Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Rama.
Nick, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in Hong Kong, BCC, moved to Houston and eventually settled in The Woodlands/ Spring area in 1986. Growing up in Hong Kong, dining out was an adventure and my family always loved to experience different restaurants and various types of cuisines… Hong Kong had so much to offer, in terms of great food, whether it was from a street cart or a 5 Star restaurant. Eating out was usually a big event with many courses and sometimes took several hours – which could be challenging, but fun, as a kid.
When I first started working it was in the food industry, where I was everything from the dishwasher, busboy, Prep Cook, host, catering and eventually management, so I definitely have a solid understanding of the restaurant business. I found myself seeking out the best food and restaurants to try. Loved to go out and have a good meal with my friends. I started a dinner of the month club, which was just a bunch of friends that liked to try new places, and we would meet up once a month at a good restaurant that we all wanted to try out.
Soon after that I also became very active on some local Facebook “Foodie” groups and found that people liked what I had to say with my local restaurant suggestions. I thought to myself the North side of Houston never got a lot of love from food critics and some really good restaurants got left off the “best of” or “Top” lists. I started my Nick’s Local Eats and decided to show some love to some of the great mom and pop restaurants of Spring/Woodlands with an annual ranking of my favorite restaurants.
These lists actually opened more doors for me and I started freelance writing for Taste Magazines, Public News, Woodlands Monocle and now my Nick’s Local Eats column in Hello Woodlands online. My articles are not traditional reviews that are only about the restaurant’s food, but more to get to know the owners and chefs of local establishments. I always try to feature great looking pictures of delicious food, to entice people to go try these hidden gems.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
“Nick’s Local Eats” as a brand was a slow start. It started when I created a group called Spring /Woodlands Foodie Tasting and Deals (now called Spring/Woodlands Eateries). I organized a few local restaurant tastings; these are prepaid and usually offer a sampling of the restaurant’s best dishes for a set, but very reasonable price. This was a great way for people to sample a variety of dishes in one sitting and hopefully find a dish or two that they really love, which encourages them to then come back to that restaurant, and also tell their friends and families about their experience.
The participating restaurants get to feature what they want to be known for so Foodies can get a real feel for what that restaurant does best. I created this group originally for anybody to post deals, specials, happy hours or restaurant coupons they find and encouraged restaurants owners and chefs to post as well. My spin-off group has become the most active of my six groups Tomball /Vintage Park Eateries, we have over 9,000 members.
This group of foodies offers people information on dining options that they may have not known about, rather than having someone continually fall back on some of the big, and in my opinion, mediocre chain restaurants. Those places seem to do well mostly in part to their large advertising budgets rather than the quality of their food. Local business owners that don’t have those massive advertising budgets and a lot of time don’t have extra money to run a Groupon or money mailer coupon, so this is a great way to get some exposure for them. Supporting local is what Nick’s Local Eats is all about.
When I post pictures of food and restaurants with a quick review, if just one person goes from seeing a post gets someone else to try it, it’s a win for another local mom and pop. I have always loved giving back to the community, through my contacts and networking we have used Nick’s Local Eats has sponsored many charity events also. We raised money for The Montgomery County Food with an event called Food Trucks for The Food Bank and another event called Crawfish for CASA, raising money for Child Advocates. Many donations came from locally owned restaurants and businesses for silent auctions and raffles.
The biggest challenge I have had to date was during hurricane Harvey, we couldn’t get out of my house and a friend called me to say the firefighters needed some hot meals delivered to them because they were overworked. I messaged a bunch of restaurant owners, chef and caterer friends. We fed those firefighters and then some! I knew so many people affected and wanted to help and so did so many great restaurant owners and members of Nick’s Local Eats.
We started a grassroots efforts that lasted over a week and had a messager feed of over 30 restaurants, and another 30 + volunteers. It was difficult to keep track, but by the end of the week we fed over 20,000 first responders, people in shelters and churches, police, boat armies and even devastated neighborhoods. I couldn’t be more proud to be part of it. I wish I could name every restaurant, chef, caterer and volunteer.
Nick’s Local Eats and Q Up the Burgers – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Nick’s Local Eats is now all across social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. I am just an ordinary guy who knows what I like in food and is passionate about supporting local business and our local “foodie community”. I am not looking for the next 5-star restaurant, I am just looking for great food and places I can take my family and good friends.
I feel all of my groups have changed the local restaurant scene to some extent and brought them new business. I can think of quite a few places whose popularity has really been driven by our groups and have gained new clientele and repeat business from me and all of our member’s posts. It saddens me when a local mom and pop restaurant closes their doors because they just couldn’t make it due to a not so stellar location or people not finding out about them soon enough.
BBQ and Burgers have always been a passion, so in the past few years, my son and I have been traveling Texas to find the best BBQ and Burgers we can find. I rolled out a page called Q Up The BURGERS. The BBQ and burgers game has really evolved into something really special and spectacular in the past few years. Some of the new places and younger pitmaster are doing amazing things locally, you don’t have to drive to Lockhart and Austin to have great BBQ anymore. Life is too short for shitty bbq… Lol!
Currently, I am most proud of our new Nick’s Local Eats – Friday Night Pop Up Market at Palava Family Entertainment Center. This started as a BBQ pop up to bring my friend Larry and Chantal Cashi some more business to their concept. Spring, TX has been in need of something like the Tomball Farmer’s Market, so we created one. It’s more of a family fun night all while supporting local businesses.
Each market will have one featured hot food vendor, along with 20 Local Vendors selling everything from local honey, cakes, macarons, fresh salsas, cold press juices, clothing, treats, natural snacks, local coffee, natural dog food, Indian food, sauces, jams, home decor. We have cooking demos, live entertainment, Face Painting and inside Palava, Laser Tag, Miniature Golf and a climbing structure for the kids. We will have a mobile photo booth at our next one on March 30th. We plan to do this from 4 pm – 8 pm the last Friday of every month.
I have to say I can’t take all the credit, my wife, Claudia has helped me so much, along with my admins that keep all the groups free of spam and most of the time free from keyboard warrior drama. I have met so many people since I have started this and have made some really good friends too. All of the groups can be found at the top of Nick’s Local Eats Facebook page. I am currently working on finishing a website with best of lists and my restaurant rankings, people are always messaging me for these lists, so a website was the next step. Nick’s Local Eats has also been media sponsors for area festivals. www.nickslocaleats.com.
Join our six Facebook groups:
-For Food News Stories, Blogs, Articles, Events, soft openings and Food Recalls:
Here is the link to join “Nick’s Local Eats”: https://www.facebook.com/groups/931926920160957/
“Spring /Woodlands Eateries” formerly known as “Spring/ Woodland’s Tasting and Deals”
Here is the link to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/232356890253744/
We also launched “Tomball/Vintage Park Eateries” formerly known as “Tomball/Vintage Park area Foodie Tasting and Deals”. Here is the link to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793245530709114
Our Newest page just for restaurant and food truck postings “Houston Eateries”. Here is the link to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/115195118813498/
We just expanded! “Montrose/Museum District Eateries page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/160814800975114/
-Here we grow again! Our newest area “Humble /Kingwood Eateries”:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1703185133230644/
-Our newest Official Page – “Nick’s Local Eats – Pics and Videos
-Like us at this link:
https://www.facebook.com/NicksLocalEats/
-Nick’s Local Eats is now on Instagram #NicksLocalEats :
https://www.instagram.com/nickslocaleats/
Check out our new Nick’s Local Eats YouTube channel
Q Up The BURGERS official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/QuptheBURGERS/
Q Up The BURGERS on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/QUpTheBurgers
Q Up The BURGERS on Twitter: @QUpTheBurgers
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I feel successful when I see a new local business thriving in part due to the word of mouth experiences being spread in my groups. I feel like a lot of these businesses don’t have the advertising budget of a national chain, do to be able to help them I a small way is very meaningful to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nickslocaleats.com
- Email: NicksLocalEats@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickslocaleats/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/931926920160957/
- Twitter: @NicksLocalEats
- Other: https://m.youtube.com/c/NicksLocalEats
Image Credit:
Phaedra Cook, Paul Huynh, Nick Rama, Nathan Arrazate
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
