Owner, Izzy’s Deli

The “Deli Lama,” as Izzy Freeman is known, opened Izzy’s Deli in Santa Monica in 1973. The New York transplant’s venture immediately upped the Westside’s deli game, and he has been serving up corned beef and pastrami on rye, matzo ball soup, kosher pickles, and roasted turkey for more than 45 years.

How many hours a week do you work?

Five hours a day.

Why not retire?

I always think about it, but it’s not in the cards right now because I enjoy what I’m doing, and most of my people have been here for a long, long time. I know that if I sell the place … they’ll bring in new people. I feel obligated to my employees.

What is the one thing people often get wrong about retirement?

I think that people who retire — they don’t plan, and they get bored. You’ve got to be active; your mind has to be active. That’s why I stay here. 

Do co-workers seek out your experience and knowledge?

I opened the restaurant 46 years ago, and nobody is helping — it’s just me. People always ask me for advice, but they don’t want to take it. And I say to them, “Why do you ask me if you’re still just doing what you want?”

How do you keep the work you do fresh and interesting?

That’s the nature of the restaurant business. You see interesting people all the time.

What are the biggest changes you’ve observed in your workplace environment across your career, and what are key aspects that have never changed?

The business now is all about the ecommerce, and food delivery companies have taken over now. A lot of people don’t even want to leave the house. All they want to do is call the delivery service and have the food delivered. What hasn’t changed — people are still coming to eat.

How has working in Los Angeles changed over the years?

It’s the increase in minimum wage. They think they are helping the low-income people. But it’s not helping them because a whole lot of them are losing their jobs because the restaurant industry is consolidating and people who they are trying to help are the ones who are moving out. Everybody is raising their prices — McDonald’s and Jack in the Box and those kind of restaurants — they have all raised their prices, and that’s where a whole lot of minimum-wage employees shop and eat, and they are finding that they need more money for the food. People who are making the rules never worked a day in their life and have no idea what they are doing to the industry. 

What’s next on your agenda?

I really don’t think that far. Right now, all I want to do is keep the restaurant afloat and stay in business and stay healthy and continue doing what I do. I don’t look that far in the future. 

What do you do for fun?

I play golf a lot — I belong to a country club — and travel. That keeps me busy. And I take care of my family, and I have nine grandkids.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you have for your 50-year-old self?

Don’t go into the restaurant business!