'Wax On, Wax Off' | Local business owner creates mentorship program at West End restaurant
La Bodega Market and Pupuseria invest in their most valuable commodity – their community.
WEST END, ATL. — “It’s so hard to find good help these days.”
This well-trod lament has often been used as the unofficial motto of the ‘beleaguered employer’ since the dawn of time.
However in a post-pandemic world, the term ‘good help’ has taken on an entirely new definition.
And whether we like it or not, that’s not likely to change anytime soon.
However, not one local business-owner in particular doesn’t necessarily see it as a one-sided scenario.
Meet Jeannette Flores-Katz.
“It’s our job, you know, as business owners to look out for the future of our communities,” contends Katz, co-owner & operator of La Bodega Market & Pupusería.
Located inside of the MET Atlanta on Murphy Avenue, mere walking distance from the southwest loop of the southwest BeltLine and the West End MARTA station.
La Bodega references the neighborhood corner stores from fellow co-owner and spouse, Ken Katz’s upbringing in the Big Apple background, and Pupusería refers to the thick, corn tortilla commonly found in Jeannette’s home country of El Salvador.
After discovering from years of operating their original (and now-defunct) downtown Atlanta location, Buenos Dias Cafe near Georgia State University that finding ‘good help’ was not simply a one-way street, the Katzes adopting a more flexible management philosophy that has served them quite well of the past decade.
Last summer, that ideology evolved even further.
Their mentorship program, affectionately dubbed, ‘Wax On, Wax Off’ after the teaching philosophy used the beloved 1984 martial-arts film, ‘The Karate Kid,’ started employing high-school students from area schools to much success.
“We all complain about the new generation. That they have no values, that they’re always on the phone, but are teaching them?” Jeannette tells Vox Pop ATL.
“As a mentor or as a business person, if you want to have good employees; teach them, train them, and challenge them.”
By creating a more a ‘Mom & Pop’ mentor vs manager-style environment with their staff, Ken & Jeannette have not only created a dedicated and loyal staff, but a family-like bond with several of their employees.
Several of whom that have even gone onto their fields of studies have kept in close contact with the Katzes. While other staff have gone onto encourage their own family members to seek employment at La Bodega.
Ken actually is going to officiate the wedding of one of their former employees.
Located a stone’s throw to the left of the giant cinder block MET letters of the MET Atlanta entrance, La Bodega. is open for breakfast and lunch from 8:00 am - 3:00 pm, Monday through Friday and 9:00 am on Saturdays.
For more information about the La Bodega Market & Pupusería, visit their websites here.
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