#17 Event Space & Experience: Thaime Nañez Owner of The Farmhouse Paint Bar & Banquet Hall, Chucho’s Red Taco, Thaime.Biz & Fridafest!

Episode #17 
Thaime Nañez
Owner of The Farmhouse Paint Bar & Banquet Hall 

The Farmhouse Pain Bar & Banquet Hall 
4511 S. 6th St.  Milwaukee, WI. 
[phone] 
[e-mail]  www.farmhouseart.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FarmhousePaintandsipbarandcafe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmhousepaintbarandhall/

Chucho’s Red Taco 
4511 S. 6th St.  Milwaukee, WI. 
[phone] 
[e-mail] 

Fridafest https://www.facebook.com/events/395140593286192?ref=newsfeed

Host: Mario Ortiz Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mario-ortiz-b4881931/
Facebook: @MrOrtizMKE
Instagram: @MrOrtizMKE
email: [e-mail]
Red Planet Worx, LLC

Host: Carmen Lerma
Facebook: @Lerma3
Instagram: @carmenlerma711

[e-mail]

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Episode Transcript

(00:11):
Welcome back to another episode and newseason of the General Session podcast, where
we dive into inspiring stories of trailblazingentrepreneurs, event planners, community leaders,
and innovators. Today, we havea truly remarkable guest whose multifaceted career and
entrepreneurial spirit are nothing short of inspirational. A powerhouse entrepreneur who wears many hats,

(00:31):
the creative mind behind the unique Paintand Sip Farmhouse and the amazing Chucho's
Red Tacos. Her events base isthe home of friedof s, which we'll
unravel a little later. She's alsoa seasoned business expert dedicated to empowering fellow
entrepreneurs. So, without further ado, please welcome Dim Nan Yees. Thank

(00:55):
you, thank you, thank youfor being on the podcast. Many that
welcome from being here with us.It's kind of our comeback episode and I
appreciate that you be part of ourepisodes coming back. Harman, how are
you doing. I'm doing okay,enjoying the weather, nice and hot and
muggy. Yeah, it is verymuggy. We wanted to highlight you time

(01:19):
it because you've done you're known inthe community and you, like I said,
in the beginning, we wear manyhats. Can you tell us a
little bit about yourself, a littlebit of background about yourself and what inspired
you to start these two really orthree unique different businesses. So I'm from

(01:41):
Venezuela. So I'm a first timeor first generational immigrant. I was eighteen
when I came here. My momwas living here, so I came to
visit her and then I stay withher. And yes, I guess entrepreneurship
was are you used to do itas a younger version of myself? But

(02:02):
I wasn't very successful when I didit back home. I didn't understand finances.
But then here I went to schoolfor accounting and had a corporate job,
and then eventually I decided to tryentrepreneurship. And that's how the Farmhouse
was born in twenty sixteen. Isthat when it started? Is that both

(02:25):
the Taco tuol Tacos and thea SOtwo Chose te Chose was born during the
pandemic, and it was in responseto not having the festivals. It was
really important for us to despite theso our main goal when the pandemic was

(02:50):
to generate sales and keep the businessalive. And one of the challenges that
my coach put on us was youhave to make this season you're most successful
ever and were. At first wewere like, what thuring acolo pandemic?
But we were up for the challenge, and that's what happened as we started

(03:12):
to think about options on how sosince we couldn't do much with our paintings
tip besides operating online, which itdid really well for us, but it
wasn't enough. So that's when wecreated Tuto's so people could eat outside.
So then we built a truck,parked it outside and decided to specialize on
Bria tacos. Yeah, they lookedfantastic tacos. Yes, and sorry for

(03:38):
that. I killed the name beginning. But have you had those tacos?
No? I haven't been there,but I've had them from there. So
somebody went and bought some. Okay, I want to go. I may
have to taste dumb. My veryfirst time trying Beria was in the best
I had a bad expece and itwas directly Mexico. I went to Mexico

(04:03):
and it wasn't what I expected.But apparently it's good to everybody else as
the best place, and I'm like, okay, but maybe I'll try yours.
I don't. Yeah, everybody makesthem differently. Give it a second
try, maybe, yeah, you'llhave a better experience. And it wasn't
even tacos. I think it wasmore like, you know, the whole

(04:23):
experience was great. It's just thatI expected. And they had this whole
thing about oh, it tastes almostlike chicken, and of course I said,
oh, okay, I'll try it. Well, yeah, it tastes
nothing like chicken. It was inthe ground the way they cook it.
Oh, so they had it smokedin the ground and covered and that place

(04:46):
was packed and here visiting from hereand everybody seating video like nothing, and
I'm asking them if they have chickenbecause I couldn't talk about it's right,
Sorry, maybe that was goat.No. I yeah, cooking it in
the ground is like a technique thatit's like they had it completely clear,

(05:06):
but it was covered completely and Imean it's smell good. I just the
taste was I wasn't expecting it.Yeah, so we don't do the goat,
so we use the seasoning that goesinto the real but we make it
only with beef, so then Iwill definitely, yes, so we don't

(05:26):
do the goat because we know noteverybody likes goat, so that was going
to be quite the challenge. Sowe decided to make him, make him
yeah, well a little more okayfor sure, to touch a little bit
on the paint and sip. Yes, and that experience. Yes, I
think it's really unique. And ifyou want to talk a little bit about
what the experience is and what youknow people can expect when they go in.

(05:51):
Yes, So when you come inyou pretty much. So you registered
for a class, and it's awhole inclusive experience. So you have the
painting, you have the margarita,and then the food, the tackles included,
so everything is included. You comefor two hours, there is an

(06:11):
artist who paints alone with you andgives you feedback and people love it,
love it. I you know,after so many years, seeing people get
still so excited about painting just bringsa lot of joy to me and the
whole team, the Farmhouse team.I mean, my teams are amazing,

(06:32):
but the Farmhouse team is a happyone. Yes. So you don't have
to have experience to not at all, not just come in registered experience that
will be fun and the paintings areeasy, so most of the time landscapes,

(06:54):
so it's it's it's a lot offun because you can adjust colors and
the are walks you through step bystep awesome. So it's very it's not
intimidating, I think thinking about it, it is, but once you're there,
you're you're surprised on how you howwell you can do with instruction.
Well, I said to myself thatI wanted to try different things from here

(07:17):
on, completely different things out ofmy box that I'm used to doing,
and maybe I'll try that. Imean, I've always loved coloring. I'm
just not very artistic at all.It would be fun to see what my
pain it would look like at theend of the day. It seems like
it's a good activity though, todo, even if you're not a good

(07:39):
artist, right, like what Ilike playing with the colors. It's fun.
It's all inclusive, which is reallyawesome because like most places you're it's
not the stop right, you're gonnahave to go somewhere else to get some
food, but this one includes thefood, the drinks. It's all inclusive
and you have fun and painting.I wouldn't go into it thinking and I'm

(08:00):
going to make this Picasso painting,I will go just to do We do
get a lot of people that arevery detail oriented. Uh so they have
a harder time. So if you'reno, not you. I'm saying,
like, whoever listening to this eithervery detail oriented or you want like everything

(08:20):
perfect. It can become a littleoverwhelming, and it has happened to me.
I got over it. But atthe beginning I was like, these
got to be perfect. I'm Oc D. I want you to know.
So then that means I'm gonna beone of those No, I'm not.
I have fun. Mario on theother end, he doesn't make a
Picasso painting, but he does.You know, he's a painter. He

(08:43):
does a lot of artistic work.Oh yeah, you should see. Oh
wow, he's got tons of Mario. Come on, I haven't drawn a
lot time. Yeah, but hedoes. I do chalk work with sales
chalk black and white of this.Yeah, he's got some and drawing with

(09:07):
with well. That is so truebecause as my younger self, I used
to draw a lot with just apen, and I have a folder with
amazing drawings that sometimes I'm like,I can't believe I did this, yeah,
and but I never had I wasinto painting because my biggest challenge was
mixing colors. So but once Ilearned to mix the colors, then now

(09:33):
I feel more comfortable, a lotmore comfortable with your knowledge of art and
that stuff. Was that what inspiredyou to open up? No, so
my partner, he's into art andall the stuff music, and so he
had the vision for it. Iguess really my job was to take his

(09:54):
vision and make it a business thatwould work. And and that's how I
really that partnership started. But oncewe started operating and I decided to go
full in here, I'm thinking I'mgoing to continue to support more on the
admin HR marketing kind of thing.But no, I was on the floor,

(10:16):
so I was just forced to learnhow to paint. So I wasn't
even a big painter. Then nowI think I do more painting. Yeah,
but now I appreciate not only theart, because I don't think it's
really about the art. It's aboutcreating with people that you really love and
then just having a keepsake to takehome. So that's really what has become
with for me. So building memories, building memory, So I do it

(10:39):
with my girlfriends. I do itwith my family, and we've created pieces
that now you know, like myGrandma's not here, for example anymore,
and my brother has a painting andI have another painting, and it's just
this beautiful thing that I was like, Wow, I was able to capture
a moment and something that person made. She's beautiful. I mean, I

(11:01):
honestly, I'm not very artistic atall. I do events, I organize
events. I'm very detailed, butI'm never been really good. And I
think everybody in my family has thattalent but me. But that's okay.
You got the other talent, though, which is run projects, and I
feel that's totally a gift. That'strue too. I mean I sang.

(11:26):
I used to sing, so thatwas my talent. Oh I cannot sing.
Oh no, I'm terrible saying.So you got a talent? I
definitely don't have. Let me showyou something I know, Mario, that's
his dad. Oh wow, okay, that's good to know. But Marley,

(11:46):
yes, you should do one forFreda Live. I'm telling you,
would you do it live? I'venever worked like that. I always all
those drawings are just drawing, likeI'll sketch it and then come to it
like I'll come back to it,I'll schedule. Oh okay, I haven't
really done anything like live in frontof it. Well that's what I was
kind of proposing that maybe you wantto do it. People love it,

(12:09):
but think about it. Yeah,that would be fun. And then I've
had someone do that in the pastthat they with pastels, they create a
piece and then they action it inpeople. Well, I can probably do
like do a drawing and then haveit auctioned. No, but he paints
it live during the event. Hedoes a great job. But he's so

(12:30):
yeah, he's done several one.I just had to show him up because
I put it to spot right now. Yeah, he doesn't even talk about
that. But he's so talented,you know, in addition to everything all
those other stuff. I mean,he's always been there for me and market
me in all kinds of ways impossible. And I'm like, what about you,

(12:50):
you know, let's talk about allthe stuff that you know how to
do. And he's like, Istay behind this, just stay behind the
wall, like here right behind you. Guys have a lot of different variety
of our pieces, right that youguys do what is one of your favorite
ones that you've that you've done ofour paintings, one of the favorites.
That's a great question, you know, maybe I don't have a favorite from

(13:15):
our collection because I don't know.I think I like things that I create.
Like if I pick so I dothis with my friends, I pick
up a painting from Painterests and thenI do the painting with them, that
is what will be my favorite.But when we create for the customer,

(13:37):
we're thinking more about how can wemake this fun, colorful, easy,
something that will look good on theirwall. Now that isn't my favorite,
you know, but I think it'sbecause I'm thinking with a different purpose.
But our paintings, the ones thatwe do post, they are are best
because usually like we pick up atheme or one paint for the month,

(13:58):
and that's the class that we have, and we can have one, two,
three, up to four classes onthat same painting, so we stay
within the same painting and then wemove on to the next one. How
often do you do the sessions orhow often do are the classes? So
it really goes by demand, whichis very different how we originally started.
We used to have like we usedto operate six days a week two three

(14:24):
classes, if not sometimes have tofive classes a day. So when COVID
happened and we had to rethink ourbusiness, we got an opportunity to think
on the model and what was themost deficient for Because of staffing problems at
that time, we had big staffingproblems to operate with the staff that we
had, so our customer service isvirtual, but then we needed the artists

(14:48):
and the assistance, and bottom lineis we decided to consolidate the classes that
used to have ten, fifteen,twenty people into one. So we launch
a class the Thursday of every month, and if it sells out, we
open more days, so it's usuallyforty seats and then yeah, we open

(15:09):
the next one every Thursday of everymonth, right unless it's a sold out
class, so then we open itup for Friday, and then when there
is a second sold out, weopen one first Saturday. So that's how
we do it. And then ifthere's a fourth one, we move it
to next week and most likely it'sa Friday or a Saturday, depending because

(15:30):
we also do hor rentals. Yeah, yes, so people rent us a
lot for the baby showers Graduation girlsyou know, celebration, all the things
you can miss it, car rentals, all rentals, and it's isn't a
unique size. It's about forty ninethat we can have in there. So
it's it's not too big. It'sa space that is not too big,

(15:54):
but at the same time, it'snot just a small. Yeah size is
that it has the gradual has thegarage stores right now, it has a
little patio. So it also getsbooked a lot for private events. So
as long as there's not a conflictwith the schedule, then we're good.
But that's how we do it,and we find it that this way is

(16:17):
so much easier to operate. Isthe most profitable has ever been with this
new model. Maybe revenue it's slightlydifferent, but at the end of the
day, you know, it leavesmore. So I like that you open
it up for court like events likea corporate I would think like a corporate

(16:38):
company or like like, oh yeah, we have team buildings all the time.
Right now, we're going to havenonprofit that is running a small camp,
kids camp and they're going to hostit there. We've had gamers come
out and have like their game nightsout there, and actually they blocked overfall,

(16:59):
so it's it's a multi use spacewith sprinkles of our classes. Oh
and we get also a lot ofprivate classes where people say, well,
we don't only want the hall,we want the full experience. So then
they have their own private class andthose are the best. You still provide
that, Like if say five peoplewant to do a private session, you

(17:21):
guys are going it's up to ithas to be after twenty up to twenty.
Well, sometimes the minimum is twenty. We'll host a private class and
have an artist, yes for youfor twenty people. But if you have
let's say you only have fifteen,still the minimum is twenty. So sometimes
when that happens, which is notvery often, people pay the difference to

(17:42):
have their class. But that's what'sthen worth it for us. A minimum
with twenty people, but they havea blast, and we have a TV
and sometimes they put karaoke and theydo all these things. Okay, I
was gonna speaking of I'm actually lookingfor a small space to do a class.
It's what I call lunch and learnsthrough my job. So we need

(18:06):
to connect. Yes, some ofthese are not very large at all,
but some of our members, sothat's good to know. Plus I get
calls all the times and venues forrentals that they're looking for, so this
is good. I'm learning as I'msitting here. It's another nice thing I

(18:26):
read on your page of the rentalspaces. You can bring your own food.
Oh yes, or you can caterfrom us. The only thing we
don't allow because of our liquor licenseis alcohol barden. Yeah we have.
They have really strict restrictions on that, so but yeah, otherwise, yeah,
you can bring food. You havegood tackles there. But it's like

(18:48):
if you were to do an event. It's also nice to know that you
can bring in food for sure.Yes, yeah, that's great. Does
it come with anything else, likeif someone wants to rent the spaces there,
like the sound you carry out,Like, yeah, so I had
the sound and we have a soundthe sound system, Yeah, sound system,

(19:08):
I guess, yeah, and wehave a TV so they can connect
to it and play videos and musicgoing on. Yeah, it's a fun
space. My family also uses ita lot because I have a bigger family.
That's awesome. And what I likeis that it's not right off the
curve, so you want, youknow, you have a little parking spot.

(19:30):
It's really homie, like you know. And right now we're in the
process of getting it ready for FreedomFest, which is in two weeks.
And it's so nice too, likewe're always improving something so it gets really
pretty Like right now, it's like, I'm so excited because I go out

(19:52):
time and how pretty flowers a littlebit of Freedom Fest and like what I
went to it, it was awesomewith in the last year. It would
definitely go again. But it hasso much activities. You can talk a
little bit about it, but ohmy goodness, I don't think I will
remember everything. I think last yearwhen you had it, I was invited,
but I was at another event andhave enough time. I do events.

(20:15):
I'm out in the community a lot, so it's really most of the
bigger events are on the weekends.But I heard it was great. Alena
loved it. Yeah, I havesomeone Alena sounds she won like the lookalike
contest. Okay, your first timekind of going and she loved it,

(20:37):
And I feel like we've missed out. There's a lot of activity of bands
and dancing vendors. Well, Iknow that one of my friends goal to
the event and her name is Christellaand she's just so you know, she
gets really excited. Yeah. Soshe's been a volunteer in the past too.
She's amazing. But you know,I think Freda Fest is a community

(21:02):
event where it's not only yes,we have the painting and we have food,
but there is also this year therewill be about sixty vendors with their
crafts and these are people that don'thave spaces to display their work and this
is an amazing event where they getthey get to yeah like have this and

(21:22):
so community event from the vendors,but then also the people like come that
want to learn about Freda. Uh. And it's just so diverse. I
would you know, I probably wouldsay, oh, it's all Hispanics,
but no, it's extremely diverse.Dancing even it was like so mixed culture.
It was awesome, like oh yeahbecause there is somebody there are some

(21:47):
of that goes down. I thinkit's on well, yes and no.
So we have some of dancing onSaturday and then we have a samba group
got closes on Sunday. So obviouslythat's not a Mexican but the way it
fits in is lively and it's happyand it's and that's the vibe of Freeda

(22:08):
Fese. It's like, if youwant to have a good time, you
know, get pictures with amazing artinstallations. And yeah, I think there
was an artist outside in that littlegreen area that you had that was doing
something with that's the one I wastelling you, Yes, I love Yeah,
he was painting. He's not comingback this year because he moved away,

(22:30):
but that was a really fun thing. But yeah, Freda Fest is
it's it's a whole thing. Sowe have the vendors, we have the
community itself, the neighbors, andthen we have the performers, which they're
carefully selected and they're amazing. They'reamazing, and they're just as excited to
come because I think they love thecrowd. We've had some of them that

(22:52):
have come all the years. Thisis our fifth year and they really enjoy
it. Yeah, the crowd wasreally engaging myself too, and Alina.
I don't know too much advances,but it gets you involved. They do
a lot of interacting with the crowdsand everything. So it definitely was a
nice and it all happens organically.What's crazy is that I really don't like

(23:14):
tell the artists like what to door nothing. It's like, okay,
you're going on at this time,just make sure you're here for setup.
Now it's gotten to the point wherewe have to have two stages because there's
so many things. So we havea mini stage on the bigger stage so
that gives us enough time for theartists to set up. Because there was
one year that we had to cutone artist or you know, performance to

(23:36):
twenty five minutes and they got paidthe same, but they still got so
mad because their art, right,they love their art, they love doing
their things. So they were like, we were not able to show you
know, exactly everything everything that wedo. And I said, I promise
it's not personal, but we needto get the other man on stage.
You had two stages last year oryou Yeah, so it will be the

(23:59):
same thing. Yeah. So itsaid just vendors, vendors, So you
have resources vendors. Oh, that'sa great question. So most of our
resources this year we don't have thatmany. Usually Planned Parenthood will be part
of it and other organizations right nowI cannot remember, but oh Lola's New

(24:19):
Beginnings they were part of it too, But this year, mainly our resources
will be the sponsors. So bitstarts as our title sponsor this year.
They've been so supportive for the pasttwo years, and and then we have
Montary Market and other so they willbe there. I don't know if Monetary
Market will have a booth, butthey usually support. They usually support all

(24:44):
National Bank will be there. Theyare another sponsor as well, So those
are our main ones. But yeah, we have other ones. A lot
of artisans there booth wise, Ohgosh, they were. That the vendors
bring to the event is just incredible, Like I am so proud of every

(25:04):
vendor. Not only that, butI've seen some vendors that the first Freedom
was their first event ever, andthey keep coming back and they're doing even
better because the first year I willgive them feedback like hey, you might
need to like have this option forthemo or cash up like I would just

(25:25):
give them, or you need tolike move something here, you know,
just to help them do sell more, more and faster. So yeah,
so they implemented it. So I'mlike, oh, well, that feels
good that they take it as like, oh, she's really trying to help
us and not tell us what todo when it's always good advice to have

(25:45):
Yeah, for sure, and Ithink they see that I'm Henuina genuine about
it, and so they take it. Well, we need to talk because
these are the type of events thatI also light to sponsor. Oh so
well, yes, well Selena iscoming, so maybe we can talk about

(26:06):
that one. Yes, Selena.Yeah, that one is coming up.
Salon. Selena is August seventeenth.We're doing only one day and July thirteenth,
right, just thirteenth and fourteen,fourteenth thirteenth, so it will be
two days for again July July thirteenthand fourteenth, that's for Freda and the
Selena is August seventeenth, Okay,trying to think there's there's so many things

(26:33):
happening. I know in August thatI want to make sure. Yeah,
and I think that's the last weekbefore kids go back to school, so
we want to be part of that. Okay. I love the Selena event.
Also, I wasn't there, butI didn't go to that one was
amazing too. Yeah, it wasreally good. One last question of yeah,
to close it out, we appreciateit again for you to come out,

(26:56):
I was that's okay, we'll repeat, we'll repeat, if you can
go back and give yourself one pieceof advice before starting an entrepreneur journey.
What would that be. Oh wow, that's a great question. I think
I would say faith, like havefaith in your dreams and your ability,

(27:18):
and that even if you dream it, it's not impossible, like if you
can see it, like somehow it'sgoing to happen if you have faith in
it, so you can see ityet, but you know it's there,
so that will be my So ifyou can dream it, you can build
it, Yes, for sure,because I you know, as a younger

(27:41):
person, as a younger self,I think being an entrepreneur was always a
dream and I tried it and itdidn't go so well for many reasons.
And then I shift to corporate,the corporate world. I got a professional
career in accounting. But then Ifeel like I still brought me right back,
but a little more educated and smarter. I think that's why at that

(28:07):
time, at this time, itdid work. So I think that was
faith working behind the scenes, likeOkay, you're you're on the right track,
but we need to like do thisbefore you get there. But you
have to believe in yourself. Youknow, it's a lot of work and
you can't. You know, youdon't let people hold you back, you
do fool you that, yes,yes, and it's great. Yeah.

(28:32):
So I think it's faith in theworld and in yourself. Yeah. No,
I appreciated those great advice. Andwe'll put all the contact information for
the Freedom Fest for all of thatin terms of contact. But if you
want any other way that they want, you know, listeners to contact you,
you can go ahead and then seeit now or else will list it
anyway on the podcast. Yeah,so very interested in coming to Freeda Fest,

(28:56):
then I would say go to thefarm house uh page, which is
farmhouse art dot com. And thenif you want to get delicious tacos the
best Beyria Tacos in Milwaukee and inthe Midwest soon uh go to Chu Chos,

(29:17):
Redtacos dot com. Chose Redtackles dotcom. Yes, or even if
you google like number one Beeria inMilwaukee and we're gonna be in the search.
Yeah, we worked hard to beranked that way. Well, thank
you time out again, taking fortaking time out, thank you for having
been here with us, and we'llfollow up and hopefully we can do one

(29:38):
at your location. We can takesome shots and stuff for sure. That
would be great. Great to meetyou, good to meet, to connect.
Yes, thank you so much,you're welcome, Thank you well,
thank you for listening, and untilnext time. This is the General Session Podcast