Santiago Perez was born in Mexico City. He received a chemical engineering degree and then somewhere along the way decided investment banking was the right fit. At the age of 29 he was working at UBS in NYC and decided he wanted to open up a restaurant. Cosme, now open for 5 years has only increased in popularity as time goes on, increasing the fame and influence of chef Enrique Olvera and catapulting chef Daniela Soto-Innes to chef stardom. In 2017 they opened Atla, both chefs now partners. And with Santiago they will all open 3 west coast restaurants in 2020. Iin Los Angeles (Damian and Ditroit) and one in Las Vegas (Elio). On today's episode we talk about why being an investment banker is the right or wrong background for opening a restaurant, how he connected with his massively talented creative chef team and how to maintain consistency and structure while expanding to have bi-coastal operations.