Ubaldo "Laz" Molina makes a Cuban sandwich as his wife Leyanis takes a customer's order at The Cuban Guy Cafe & Grill on U.S. 90.
Molina said he goes to the grocery store every morning so he can craft his dishes from the freshest ingredients available. He focuses on buying organic produce, as well as low-sodium and GMO-free products. Now Molina is planning to open a permanent location next to IHOP inside a Chevron gas station. Construction begins in January. And he's thinking even bigger than that. Molina said he wants to sell the first franchise for about $30,000 within the next two years and expand his company throughout North Florida. "I don't think it's impossible. I think it's possible," Molina said. Although he's striving for success with his business now, it hasn't always been easy for him. It's been a rod paved with hard work and dedication since he left Cuba in 1989. Molina remembers watching his father cook while he was growing up in Cuba. He and his four brothers would run to the table, ready to eat delicious family meals together, he said. But he left his homeland and family to escape communism when he was only 18 years old.
When he arrived in Key West, he was searching for a life with more freedom and opportunity. "It was hard," he said. He had to sleep on a bridge one night because he had no family with him and was trying to find work. "It's a big country for 18 years old," Molina said. But he sought help and asked for work until he got a job, Molina said. "What do you want to do?" a man asked him. "Whatever you want. I have to work," he responded. He ended up working for that man, who became a father figure to him, for years. He started at $3.55 per hour and ended at $9 per hour at the man's welding shop.
Molina eventually opened his own restaurant in Miami called Latin American Restaurant at the age of 35. That's when he started to cook professionally. Now 45, he remembers the advice a teacher gave him years ago that really inspired him: "Laz, whatever you want to do, if you do it, you have to put your heart" in it. Now he uses his passion for Cuban cuisine to give back to the community he feeds. On the side of his food truck, "God Bless You" is spelled out in pink cursive lettering, a symbol that he donates 10 percent of his profits to fighting breast cancer.
Laz looks back to when he was talking to God one day and he said if he wins the Lotto or is rich he wants to donate half the money to those in need. "But I want to do it in hand by hand," he added. But Molina does not seek recognition for his good deeds. He just wants to do the right thing. "I think it's good to help your people," Molina said.