Immigrating from Mexico as a young boy, Victor Carlos never could have imagined the fate that awaited him in the restaurant industry. 50 years later, he still can’t believe it.
Every morning, Carlos arrives at Nat’s Early Bites, located at 14115 Burbank Blvd., and begins cracking eggs and stirring batter. 
Making hundreds of muffins in a variety of flavors, cleaning the restaurant and prepping staff all before seven a.m. might not seem like the American dream to most people. But the Nat’s Early Bites owner couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
“Being the owner is amazing,” he said. “I come to work, I start making muffins, hundreds a day, and I just go table to table. I love people, I love the customers. I love doing it even if I don’t have to do it anymore.”
Growing up, Carlos never imagined owning a restaurant or being in the food industry at all.
“I grew up in the food industry in Mexico, with my family,” he said. “They used to make all kinds of candies, but I didn’t like them — I didn’t like the industry. Once I moved to the United States, I became a dishwasher and grew to love it. ”
After living in the heart of Mexico, Carlos moved to the United States in 1979 when he was only eight years old. Not knowing how to read, write, or speak English or Spanish well, attempting any form of schooling was difficult.
“I tried to go to school, and they told me I was going to start with grammar, and I said ‘Okay, what is that?’” he stated. “‘I explained I had only gone to two years of school my whole life and didn’t read or write English or Spanish. And I didn’t speak English. So they told me to go home, learn some grammar, and come back.”
But Carlos never returned to school. Instead, he began to teach himself the language.
“I would go to the library with my daughter and look at books,” he said. “I never quit, even though it was very challenging not knowing either language. I now understand both languages well, but learning those languages was the most challenging part of my life.”
As Carlos continued his journey in the culinary industry, he eventually found himself as a dishwasher at The Early Bite, an up-and-coming San Fernando Valley favorite.
“I’ve been here so long,” he said. “I was here before Nat Elias, the original owner. I was a dishwasher and cook. He came in six months after I did and changed the name from The Early Bite to Nat’s Early Bite.”
Elias and Carlos grew close as the years went on. Carlos viewed Elias as a father figure and worked his hardest to impress him.
“Elias was like my American dad,” he said. “He was a nice Greek Jewish man. All I was trying to do was be his manager. I was working extra hard, and I just wanted to be his manager and make a good salary.”
And four years later, Carlos found himself being manager, before Elias announced he was selling the restaurant.
“It hurt me, the fact he was selling,” he said. “I thought I was out of the job, but he tells me ‘I’m going to sell it to you.’ Now of course I think he’s kidding, he paid me 300 dollars a week, so how could I afford it? But he told me, ‘This is how much it’s going to be, it’s going to take you five to ten years to pay off, but it’s yours.’”
Carlos willingly took ownership and never looked back.
“It was exciting,” he said. “I was excited. Most people ask if I was nervous, but I wasn’t. I had always wanted to run the business.”
40 years later, Nat’s Early Bites is still run by Carlos. Having franchised out to a second location in the early 2010s, the restaurant is more successful than ever. This success lies squarely on the shoulders of the wonderful staff, led by Carlos.
“I have the best staff in the world,” Carlos said. “I try to keep them happy. When I come to work, I do the same things they do. If a cook is out, I’m back scrambling eggs. If a waiter is sick, I’m taking orders.”
Carlos never hesitates to work with the staff and holds himself to the same standards as them.
“If I make the rules, they follow the rules, but I don’t break the rules,” he said. “So everyone is happy. It wouldn’t be fair if I, just because I’m the boss, didn’t follow the same rules as my staff.”
He lives by this principle of equality.
“To me, it doesn’t matter if you’re famous,” he said. “You’re going to sit and wait just like everyone else.”
Located only miles from Hollywood, Nat’s Early Bite is frequented by celebrities.
“Most celebrities don’t mind my system,” he said. “But Ashton Kutcher and Shaquille O’Neal? They’re used to getting what they want when they want it, but we don’t do that for anybody. If Shaq wanted a certain booth at a certain time, but 30 people are waiting, we don’t care, he’s going to sit and wait.”
The staff treat all clientele, big or small, the same because Nat’s wouldn’t exist without the little guys. Carlos believes that regular customers, and the environment that they provide, really make a restaurant successful.
“We have the same customers now that we had 20 years ago,” he said. “I’ve seen so many kids grow up. I’ve seen families form and break apart, and even when they break apart, they still come back.”
The unique relationships formed between staff and clientele are one of the main reasons Carlos has continued to work.
“I’ve always been interested in what the customers like, what they think is interesting,” he said. “I took three days off a few months ago to go to Vegas. I came back on a Saturday, and I was so excited. I was going crazy, running around the restaurant serving coffee, getting drinks, picking up plates. I just love doing what I do, and I love getting all of the interactions I get to have.”
And it turns out that the restaurant’s customers adore Carlos just as much as he loves them.
“Back in 2000, I retired and business went down,” Carlos said. “And I realized that nothing was wrong. I just needed to be here.”
About 17 months ago, after the birth of his grandson, Carlos was ready to sell the Woodland Hills location of Nat’s Early Bite to his nephew.
“My daughter was running the one in Woodland Hills, but then she got married and got pregnant and she couldn’t work anymore,” he said. “50 hours a week is hard, and I kept running back and forth. So I eventually sold it. I don’t need it, I want to enjoy my grandson now.”
However, Carlos isn’t ready to retire just yet. He still loves his work, his staff, and the community he has built.
“Running the restaurant is a challenging job, but I never look at it like that,” he said. “When you love doing what you do, you just come and get it done.”
No matter how much Carlos makes at the end of the month, he doesn’t care, so long as that money comes from a place of hard work.
“I’ve opened four restaurants,” he said. “And I don’t do it because I want the money or want to be some type of millionaire. I’ve just always been grateful to have a job that I love and whatever comes every month I don’t care. I’m just happy.”
Carlos encourages those interested in the restaurant industry to give it a chance because you never know just what might come of it.
“Follow your dreams, but you have to work hard at it,” he said. “A lot of young people nowadays want to be YouTubers, they want to be influencers, but they want it instantly. They want to start making money the first day, but things don’t happen like that. Things take time, courage and hard work.”