Look up the word “ambition” in the dictionary and you’ll find a picture of Tomas Vallejo. Over the last three decades Tomas has been busy opening up a string of successful restaurants and helping others (around 72) to find their bottom line. He pours over stock and inventory control sheets the way most people peruse the Sunday paper—for sheer joy. His father managed the historic Coach and Paddock
supper club until the late eighties. Tomas’s earliest kitchen memories include standing on milk crates to make toast for the breakfast crowd at his Dad’s restaurant. He also recalls his Father balancing the books by pencil and night light until the early morning hours. “Funny, I do the same thing now using QuickBooks.” His mother was a stickler for high standards. “Everything had to be just so. If the silver wasn’t set properly, with the large dinner fork to the left of the napkin and the smaller salad fork to the left of the dinner fork, we’d have to redo it before we could sit down to eat.”
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Tomas parlays his father’s business savvy and mother’s impeccably high standards into his newest endeavor—My Furniture Club. My Furniture Club empowers furniture club members with selection and savings. Talk about the bottom line! My Furniture Club members have exclusive access to rock bottom prices on thousands of items. From sectional sofas to lamps, rugs, and occasional tables—My Furniture Club members are guaranteed the greatest selection at the lowest price. Tomas’s business model is anchored in customer empowerment. “I want to empower customers with selection; empower them with more money in their wallets; empower them with around-the-clock on-line shopping. The downturn of the American economy has stripped away confidence—and I want to do whatever I can to bring it back.”
Of course, My Furniture Club isn’t solely an effort to right a wrong—it’s also a passion project. Tomas has always loved furniture, ambiance, lighting—the finer things. Though he appreciates styles from all genres Tomas’s personal preference leans toward the Traditional. “My ideal living room has a mid-range of color tones, deeply hued flooring, functional and unfussy furniture and collection of throw pillows.” The calm, orderly, Traditional aesthetic likely off-sets Tomas’s highly charged personality. After all, even ambitious guys like Tomas need a cozy place to crash at the end of the day.
