Justin Fitzgerald Avalos

November 2014- August 2023

My journey began as a keyholder at the Barton Springs location. Responsibilities included cashier duties, stocking, customer service, closing duties, working with customers and closing the store.

About two years later, I accepted the store manager position at the soon to be Riverside location. I was leading the opening of the store, buying products, managing the store's operations and employees.

Within a month of opening the Riverside location, I was promoted to be the General Manager which continued for 8 years.

As the General Manager my duties included leading all the employees, human resource duties, buying, creating policies, sales, managed the wine portfolio and overlooked customer service.

There were a total of four locations with up to 30 employees that I was responsible for.

• Know what kind of leader you are to be productive and create results.
• Interpersonal skills is key to creating relationships with customers and employees.
• Lead, speak, act with passion. 
• Never be afraid to do the hard work. 
• Help your employees learn and grow.
• Lead with actions and never ask employees to do what you would not do. 
• Communication creates positive clear results.
• Show customers you are reliable and dependable.
• Keep high standards.
• Perception and quality are everything.
• Common sense will prevail.
• Be there for your community. 
• Hard work will pay off. 
• Love what you do until the end. 

• Leading and managing up to 30 people at any given time.
• Creating a wine portfolio for four stores that generate egat revenue.
• Worked hard throughout the pandemic to stay open for our community.
• Learned how to buy products and groceries for different demographics.
• Generated additional revenue by creating catering events.
• Created wine events that brought in additional revenue.
• Created a Meet the Winemakers series.
• Curated an impressive natural wine selection.
• Green Wine Project collaboration to educate customers on natural wine.
• Creating staff schedules.
• Connecting and gaining customer trust.
• Create a company culture.
• Found solutions to hard situations.
• Learned the importance of keeping a business running in times of natural emergencies.
• Learned how to motivate employees that need direction.
• Created successful wine events with attendance up to 430 people.
• ncreased wine sales to surpass 1 million.
• Created & implemented catering events.

• Create personal time and work balance.
• Make time to take educational courses.
• Don't overthink things.
• Remember not everyone is passionate about the same things. 
• Trust is everything

May 2012 - November 2015

• Day to day operations
• Customer Service
• Catering Events
• Sales Operations
• Marketing 
• Quality Control
• Buying
• Chef and Kitchen Management 

I was raised in a town located in southwest Texas called Comstock, which is located about 35 miles from the border of Mexico. 

Every Saturday my Grandfather would take us to Mexico and treat us to delicious fruit cups made by the local street vendors in Acuna, Mexico.

The fruit cups were a combination of  vibrant fresh fruits that were meticulously sliced and arranged to create a towering visual feast, and topped with spices, traditional sauces and lime juice. 

They were artful master pieces paired with a  perfect combination of sweet, sour, and zingy toppings. 

Fruit cups bring back the great memories I had with my family as a kid.

I created over 100 fruit cup recipes of my own based off of the traditional Mexican fruit cups you would find in Mexico.

With the encouragement from a friend I brought Mister FruitCup to life in four months and my fruit cup journey began.

Mister FruitCup operated successfully for three years. 

Operating a fruit cup business in a food trailer was not a simple task.

Mister FruitCup went from no sales to generating about 70k per year.

This fruit cup journey would later connect me to Thom's Market where I  discovered an unexpected new passion. 

Seek out advice from professionals that are in the same industry.

Show up everyday, be consistent, and have faith.

Strategic Planning and Networking are important.

Have someone to bounce ideas by.

Never turn down help when offered.

People want to see you succeed.

May 2005 - July 2013

I began my career with GPJ as an event logisitical manager and within two years moved up to Event Project Manager. Three years later I was promoted to Worldwide Event Strategist for IBM Smarter Commerce. 

My position was one of two IBM had in the event marketing department.

The position required me to create and manage the IBM Smarter Commerce marketing event portfolio which consisted of roadshows, conferences and conventions.

Responsibilities included overlooking funding for events, event quality and control, and writing event briefs for all events.

I  started off as an event project manager and learned how to successfully implement roadshows, conferences, summits and high end marketing events.

Responsibilities included: traveling, following rules and policies put out by IBM, managing catering events, negotiated contracts with hotels, worked as an on site event manager, lined up speakers, and created messaging and graphic design.

Successfully implemented a 72 city product launch for IBM Cognos in a four month time frame.

Overlooked IBM acquisitions making sure they followed IBM marketing policies.

Managed IBM Executive Summits for top customers which had a million dollar budget.

Produced a minimum of 100 events per year.

Project Managed IBM Lotus Comes To You Road Show. I creatively branded a motorcoach that would travel through the US and into Canada promoting the Lotus products.