How 28-year-old Miami Squeeze owner got his start, then expanded during pandemic

Born in Paris in 1994, Warren Amar moved to Miami at the age of 10. His parents were an ambitious couple tired of the “traditional French way of living” and were inspired by the American dream that constant hustle and grind could provide for their family.

They settled in Miami, since it was the perfect change of scenery they desired. They also could not get enough of the sunny weather and sandy beaches.

At 16, Amar dropped out of high school in his freshman year because his father had a car accident that left him unable to walk for a year. Amar started working in restaurants to help fill the family’s financial hole left by his father’s inability to work.

After stints over eight years at Paul French Bakery & Cafe, Bella Luna Italian Restaurant and Carpaccio Restaurant in Bal Harbour, he learned many skills and lessons that he said led to his success now as a business owner at only 28. Among the key things, he learned to speak Spanish and how to run a business from the inside, then saved his money for something big.

Amar owns and runs two Miami Squeeze juice bars and cafes in Miami. He explained to the Miami Herald how he became a young entrepreneur. The interview was edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.

▪ Question: What were the most valuable lessons you learned from working in area restaurants?

▪ Answer: Well, there’s two people that I really learned a lot from — the owners of Carpaccio. Because it was an ownership group, weekly Friday meetings were enforced. And I learned from them how to keep your team disciplined at all times. We would always go over what we did right and what we did wrong throughout the week, how to improve, what’s new, what’s coming. I learned from them to always keep your employees involved in the business. They’re not there just working for you. They should be involved with the business, they should know exactly what’s coming in, what’s coming out, what’s special, what’s moving. The thing that fascinates me the most about them is even though you’re the boss, you got to be hands on. You can’t just sit back and look pretty. The two owners were always in the kitchen working or in the front hosting.

▪ Q: Sounds like you were learning a lot; why did you leave?

▪ A: I always wanted to be a manager. My goal when I was working at Carpaccio was to reach the management team, to learn how to manage the restaurant from the inside: financing and scheduling, ordering food costs, so on and so forth. And when I pretty much realized that that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, I had to create my own luck. They’re not going to create it for me. I created my own destiny. And I left Carpaccio and I went to Israel for about four months. And that’s when my destiny really changed.

▪ Q: What happened in Israel?

▪ A: While I was in Israel, I was exploring and finding what I really wanted to do. In Israel, the food culture is really big. And in a way Israel is like Miami, it’s very hot, full of beaches full of people wanting to look good, feel good. And I realized that I should learn from the culture. When I was in Israel, I felt like everything happened by destiny. I happen to go to the Western Wall, one of the holiest places still here, physically, in Jewish culture. So I went there asking God for a sign, because I wanted to come back to Miami with a plan to not work for someone again and start something. So I prayed a lot. I went there on Wednesday, I remember. And I just prayed asking for a sign of what’s next.

▪ Q: How did you take what you saw in Tel Aviv and replicate it in Miami?

▪ A: Funny enough, two days later, Friday night before Shabbat, I got a phone call from my father. He’s asking me if I knew about this business called Miami Squeeze. I used to go there as a kid. So I said, of course I do. And he told me it was for sale and he thought it would be a good fit for me. And then I put it all together. I just saw this similar place in Israel. Let’s turn Miami Squeeze into something like this. The light bulb turned on in my head. So thank God the opportunity presented itself. We moved very fast to acquire it, because it’s a very successful business and there were a lot of people who were very interested in it. And pretty much all the money that I saved during my time working at Carpaccio, I used it to invest in the business.

▪ Q: How did the pandemic affect Miami Squeeze?

▪ A: In September of 2019 we took over the North Miami location. So as we’re doing all our renovations, six months later we got hit with the pandemic. We were putting the TVs on the walls, next thing you know we have to shut down operations. It was a big shock, a great welcome to the business world. When I went home the first week, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if we were gonna have to hand the keys back. Nobody knew what was going to happen. A lot of businesses decided to close during the pandemic, but we decided to stay open.

Three days into the pandemic, we opened and then social media made a huge impact. We were just writing on social media that we were open, come by for a pickup and we deliver. Because everything else was closed, people started reposting and talking about it. It just spread like wildfire. Everybody was here. We would see so many people we’ve never seen before.

So I think the pandemic, even though it was a national and worldwide disaster, it really helped elevate business and it definitely gave us a bigger platform because everybody was talking about getting healthy food. My objective was to just stay open, keep the bills paid, and let my staff have some money. The outcome was a great success. A lot of businesses were shutting down and a lot of opportunities were presented to us. So I looked around and asked myself, where else is a very good area where there’s a lot of foot traffic, a lot of young people, and a lot of fitness studios around? And that’s how I came upon Midtown Miami for a second Miami Squeeze. I took over someone’s existing lease that was getting kicked out by the landlord.

▪ Q: What are your future business plans?

▪ A: I would like to find the right partners to keep growing because to expand, you need a team and you need financing, too. I’m hoping that I can find the right partnership to expand my business. I would like to try different ventures within hospitality. I have a lot of concepts in mind that I want to introduce to Miami over the next few years.