Kevin Le, the owner of 1618 Asian Fusion restaurant in Austin, Texas, was in the middle of a staff meeting in his office when he found out that Elon Musk was dining at his restaurant. Spectrum News 1 shared Le’s story of surprise and admiration. Austin is the home of Giga Texas and, as the article noted, Elon had to eat — everyone does.
“It was really surprising,” Le told Spectrum News 1. “I was in a meeting with my staff inside and one of my staffers came up and told me, ‘Elon Musk is here.’ And I was like, ‘Who?’” Le was in a bit of shock, so he went to see it for himself. Le noted that Elon was very friendly. “I came out to greet him and welcome him to Austin. He was very friendly and I asked him how he knows my restaurant here, and he told me he was traveling to Austin and he told his sister he wanted to find a good restaurant,” which made him feel very proud and honored. “I very admire him,” he said.
Le pointed out that meeting Elon Musk was an indicator of what the future for his business (and Austin) would look like once Giga Texas is completed and online. “We’re very happy for him to be here. A lot of jobs for us; a lot of business for us,” Le said. He pointed out that Elon was moving pretty fast — after he finished his meal he quickly left. “Elon Musk in my restaurant — my hero!”
Meeting Elon Musk
I hope to meet Elon Musk someday as well, but several of my Twitter friends have met him and many shared their stories with me last year. Austin Barnard, who is from Boca Chica and is well known for his photojournalism, told me that when he met Elon, it felt unreal.
“Honestly, I felt like it wasn’t real at all. I felt like, when I turned the corner and saw him for the first time, my heart went BOOM! But at the same time, I was trying to keep myself real calm. Being able to meet him and talk to him, he is the generous kindhearted sweet individual you could ever meet. Hearing him talk is one thing, but when you actually meet him in person. You feel like the hope and joy in the world are there and there is a beautiful future coming. That’s how powerful he radiates his energy and it’s so amazing. Honestly, he’s a one of a kind man. He’s sweet, compassionate, he’s awesome. He’s the best. I am honestly excited for what the future has in store for us.”
You can read more stories of those who’ve met Elon here.
The Impact Of Giga Texas Is Just Getting Started
Giga Texas, I feel, is probably going to widely impact the entire Gulf Coast and not just Texas. Although Texas is huge, its effect will be felt in many areas — and not just Tesla’s, but SpaceX’s and more recently The Boring Company which is also making waves in Austin. Back to Giga Texas, Tesla will infuse the area with new job opportunities and possibly lead other businesses to flock to Austin as well — boosting the local economy. Autobody News recently reported that Tesla has started the hiring ramp for Giga Texas Engineers and HR around the same time Giga Texas’ construction started its 24/7 shifts.
The article noted that a job posting by Tesla for HR in the Austin Business Journal read, “Check your ego at the door. We don’t allow them on the property. We care about people, growth, excellence, and results. We tend to lose sleep over them as this is not easy. Bottom line, we are in search of real people that believe in and deliver the impossible every day. You must love and thrive in that fast-paced, high energy chaotic environment.” The responsibilities of the Giga Texas HR manager included, “Making the impossible possible” and “Love to be challenged, REALLY CHALLENGED!”
Another recent impact of Tesla being in Texas was felt right here in Baton Rouge. Tesla chose a local business to rent the stadium lights that are enabling Giga Texas to have 24-hour shifts (three shifts) to speed up its completion. I spoke with Corey Bordelon, the general sales manager at Boss Ltg who was excited to share with me how he got connected with Tesla as well as some of the lights he is planning on renting out to Tesla to keep the Gigafactory flooded with light. “We’ll try to flood that whole project with lights. … We have a generator like the lights you have a picture of — it’s run on generator — but we have some that are run on just regular 110 electricity power and we have some that are solar-powered as well.”
Considering that Mardi Gras parades are being canceled in New Orleans and that coronavirus cases are surging here, and many hungry families are using food banks to the point that they are running out of food, our state needs all the help we can get — especially after the insane hurricane season we’ve just had.