weekend, even though she only needed it for a day and a half. Her favorite brioche rolls aren't always available, so she sometimes switches to cheaper options at the last minute.
But there are silver linings: His plan to work full time after three years of nomadic living is keeping him motivated, and his apprentice – his first employee outside of the family – will also help.
“What keeps me going is being at the top with the view from the top,” Rivera said. “Now I just need a staff member I can train and leave alone for a day.”
Produced by Eden Weingart, Andrew Hinderaker Dagny Salas. Developer: Gabriel Janoldri and Alisa Aufrichtig.