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Business & Tech

The Secret of My Success: Alvin Clayton

Alvin Clayton, owner Alvin & Friends, has carved out a niche in the New Rochelle restaurant market with a savvy business sense and an understanding of what his client base wants.

Born in Trinidad, 40-something Alvin Clayton of  in New Rochelle, credits his grandmother for inspiring him to open a restaurant after an illustrious modeling career was coming to a close.

With his Caribbean background as a part of his restaurant’s flavor, Clayton has taken southern cooking to the discerning tastes of New Rochelle’s residents.

This father of four and husband to Gwen Clayton managed to create a business from the ground up during a poor economic climate and has just celebrated his restaurant’s first anniversary this past Oct. 1.

His success can be attributed to the hospitality he says his grandmother taught him to have and the awareness that listening to your heart can lead you to your dreams.

Clayton, who takes pride in greeting and ingratiating himself to his patrons, has a philosophy which helped to form his restaurant’s moniker: "If they walked in and they weren’t friends when they came—when they were leaving they should have felt as if they visited a friend."

Why did you choose this as your business?


I chose this as my business because I felt comfortable. I have been in the public eye for 26 years as a model. I was a model with the Wilhelmina modeling agency, which I started with, and then the Ford modeling agency. And after being off the regular work force for such a long time, I felt that I couldn’t start at ground zero, so I knew I had to do my own business. And I was always a good cook because I learned from my grandmother and I learned hospitality from her, so I felt this was a natural progression for moving into the future once modeling was over.

How did you get started in your business?

One of my friends that I modeled with, her boyfriend at the time—Brad Johnson—was a restaurateur. And she knew that I was interested in the restaurant industry after modeling was over, so she introduced me to her boyfriend who was, at the time, in the process of opening a restaurant in Los Angeles. We hit it off after that and he invited me to be partners with him in that restaurant project, of which Denzel Washington was one of our partners. So I learned the business end of [restaurants] from him.

What was your toughest challenge to overcome?

The toughest decision was to make the change in an economy that was not doing very well. To move forward with your dream, in spite of the shortcomings that the economy posed. So I would say the toughest is just kind of believing in yourself.

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What's the thing you like most about your business?

I like the fact that I give a quality product and I put my heart and soul into it. And then when I come into the restaurant and people enter here I see them having a good time knowing that. I feel very proud knowing the fact that I put this together and people are responding the way that I intended them to respond.

What's the thing you dislike the most about your business?

I don’t really see too many down sides of what I do. I enjoy what I do. I haven’t encountered a down side yet.

What makes you different from your competition?

I don’t say so much that I am different from my competition. I have a philosophy that I feel when you serve the public that you should go all out to make sure that that public knows that you appreciate that they are in your establishment. And my concept of it is, “how do I want to be treated when I go out to a restaurant?” and that is what I try to do to my customers when they come in here. I am genuinely honored that they are in my establishment when I know that they have lots of choices. So I do whatever I need to do to make their experience in our restaurant the most enjoyable one from the time they enter until the time they leave.

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What suggestions would you have for someone who wants to go into business today?

There’s a lot of nuances in anything that you do and it’s all risk. So I would say just do your due diligence; make sure that you know who your client base is; that you play devil’s advocate with answering questions and just be really honest. But if it is your dream, you should follow through on it, because you are going to have people that are going to doubt you. But you should know all of the elements what you are getting into before you get into it, and just be true to yourself. If you are not giving a product that is not oversaturated, and it is one that people want, there is a good chance of success.

What is the secret to your success?


Authenticity. I am genuinely passionate about what I am doing and I listen to my clients. I consider myself, not perfect, but a work in progress. But I am aiming for perfection. And I think that if you listen to the people you are serving and you give them a quality product and it is something that you enjoy doing, I think people pick up on that genuineness or genuine feeling and it continues. It moves on.

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