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Bogota Latin Bistro’s continued commitment to excellence has been recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA.) Bogota co-owners George Constantinou and Farid Ali Lancheros have been honored with the 2013 Small Business Persons of the Year Award by the SBA’s New York District Office.

The Bogota owners were selected for this award from a competitive field of applicants by an esteemed panel of judges. George and Farid represent region II of the district which includes New York City. Their names are now in the running for New York State honors and may possibly lead to national recognition. National awards will be presented in Washington, DC. during National Small Business Week in June.

Since 1953, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has delivered millions of loans, loan guarantees, contracts, counseling sessions and other forms of assistance to small businesses. The independent agency of the federal government aims to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation.

The New York District Office plans to honor George and Farid at a Small Business Week awards ceremony on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at Federal Plaza in downtown Manhattan. For more information about the event, contact the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.

Congratulations to Bogota co-owners George and Farid for the incredible recognition of their successful small business.

The Fabulous Fifth Avenue Fair is coming! Be sure to stop by the Bogota Latin Bistro booth, say hello, and enjoy some of our incredible empanadas. See you there!

Fans of great food and dessert are looking forward to Monday, March 11 for the official kick-off of Dine in Brooklyn 2013. The week and a half long festivity, also known as Brooklyn’s Restaurant Week, begins March 11 and runs through March 21. Many of the borough’s fine dining establishments are offering discounts just too good to miss out on.

Bogota Latin Bistro, known for our excellent Colombian/Pan-Latin cuisine, will be offering a special 3-course prix fixe menu for both lunch and dinner. Some of Bogota’s most popular items are on the menu, including our tasty vegetable tacos, incredible garlic rotisserie chicken, traditional bandeja paisa and the decadently delicious tres leches cake.

Farid Ali-Lancheros, Bogota’s co-owner, joined Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and other politicians and restaurant industry leaders at this year’s press conference to promote the 10th anniversary of Dine in Brooklyn.

“Foodies, the wait is over!” proclaimed Borough President Markowitz.

All restaurants participating in the event will be offering lunch specials for $20.13 and dinner specials for $28.00. Availability is limited so be sure to make your reservations now. (Discounted price does not include beverages, tax or gratuity.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Farid Ali-Lancheros, Co-Owner of Bogota Latin Bistro, Joins the Board of Directors of the New York State Restaurant Association

PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn, NY, February 12, 2013 — Farid Ali-Lancheros, the co-owner of Bogota Latin Bistro, the popular Colombian/Pan Latin restaurant in Park Slope, was recently voted to the Board of Directors of the prestigious New York State Restaurant Association (“NYSRA.”)

Founded in 1935, NYSRA is the oldest and most comprehensive professional organization for restaurant management and advocacy in New York State. It is governed by a Board of Directors with major activities coordinated by Member Committees.

Ali-Lancheros, who was born in Bogota, Colombia and grew up in Park Slope before his family moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania when he was 9 years old, opened Bogota Latin Bistro with co-owner George Fernandez-Constantinou in 2005. The two have created a Brooklyn-based business that has become the go-to destination for lovers of Colombian/Latin cuisine from all over New York City and beyond.

“I helped create Bogota Latin Bistro to elevate Colombian cuisine and present its traditional dishes to the American masses,” said Ali-Lancheros. “I am honored to join the NYSRA Board of Directors and am ready to get to work representing all restauranteurs in the city.”

Ali-Lancheros joins fellow NYSRA board members representing TGI Fridays, Benchmarc Restaurants and Outback Steakhouse.

Bogota Latin Bistro was founded in 2005 and presently employs approximately 65 people, most who live in the borough of Brooklyn. The restaurant offers paid time off, health insurance, and a 401K plan to their employees – benefits that are rarely found in “one-unit-operation restaurants” like Bogota Latin Bistro.

Since its inception, Bogota Latin Bistro has aimed to work prominently with its community and Ali-Lancheros has strived to ensure that Bogota Latin Bistro ranks on par with the premier dining destinations in Manhattan.

“I wanted to bring a little bit of Bogota to Brooklyn and establish a restaurant that focuses on excellent Latin food, a vibrant atmosphere and stellar service,” Ali-Lancheros said.

In addition to being the co-owner of Bogota Latin Bistro, Ali-Lancheros also provides life and entrepreneurial support services via Mumtaz Coaching, a small business startup he formed to assist business owners and lay people in creating more fulfilling and meaningful lives.

Bogota Latin Bistro is located at 141 5th Avenue, at St. John’s Place in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

For more information on the New York State Restaurant Association visit http://www.nysra.org.
For more information about Mumtaz Coaching visit http://mumtazcoaching.com.

About Bogota Latin Bistro:
Founded in 2005 by George Constantinou and Farid Ali, Bogota Latin Bistro has become the premier destination for Colombian-Pan Latin food lovers in New York City. Bogota Latin Bistro is dedicated to elevating the status of Latin foods, particularly Colombian cuisine, and culture via its food, music, service and attention to detail. Hospitality, professionalism, pride, teamwork, respect for diversity and abundance thinking are the core values that guide the efforts of Bogota Latin Bistro. In 2008 the New York Times called Bogota Latin Bistro the “most mainstream and upscale Colombian restaurant in the city.”

Bogota Latin Bistro
141 5th Ave., Park Slope
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 230-3805
http://www.facebook.com/BogotaBistro
http://twitter.com/bogotabistro

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Bogota Latin Bistro Recognized for Community Job Creation and Promoting Ethical Working Conditions

PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn, NY, February 8, 2013 — Bogota Latin Bistro, a Colombian/Pan-Latin restaurant in Park Slope, has been recognized by two prominent business and industry organizations for its promotion of ethical working conditions and for becoming a leader in community job creation.

The Restaurant Opportunities Center (“ROC”) United, a national organization dedicated to supporting restaurant workers by helping to improved wages and working conditions, listed Bogota Latin Bistro among its 150 most popular restaurants in America for promoting ethical standards in the workplace.

The ROC Certificate of Recognition was issued to Bogota Latin Bistro on January 16, 2013 and the results of the ROC’s findings were published in the 2013 ROC National Diners’ Guide to Ethical Eating which provides information on the wage, benefits and promotion practices of restaurants nationwide. The ROC recognition was shared with restaurant power brokers such as Danny Myers’ Union Square Hospitality Group and Tom Colicchio’s Craft Restaurants.

“We are truly honored to be included in ROC’s 2013 list of outstanding restaurant organizations that care about their employees,” said George Constantinou-Fernandez, co-owner of Bogota Latin Bistro.

The ROC announcement comes on the heels of receiving an award on Nov. 30, 2012 from the Brooklyn Outreach Center (“BOC”) Network, an organization that aims to improve the economic prospects of traditionally underserved groups, with a focus on low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs and their communities.

The BOC Network assists local entrepreneurs by sharing technology and resources across community and cultural lines and provides small businesses with information on how to access loans and lines of credit.

Constantinou-Fernandez joined co-owner Farid Ali Lancheros to accept the 2012 BOC Award at the Battery Gardens in Battery Park City. The award, which recognizes businesses for community job creation as well as their commitment to ethical values in business management, was presented to the co-owners by Brooklyn Councilmember Leticia James.

The 2012 BOC Award is well-deserved given the company’s dedication during the past eight years to their community and employees.

Bogota Latin Bistro was founded in 2005 and presently employs approximately 65 people, most who live in the borough of Brooklyn. The restaurant offers paid time off, health insurance, and a 401K plan to their employees – benefits that are rarely found in “one-unit-operation restaurants” like Bogota Latin Bistro.

“Both the BOC award and the ROC listing affirms that we are doing something right for our employees and for the community at-large and that you can still run a profitable operation,” said Ali-Lancheros. “We’re very proud to be among this year’s recipients of both of these incredible organizations and we will continue to work hard to make a difference in our community.”

Bogota Latin Bistro is located at 141 5th Avenue, at St. John’s Place in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

For more information about the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United visit http://rocunited.org.
For more information about the Business Outreach Center Network visit http://www.bocnet.org.

About Bogota Latin Bistro:
Founded in 2005 by George Constantinou and Farid Ali, Bogota Latin Bistro has become the premier destination for Colombian-Pan Latin food lovers in New York City. Bogota Latin Bistro is dedicated to elevating the status of Latin foods, particularly Colombian cuisine, and culture via its food, music, service and attention to detail. Hospitality, professionalism, pride, teamwork, respect for diversity and abundance thinking are the core values that guide the efforts of Bogota Latin Bistro. In 2008 the New York Times called Bogota Latin Bistro the “most mainstream and upscale Colombian restaurant in the city.”

Bogota Latin Bistro
141 5th Ave., Park Slope
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 230-3805
http://www.facebook.com/BogotaBistro
http://twitter.com/bogotabistro

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The Park Slope 5th Avenue BID (Business Improvement District) invites you to pitch in and help our neighbors in Red Hook who were devastated by Sandy. Join us for our “Happy to Help Hour” on Small Business Saturday, November 24th, 2012 between 3pm and 7pm. Come to 5th Avenue, make a purchase, have a drink, donate $10 extra dollars on your credit card to help the residents of Red Hook.

The 3rd annual Small Business Saturday falls between Black Friday and Cyber Monday and is a day dedicated to helping small businesses. Last year, over 100 million people came together to Shop Small® in their communities on Small Business Saturday². This year, we want to help make your day even bigger.

For the 3rd year in a row, American Express is offering Cardmembers the opportunity to get a $25 statement credit for shopping on Small Business Saturday at a qualifying small business location. Enrollment for the American Express® $25 Statement Credit Cardmember Offer opens November 18. For more information visit ShopSmall.com.

On Sunday, October 7th co-owner Farid Lancheros and Andrew Rigie, the Executive Director at New York City Hospitality Alliance, appeared on Up Close with Diana Williams on WABC-TV to discuss small business owners in New York City and the challenges of meeting confusing restaurant regulations. You can view the full segment below.

The classic mojito at Bogota Latin Bistro was recently mentioned in the New York Daily News article about the best mojitos in New York City. Here’s the entry that appeared in the Sunday, Sept. 23 edition this year:

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/best-mojito-new-york-guantanamera-hell-kitchen-article-1.1163086#ixzz27WD56rCh

Today is Bogota Latin Bistro’s 7th birthday – Now Entering Our 8th Year In Business!

On this day back in 2005, partners George Constantinou and Farid Ali opened the doors to their first ever business venture: Bogota Latin Bistro. What began as a dream has become a successful and thriving business employing over 65 people and hosting thousands of visitors who have come back time and time again to partake in the experience that is our restaurant. We have become an anchor in this neighborhood, drawing diners from all five boroughs and beyond, filling our seats night after night with many repeat guests who have since become friends.

There’s been a lot of work and a whole lot more faith put into the creation and ongoing development of Bogota Latin Bistro. We are thrilled that you, our guests, our friends and fans, and our employees have had a hand in making us the restaurant we have become through your participation, your e-mails, comments, suggestions, compliments and complaints.

The restaurant business is a labor of love; we never got into the business for the money, we did it and continue to work on it because it matters to us and because it brings us satisfaction and joy (and sometimes it brings us a world of trouble but mostly it brings satisfaction, joy and a sense that we have a chance to change the world in our own small ways).

Thanks, friends, fans, and staff (former and present) for hanging in with us, hanging out with us, for validating our dream and for letting us know when we got it right and when we didn’t.

We promise you that will continue working hard on making Bogota an awesome restaurant that honors its mission and values and is committed to offering you an exceptional dining experience each time you visit.

Oh, and if July 5th is your birthday too, happy birthday!

Bogota Latin Bistro

Farid Ali / George Constantinou

By David Gibbons for the New York Press
June 21, 2012

Freedom to Marry (FTM) sparked its campaign to win the right to same-sex marriage in New York State last year with a series of short videos featuring charming, engaging gay couples–not least among them George Constantinou and Farid Ali Lancheros–that put a human face on the issue and helped insure the movement’s success.

“It was very much a fulfillment of our approach of giving the reachable but not-yet-reached personal, local stories that open hearts and change minds, as the president recently described,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of FTM and a civil rights lawyer who has argued cases all the way up to the Supreme Court.

The videos highlighted the couples’ commitment and sincerity, nudging viewers to the conclusion that they deserve a chance at marriage just like anybody else.

Where are they today? Constantinou and Lancheros are about to get married, if only they can find an hour or two to tear themselves away from their thriving, demanding business and hurry down to the courthouse for a civil ceremony. (The celebration will come later.)

Their daily life constitutes a version of the classic American Dream: A young couple, the hard-working offspring of striving immigrants, sets up a household in Brooklyn, opens a restaurant a few blocks away, puts in the sweat, builds the business and, after a few years, decides to start a family.

“I guess you’d have to say we’re living the gay American dream,” Lancheros said. “It’s astounding. And it’s really testament to the fact that with determination, faith and action, all things are possible.”

The first and most obvious question–how did they have children?– is answered in their baby shower video. (Go to YouTube and search “George and Farid” or “Farid and George’s Baby Shower.”) The short answer is they worked with a Boston specialty clinic that found a compatible egg donor and a surrogate willing to bear twins. They each fertilized 10 eggs, and the two most viable were implanted–one from Constantinou’s batch and the other from Lancheros’, so each of the men would be the biological father of one of their children.

Lancheros, 47, is the son of a Colombian mother and Palestinian father. Constantinou, 36, is from Long Island; his mother immigrated from Costa Rica, his father from Cyprus. Together, they form a typical New York City melting-pot family.

The couple met at a speed-dating event in 2001 and have been together ever since. With his easygoing, fluid manner and quick smile, it’s no surprise that Constantinou found success young as a bartender and restaurant manager. Lancheros was reluctant to relinquish his 9-to-5 paycheck, but after a trip to Colombia where they sampled the local cuisine, Constantinou convinced him they ought to follow his dream and open their own restaurant.

Thus was born Bogota Latin Bistro in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on July 5, 2005. The place turned a profit almost immediately and has become one of the most popular, successful Latin-themed eateries in the five boroughs.

Their twins, Gustavo and Milena, were born Nov. 6, 2011, and they were able to attend the birth. “They are a delight–healthy, happy, and they both sleep through the night,” said Constantinou. “They’re 7 and a half months old and are the most amazing babies–all smiles, they only cry when they’re hungry, they want to be picked up or they’re teething. Yesterday we had a first: Milena cried when we left for work.”

“In light of the fact that we’re both men, our pediatrician said she’s never met two calmer parents,” Lancheros said. “The restaurant is incredible training for that. Stuff happens and you manage, you forge ahead. I’ll tell you what: These two babies are a piece of cake compared to running a restaurant.”

Anyone who questions a gay couple’s suitability to marriage and raising kids need only glimpse Constantinou and Lancheros in action to sense not only the open, energetic, exuberant and humorous approach they take to negotiating the challenges of sustaining a relationship and becoming responsible, loving parents, but also the underlying seriousness and honesty of their commitment to the endeavor. But don’t trust this account; go online and check out Constantinou and Lancheros for yourself in their own words–and smiles.