We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David Rangel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David below.

David, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

When we started the pandemic was in full effect and it was difficult to find basic foods like, pasta, rice, etc. We started selling pasta out of our home daily. As we got an opportunity to expand, our mindset stayed the same. We wanted to make affordable Italian style food.

For the most part, at least in this area, Italian food is very expensive. Just about every place you go you pay at least double of what we charge. For example, $50 at our spot goes along way. Most people who order are surprised by the pricing. That’s our mission, our goal, to make affordable and great food for people.

Don’t get me wrong, when you order our food you’re getting the bang for your buck. We strive to offer fresh ingredients, great food with affordable elevation. We have a different special every week so that we can keep customers coming. It’s important to have great food that you can afford.

In these times, it’s easier to buy fast food than a great home cooked meal. Since we are a mom and pop shop, people come in to see us and order a meal that is prepared just for the customer.

David, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Marinara Miracles is an Italian style kitchen serving up great food at a great price. This started from our home during the pandemic by selling home made pasta by the pound and sauces to accompany them. We got the idea as these were items that were in scarcity during the pandemic. What set us apart is that we created a niche in which you could order pasta, sauce, or a lasagna and pick it up curbside. By ordering from us, you could choose from the following: angel hair, fettucine, bowtie, three cheese ravioli, mushroom truffle ravioli, spinach cheese tortellini, marinara sauce, alfredo sauce, pesto sauce, or you could order a custom lasagna.

After places began to open up we got an opportunity to rent a commercial kitchen. This was located on the second floor of now our current home at Valhalla Tavern. What is unique is that this is a music venue. That being said the patrons can order from the Marinara Miracles menu while checking out a live show.

We are on our third year in operation at the kitchen. We’ve come a long way considering that both Tess(my wife) and I had no idea how to use any of the equipment as we did not have commercial kitchen experience. It took a few months of cleaning and learning but we finally were fully operational in June of 2021. We opened our doors for the first time for service.

Since then we’ve built a following as we offer a full menu, different specials every week and now provide catering for events. It’s been a long road. It wasn’t always easy as we had to learn how to operate a business on our own from the ground up. We had no idea about doing taxes, buying/repairing equipment things of that sort. Also being able to find employees that can operate on a level suitable for service has been a real challenge.

Even with all the obstacles thrown at us, we’ve learned how to pivot in order to succeed. Our best advise is to never give up and to be as resourceful as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask your local businesses how they deal with problems that may arise. Anyone can succeed, you just need to have the drive to do so.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

As you know we started during the pandemic. We had to do so as my then girlfriend(now wife) Tess had just been laid off as a bartender in March of 2020. I had just purchased a pasta roller for her as a Valentine’s Day gift. I still had my job as an Audio/Visual Sales Associate at a prominent hotel, though was later laid off that year in June. That being said, Tess and I were at Valhalla Tavern having a beer as she just received the news that she was let go.

We were uncertain of the future. She then asked me if she started to make fresh pasta if I thought people would buy it. I responded by saying I was unsure but let’s find out. So while we were sitting at the bar I made a post on my social media asking the same question. We received positive responses so we decided to pursue this avenue as a way to bring in money for living. She taught me how to make sauces so we started selling pasta and sauces from our home. Our customers started coming to our home and picking up their orders curbside.

Four years later we are still in operation. The first year we were about to open, I received an offer to return to the company that laid me off. It was a higher position but the pay was still the same. I had to make a decision of whether to open our kitchen/restaurant or go back to a new hotel selling audio/visual packages for clients. I thought I would be able to do both, but in the end I decided to take a chance and go full time with the kitchen and never looked back. This was one of the toughest and best decisions I’ve ever had to make. It’s been tough at times but we’ve been able to live on our business earnings. We have since been married and still work in our kitchen Marinara Miracles upstairs at Valhalla Tavern.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what helped us build our reputation is that we had an idea that most people thought was ridiculous. The idea was selling pasta at a rock bar. Most people laughed at us but we were able to execute and provide great food. Though we had to convince people otherwise.

The beginning it was tough. We would go to the kitchen daily to clean as it had been empty for over a year. The equipment was unused, so we cleaned for the first month and learned how to use it all. Each day we were done we went to the local bars that are in the Red River Cultural District. Red River is a street in which there are predominantly music venues and bars. This is where we are located. As time went by we met all the owners, bartenders and service providers.

We would tell them all our horror stories of cleaning and learning the equipment. We then forged relationships with all the businesses in the district. This helped support us during the tough times. We are very hands on so most people who come in know who we are. We are a mom and pop shop to the core. That being said people know that we take the time to make sure each dish is made with love. This is our goal and we strive to keep our reputation of serving great food intact.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marinaramiracles.com
• Instagram: @marinara.miracles
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marinaramiracles/

Image Credits

Photo Credit: Daniel Cavazos