Carlos De La Cruz
Hospitality Technology & Fintech Executive
Payments • Digital Infrastructure • User-Centered UI/UX
I bring hospitality operations, fintech, payments, and user-centered UI/UX into one view — helping restaurant operators find where revenue and guest attention are slipping, from the back office to the path guests use to discover, choose, and book.
Start with an inspection. Explore the reviews, or let ROBBIE — my bilingual intake assistant — organize a brief for my review.
About Carlos
I learned to read a business from both sides: the operation behind it and the experience in front of the guest.
I grew up around a restaurant, a store, and a warehouse. My father taught me basic math and operations. My grandmother taught me to read. My mother brought me into the family businesses, where I learned sales and hospitality long before I had professional words for either.
That foundation led to a career across payments, retail, technology, restaurant operations, and fintech. I started in payments. I grew one boutique into eleven. I led support and sales teams, managed high-volume restaurants through some of the industry's hardest years, and returned to fintech with a deeper understanding of what operators carry every day.
Today, I bring those experiences together. I can read a merchant statement, a P&L, a menu, and a digital guest journey as connected parts of the same business. My work is to help restaurant operators see where the pressure is coming from, what deserves attention first, and what does not need to be rebuilt.
Every move in my career has been intentional. The principle behind all of them began on my first day of school, when I was four years old: never stop learning.
Two projects. One view of the restaurant business.
FLOOR / LEDGER examines the operating and financial reality. MENU // MONEY examines the menu and the digital decisions that bring a guest to the table.
For the people running the room
FLOOR / LEDGER
Restaurant economics, operating intelligence, and practical consulting for owners and operators who need to understand what the numbers are saying — and where the pressure is coming from.
For the moments when guests decide
MENU//MONEY
Menu intelligence, UI/UX, and digital guest-path reviews for restaurants that need to make their offer clearer, easier to navigate, and more intentional.
I am based in Washington, DC, serving operators across DC, Maryland, Virginia, and beyond. I know this region through its neighborhoods, its restaurant corridors, and the people who keep its dining rooms moving.
I also volunteer in my community because I believe that when a community thrives, we all win. That belief carries into my work: understand the pressure, respect the people doing the work, and help move the business forward with purpose.
The dark hours are where the deepest work happens — the studying, writing, learning, and rebuilding nobody sees.
Greatness does not arrive by accident. It is shaped in silence before the world ever notices.
QUESTIONS BEFORE WE BEGIN
Not every business needs a rebuild, and not every campaign is ready to launch. These answers explain how I approach the work, what may need to happen first, and how we determine whether there is a strong fit.
Yes—but I do not approach a website as a digital brochure or a collection of pages that resemble a PDF online.
The work begins with what the business needs the website to accomplish: helping guests discover the business, understand the offer, make a reservation, place an order, inquire about an event, call, or move confidently toward another action.
We can create ambitious and visually distinctive websites, but appearance is only the beginning. The site should be equally ambitious in what it produces: qualified traffic, reservations, events, online orders, inquiries, loyalty, and measurable revenue opportunities. The strongest websites behave like living business systems. They read visitor intent, connect the right pieces, and guide people toward action.
STILL DECIDING WHERE TO BEGIN?
Tell me what is creating pressure in the business. The intake is short, reaches me directly, and helps determine whether the next step should be a focused correction, a deeper assessment, or a larger build.
Start Here
Understand the problem before adding another solution.
I want to understand what is actually creating pressure in your business and recommend only what fits the need. I will not suggest a rebuild when a focused correction can solve the problem.
Restaurants have little room for expensive guesswork. The issue may be costs, operations, the menu, your website, Google visibility, Google campaigns, labor, COGS, the P&L, or the guest's path to taking action. The first step is to identify what is failing—not add more tools, platforms, or technology that create confusion instead of clarity.
We focus on strengthening the foundation first. Later, you can explore FLOOR / LEDGER, MENU // MONEY, the available business reviews, or leave a short brief.
Ready to talk?
When you are ready, open ROBBIE, my executive intake assistant. It will present a short, straightforward form where you can share your contact information and a few details about what your business needs.
Your message reaches me directly, and I will follow up within one business day. For an urgent matter—such as a website that requires rapid deployment or a critical Google campaign issue—include that context in your brief so it can be prioritized appropriately.
BUILT WITHPURPOSE.DESIGNED TO EVOLVE.
WASHINGTON, DC // 38° 53' N
THE CITY THIS WORK COMES FROM