Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gilma DeLaCruz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Gilma, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To be successful first believe in yourself, in your ideas. I Am a firm believer that success comes from commitment, responsibilities, sacrifices, hard work and passion and love for what you do and believe.

As a business owner I pride myself in punctuality , time is money. This may not be important for millions of people, but I believe that being punctual, prepare says a lot about your personality and business. Personally I have to drink coffee before my work day start, so I plan ahead, I wake up early enough so I can not just drink coffee, but I can enjoy a cup coffee. I have work with community leaders that express how happy they feel about my time importance.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born in the state of New Jersey and raised in the Dominican Republic. My mom moved with my sister and I to her hometown when I was 5 yrs old. I grew up with my mom, my sister, my grandmother and my aunts. All the ladies in my family have always been involved in the culinary industry, my grandma’s house patio was where we all learned how to cook. For me the most important thing I learned from my grandma was her hospitality, everyday she would brew coffee 2-3 times a day for everyone that came by the house. My grandma and my aunts would pray the rosary every afternoon and right after the rosary we would share an afternoon snack which the majority of the time was cassava empanadas with pork stuffing. I share this story because this memory is who I Am today and what represents my company. Every bite in our menu has a story. My skills, my discipline comes from my mom and the group of women that helped her race my sister and I.

I came back to the USA when I was 18 looking for better opportunities. I went to school and received a medical assistant certificate, however I always felt I was missing something. I would always cook and feel happy , family and friends would tell me to go to culinary school. After a longtime of excuses not to do it, I woke up one day and decided to do something for myself that would make me happy. I went to culinary school and received my degree in 2017. After graduation with the help of my husband, we open our food truck El Caribe. El Caribe mission is to bring a taste of the Caribbean to our community. My joy is to see our clients do the happy dance when they enjoy a meal from our food truck. It does not stop there, remember those cassava empanadas I had with my grandma and aunts. Today I’m launching my first product for retail sale which will be cassava empanadas by El Caribe. Our brand shares memories, stories, delicious food, and we invite our clients to create memories with their families when they enjoyed our food.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I started cooking at home on the weekends, because I had a full time job during the week. I had a lot of clients, and this is what pushed me to get out of my house, and go to culinary school. Do it right! I stopped selling food from home, dedicated 2 years to school, then opened our food truck. At first the food truck was part time because it was not paying the bills so I had a side job as a spanish interpreter too. Our first event we made $50, and I cried like a baby. Then the next day was a much better day. Our family and friends have always been our number one customers, they always show up and support by actually buying food from us. It took about 4 months for us to have a good clientele. We had to go to events, talk to clients about our food, give free samples, and I had to make changes to the wording of the menu so it had more connection to the clients we were serving. We share our food with other food truck vendors and they would recommend our food even to their clients. We became members of the food truck association and this helped our food truck name be out there more. At this point the food truck was my fulltime job and I hired another full time employee.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

My recommendation is to look for local organizations that offer business bootcamps/classes. I have taken advantage of this and learned from marketing, financials, and business growth . Going to conferences where other entrepreneurs will share their experiences has also helped.

Contact Info:

• Website: elcaribefoods.com
• Instagram: elcaribefoodtruck
• Facebook: elcaribefoodtruck