Alí Alejandro Quero worked his way up from busser and food runner to general manager in the restaurant industry, and now he owns his own restaurant.
October 24, 2023
By Jamie Coelho
Dishes at Ceviches by Divino. Photos by Jacquelina Paiva.
Over nearly ten years, Alí Alejandro Quero worked his way up from busboy to food runner to server, then management and finally general manager at Los Andes restaurant. Now he owns his own restaurant, Ceviches by Divino in Cranston, is on his way to becoming an Advanced Sommelier and is a second lieutenant in the United States Army National Guard.
Quero started out running Ceviches by Divino in Providence, then branched out to own his own location right in the heart of Cranston’s Chapel View. The restaurant specializes in Peruvian tapas, rolls and ceviches – seafood and shellfish lightly cooked in citrus – and sushi-style dishes that combine Latin American flavors and spices with Japanese technique.
Photos by Jacquelina Paiva.
The hospitality impresario has a Venezuelan background and grew up hosting family events even as a nine-year-old. He arrived in the United States from Venezuela in 2012 to pursue graduate school in Providence, after having already earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics at the Universidad de Los Andes in Venezuela. While he envisioned following a financial career path, he naturally gravitated toward hospitality since childhood.
“My connection to restaurants is really powerful and speaks to me on a personal level. The connection with food, wine and restaurants comes from my dad, because while he is a surgeon, he’s a gourmet guy,” Quero says. “A lot of the memories that I shared with my dad growing up were in restaurants.”
Quero’s parents divorced when he was a baby and he grew up spending two weekends per month with his dad, who was also a former Congressman in Venezuela. “He would pick me up and we would go to a restaurant. Walking in with my dad, I would automatically feel important,” he says. “I truly want every person to feel the same way when they come to my restaurant.”
While Quero aimed to attend graduate school here in Providence, he needed a job to help finance the tuition. He ended up working at Los Andes under co-owners and brothers Omar and Cesin Curi. “I was here already and I had to start working. It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Quero says. “I learned that work mentality of bussing tables, being on time, being a good coworker and respectful with my bosses, and it felt like a team sport. That’s the most beautiful thing. You fall in love with it.”
Quero rose in the ranks at Los Andes. In fact, after he got a job offer to use his degree in economics in the finance industry, the Curi brothers presented him with a counter-offer of the general manager position at Los Andes, and Quero accepted. “At that point, I deliberately doubled down on hospitality. That’s why I decided to pursue an MBA with a hospitality concentration from Johnson & Wales and become a sommelier,” he says.
He loved working with the team at Los Andes so much that it inspired him to own his own restaurant. “I’m very proud of the team that I was a part of at Los Andes. It was the team that helped grow Los Andes to what it is now,” Quero says.
He pursued opening a Ceviches by Divino location because the concept and menu, developed by the Miami-based company, is proven to be successful. He also appreciates the restaurant group’s mission, Ceviches with a Purpose, which helps support single mothers and children in impoverished areas of Peru. “I went to Miami and I tasted the menu items and they were amazing, my mind was blown,” he says. “More importantly was to know the quality of people I was going to work with. Values are the most important thing.”
Octopus at Ceviches by Divino. Photo by Jacquelina Paiva.
Quero compares restaurant work and staff camaraderie to a team sport. “I always played soccer. I strongly believe that hospitality is a team sport and if you come in with that mentality you will find joy working as a team, meeting and exceeding standards and pursuing a common mission, which is to make guests happy.”
He follows that mantra today, focusing on the Ceviches by Divino team’s strengths and inspiring each member to follow careers in hospitality. Quero is curating a bookshelf of culinary-minded tomes and encourages staff to take the books home and read them. “Restaurants should put staff and people first,” Quero says. “You have to take care of each other in order to take care of others. Hospitality starts at home and the restaurant is your home.”
Ceviche at Ceviches by Divino. Photo by Jacquelina Paiva.
Leadership is the most complex and difficult endeavor, but at the same time it’s the most rewarding, he says. He’s currently serving as an intelligence officer at 1126 Aviation Battalion out of Quonset while also pursuing Advanced Sommelier certification, which involves an examination in wine theory, wine tasting and service. “Currently there are only fifteen certified somms in the state, and no Advanced level,” he says.
All three of his interests help him to pursue his dreams. “ I’m very thankful I have a community in the restaurant industry, in the US Army and in the Court of Master Sommeliers,” he says.
1000 Chapel View Blvd., Cranston, Suite 10, 401-281-812, cevichesbydivino.com/cranston