We were lucky to catch up with Belén De La Cruz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Belén de la Cruz, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

I opened my first store with the support of my brother and the encouragement of my family, a great team, and a community that believed in me. I’m a self-made cook and entrepreneur, so I had to learn everything from scratch. We had to find a suitable location, set up a commercial kitchen, and become familiar with all the rules and regulations. For our second store, we had the learnings from the first one. We noticed that people were driving long distances to buy our empanadas, so we decided to bring our products closer to more clients. That’s how we decided to open another location in Marietta, GA. From then on, every additional store has been the result of potential partners reaching out to us, interested in our unique concept, and our wonderful products. That’s our scaling-up story. A unique concept and solid products to back it up!

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’m Belén de la Cruz, a passionate Argentinian cook and entrepreneur, and I’ve turned my love for good food into a thriving business. I grew up in Buenos Aires, watching my mom cook great meals for our family. When I moved to Atlanta, I brought the flavors of my native Argentina with me. I got a Food Cottage license to sell my pastries and started giving cooking classes, teaching others how to prepare traditional Argentine recipes. After my classes, people asked me where they could buy my empanadas and pastries. This sparked the idea for Belén de la Cruz Empanadas & Pastries, so more people could enjoy our Argentine empanadas, cakes, and pastries. The first store opened in February 2020 in Johns Creek, right before the Pandemic. Since then, we have continued to grow, opening several locations around Georgia and expanding our wholesale and catering business. When we opened the first store, it felt like a huge accomplishment. I couldn’t have imagined that four years later, we would be where we are today. We are now in six locations! The original store in Johns Creek, a second one in Marietta, another two in Atlanta – at The Works, and inside the Beltline Kroger – and recently, we opened a beautiful store in Savannah, GA. We have also expanded our catering and wholesale operations, with more coffee shops, markets, and restaurants carrying our fresh and frozen products.

Belén de la Cruz Empanadas & Pastries is about sharing the traditional flavors and culture of our native Argentina with more people. Thanks to the support of an amazing group of people, I’ve been able to turn my passion into high-quality empanadas, cakes, and pastries “Baked with Love.“ I love our community of customers who continue to support us, and I’m proud that we have captured the spirit of sharing a satisfying meal with friends and family just like we do in Argentina.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Our products are all about offering healthy, flavorful alternatives for our families. We make everything in our commercial kitchen, following the highest standards. We use high-quality ingredients and no preservatives in our fillings. Unlike other type of empanadas, Belén de la Cruz empanadas are not fried! We bake them, which makes them a healthy option. 

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

As I mentioned above, the business started because the product sparked interest and was successful. Knowing that we have such a delicious, strong offering, is the backbone of our success. There’s nothing like seeing a smile on people’s faces when they try our empanadas. We work to make them happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.belendelacruz.com
• Instagram: @belendelacruz_empanadas
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100059688683311

Image Credits

Belén de la Cruz