Today we’d like to introduce you to Reyna Vazquez. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Veracruz All Natural is a family-run business in Austin, Texas, founded by sisters Reyna and Maritza Vazquez in 2008. Their passion is cooking traditional, authentic food from their hometown of Veracruz, and other regions in Mexico. Some of the business recipes have been passed down in their family for several generations, and they pride themselves in cooking homemade food and using fresh, natural ingredients.
Not only are Reyna and Maritza sisters and business partners, but best friends. They were born and raised in Veracruz, Mexico, and moved to Austin, TX after graduating from High School. From an early age, Chef Reyna’s career goal was to own her own restaurant. She grew up helping her mother in their family kitchen in Veracruz, Mexico. Starting at a very young age, both Reyna’s mother and grandmother taught her the ins and outs of the kitchen, and she has loved to cook ever since.
Maritza also knows her way around a kitchen, but has different interests she wanted to pursue. In school, she had wanted to study subjects in business administration, computer programming, and teaching, however, there wasn’t much opportunity for her to chase these ambitions in her hometown. Becoming a business owner finally gave Maritza the opportunity to excel in these areas.
In the beginning, Reyna and Maritza both kept their other jobs and worked nonstop to get their business going, oftentimes taking turns sleeping on the trailer floor while the other sister attended to customers in order to keep it open. They started out selling snow cones, smoothies, and natural drinks, but their goal was always to serve food. A couple of years after opening, they could afford to buy a larger food truck, and with more space, they could start cooking tacos.
Today, Reyna and Maritza have multiple locations in Austin and Round Rock and have been recognized in several media outlets, including the Food Network, where they were recognized as serving one of the five best tacos in America. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifice for these two sisters from Mexico to get to where they are, and today they are living their dream.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting my business was extremely difficult, especially in the beginning. A lot of people told me that to start or think about opening a business without documents was impossible, that there was a lot of paperwork and requirements, and it would be impossible to meet these requirements without a social security number. On the other hand, I believed that with perseverance and hard work, anything was possible, and that people put limits on themselves through negative thinking.
I would sometimes feel frustrated in the beginning because, when I started the business, I did not have a lot of money. I started without any kind of investment. Even after my sister Maritza became my business partner, we still didn’t have enough money to invest. I couldn’t take out a loan because I didn’t have a social security number.
To buy equipment for the business, I had to sell the only thing I owned that was worth anything, my car. I remember that when I sold it, I thought that someday I would have something even better, and that material thing come and go.
There were times when circumstances made me think of quitting. In those moments when I returned to my house and the electricity was shut off because I couldn’t pay my bills, or when I didn’t have money to buy food, or to pay my rent. Those first three years were all investment and no earnings, it was very difficult and frustrating. I would think, “How can I continue, how can I persevere without losing hope?”
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I don’t have advice specifically about mentoring or networking, but I do have thoughts on following dreams. It was extremely difficult for me to start my own business in Austin, TX. I felt like the odds were against me as an undocumented immigrant, however, I decided that I would take the risk to start my business because it was my dream, and I decided to fight for my dream even though bad things might come to pass. At least if I have children or grandchildren one day, I will be able to tell them all about my experiences and be able to be an example to them of how important it is to pursue your dreams even though circumstances may be bad. Even in the worst circumstances, there is always a way to achieve your goals when you focus on getting rid of your fear.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://veracruzallnatural.com
- Instagram: @veracruztacos
- Facebook: @veracruzallnatural
- Twitter: @veracruztacos
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUKZgUW5si_CZgbCGue1CZg
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/veracruz-all-natural-austin-6?osq=Veracruz+All+Natural
Image Credits
Ryan Myers
