Her first business venture in the United States ended badly with a surprise visit from the health department.
Maricela Gutierrez was selling raspados – flavored ice – from a small table she propped up in a Bay Point grocery. The inspectors snapped photos and threatened fines.
“They told me I’m not in Mexico,” she said.
Gutierrez could have done what most people do – give up and go work for someone else. She was in her 20s and had just arrived to California with almost no English skills.
“One of my friends said, ‘If I were you, I’d throw in the towel.’ I told her, ‘I’m a single mom. I have to take care of my two kids.'”
So she learned the system. Almost 10 years later, sticking with the sweet and light side of Mexican cuisine has paid off for Gutierrez, owner of Antioch’s spacious Antojitos de Jalisco restaurant and a same-named food truck that her husband operates in Bay Point.
The company’s name translates to snacks or cravings – literally, “little whims” – from her home state of Jalisco.
The shop was recognized as one of nine “Women-Owned Businesses of the Year” in Contra Costa County this month by the Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment, an organization that encourages and trains women to be entrepreneurs.
Photo by arnold | inuyaki