Name:
Austin

In what part of town do you live in?
Pinecrest.

How long have you lived in the area?
My entire life.

What keeps you busy during the week?
My main job is as a general contractor. I work with my father. We own Canterbury Homes and we build luxury estates.

What is it like working with your dad?
It is great. We have a really good working relationship. We get to spend a lot of time together and it’s always been easy.

What makes it fun?
The process of building something is fun. I think that it’s cool to take an empty lot and transform it into a home for someone to live in. We work really closely with our clients, so it’s a lot of fun to just be able to bring their dreams to reality. Sometimes it’s their first starter home or it could be something they want to live in for the rest of their life. It’s fun going through that process and being able to create exactly what they want.

Have you learned all the different parts of construction along the way?
Yes. I started at the bottom working at a young age over the summers. I learned the carpentry skills needed to be a contractor. Then was able to get into management and learn the project flow. I learned how to meet a timeline and direct people in a proper way to get respect out of one another. I like working with people and being able to get everything in a line where it’s successful.

Have you guys been able to work through the current challenges?
Yes, we’ve been lucky. We’ve been able to keep everything going. We’ve taken a lot of safety precautions. We’re in the middle of building a new structure so all of our work is outdoors and we’ve been able to ensure that everyone keeps a mask on while they’re working and proper distance.

How do you see the company growing in the next five to ten years?
We would like to just continue on our path right now, doing what we are doing. We do about two to three jobs at a time and we’re very hands on. We have an in house crew that are directly employed by us. We are looking at expanding into property management where we help owners who don’t have full time staff take care of their properties while they travel or if they’re gone for the summer.

What else keeps you busy outside of general contracting?
I guess the way that we started talking was that I am working with Shunit (Roth) right now on introducing an all-natural high protein bar called ‘therealgoodsco.’. When I was in my early twenties, I got really sick and I went all over the country trying to find out what was going on with me. We never got an answer until I saw a holistic doctor down here that changed my diet and gave me all natural supplements. After looking for almost a year for a resolution, I was on my way to getting better. After that experience, I really felt that food can impact all aspects of your life.

Who is the market for this bar?
We are trying to create a community around this bar based on health, wellness, and happiness. That can come in many different forms. The bar has enough protein to sustain someone who’s a competitive athlete or a weekend warrior. Or, it’s for someone who needs a healthy snack on the go. We just want to create something that everyone can enjoy.

When do you plan to launch it?
We’re in the later stages of our testing and we are hoping that within the next quarter we’ll be out.

What’s involved in testing?
We have to make sure that our ratio of ingredients is correct and that our nutrition facts are what they say they are. And, we are aiming for a four month shelf life.

How are you testing the flavor profiles?
We use our close friends and family for refining our flavors. We have come up with four flavors that we’re going to launch with. Everyone feels like that they’re eating something natural. It isn’t the sweetest thing in the world or full of bursting flavors, it is very tasty and it’s comprised of all natural ingredients.

You’ve been to our drive through a few times. What’s that experience been like?
It’s been awesome. It’s super easy and convenient. I’m just glad we can still get your products. It’s such a bummer when this whole thing started. I know you guys tried to do it out of your house first and that got shut down pretty quickly. I was getting low on my turmeric concentrate, so I had to come load up and the kids love the Rainbow Smoothies. It’s just awesome that you guys are able to continue providing your products to the community.

How have you been using the turmeric?
I take a shot every morning. It’s really hard for me now to start my day without it. I just feel better once I’ve had it. My body craves it at this point. And once I have it, I’m ready to conquer the day.

What other restaurants or stores have you been able to support during the closures?
We do a little bit of takeout. We’ve done a lot of cooking at home. I think Milam’s has done an incredible job with the whole COVID situation. From the beginning, their store always feels like super clean. We’ve ordered from some of our regulars like Lime and PF Changs. But mostly, it’s home cooked meals.

What opportunities have you found within the difficulties?
A few things. I’ve been able to spend a lot more time at home with the kids and the family, which has been great. Instead of running for hours and hours and hours on end, the days have slowed down a lot. I’ve also been able to refocus on some of my other interests and ventures like therealgoodsco, the protein bars. Things were so out of control that it’s nice to take a step back and slow down every once in a while.

What are you looking forward to when things reopen?
I really miss having sushi.

What is Miami’s best kept secret?
Maybe it’s not a secret anymore, but Panther coffee would have been one of those places. They do an excellent job at what they do. They understand their product probably better than anyone else in that industry down here. I feel like they know care so deeply about what they’re providing, starting with the farms that they get their beans. When you go there, you can always expect to get something that is really good quality.

What’s a worthy splurge for you?
We go to Orlando a lot for their running events. We’ll take a weekend and go to go to Disney. Last summer, we met our family in Italy. Taking a couple of weeks for vacation is worth it.

What’s a good rainy-day activity?
We usually lounge around and watch a good movie and then probably do some sort of art activity afterwards.

What community groups are important to you that you might like to promote or share?
The University of Miami Sylvester Cancer Center. Since I was a teenager, I have been part of that organization. I used to raise a lot of money for their breast cancer research foundations. That would be the place that is near and dear to my heart. They do a great job of recruiting amazing talent from around the world. We should all be grateful that we have them in our backyard.

What question would you like to ask us?
(AG) Do you still get enjoyment doing what you guys are doing?

(A+W) Sundays – and now Saturdays too! –  are the most fun days of the week. It’s like a weekend party where we get to see our favorite people all day long. We’re taking things from the farm, that are really exciting to share, and we’re doing it one family at a time. The drive through has enabled us to maintain that connection.

What challenge or advice would you like to pose to the community?
Be Kind. Sometimes, we forget to be kind and happy and grateful for what we have on a daily basis. Kindness catches on and it will go from one person to the next. That would be awesome.