Growth Stories
Following up with former program participants.
Following up with former program participants.
“The networking was amazing. I made contacts that I never could have made otherwise, and these contacts have made all the difference on our journey to the shelf. Beyond business, it sparked a confidence in myself that I did not know was there. ”
We handcraft empanadas for hungry humans that value great taste, good nutrition, and their time. Founded in 2008 with roots planted firmly in food truck culture, our empanadas are the perfect answer to the constant question “what’s for breakfast/lunch/dinner?”and are now available in grocers’ frozen aisles across Texas and New Mexico.
In 2016, we were doing fine as a local food truck and wholesaler. We had a handful of local accounts that carried our empanadas, but none of the accounts were frozen consumer packaged goods. A year after our second child was born, I remembered what our mission was in the beginning: to sell our empanadas in frozen food aisles.
My husband and I had everything to learn about food manufacturing, food safety, and food regulations. Those first years were spent learning the basics in scaling a food manufacturing operation. Codytook the helm with production, and it fell to me to figure out the business side of mmmpanadas. Up to that point, neither my background nor confidence was in the business realm. One day, I received an email from the City of Austin Small Business Department about the program….I applied and to my surprise I was accepted and wondered if I had what it took to even show up to the class. I did and my life has forever been changed for the better.
I thought the basic concepts of business were most valuable from the content but I also gained the confidence to pursue our vision for mmmpanadas.
Looking back, I feel like it was all brand new. Before FastForward [now Small-biz.XLR], we were working on straight intuition. The program empowered me with the vocabulary and working knowledge of business concepts that have been crucial to our evolution as a business.
The networking was amazing. I made contacts that I never could have made otherwise, and these contacts have made all the difference on our journey to the shelf.
We got serious about expanding into the consumer-packaged goods industry and in 2018 were named the grand-prize winners of HEB’s Quest for Texas Best competition for emerging Texan brands!
FastForward changed my life. Beyond business, it sparkeda confidence in myself that I did not know was there. I will be forever grateful to City of Austin and IC² for affording me this opportunity.
The networking was amazing. I made contacts that I never could have made otherwise, and these contacts have made all the difference on our journey to the shelf.
