We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dominique Tallungan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dominique, thanks for joining us today. So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?

I think family businesses are amazing. As a child of immigrants, my mom starting her own business centered around Filipino food has been almost healing for me. Being born and raised in America, I’ve definitely struggled with my identity as an American born Filipino. I was “too Filipino” to be American yet too American” to be Filipino. After taking over my moms business, I’ve found a new love for my culture through the food we create. This business has been almost like an immigrant love letter from my mom to my siblings and me; by passing down her traditions and culture, it’s shaped who I am as a Filipino-American woman.

The best part about a family run business is its flexibility. From working a typical 9-5 to now being my own boss has been liberating. I’ve always strived to be the strong female leader my mom turned out to be. While the freedom has been great, it does come with its downfalls. I feel a great deal of pressure to succeed as the success of the business comes from the decisions I make; and I always doubt myself if I’m making the right ones. Another is although I have the liberty to create my own schedule, I do find myself working a lot. For example, I’m on a plane at this very moment, going to Tokyo, yet I bought WiFi on the plane so I can make sure I can work during this 12 hour flight. Another downfall is inevitable conflict with your family. I run the business with my older sister and we have had our fair share of arguments and disagreements. I personally feel the pros outweigh the cons, and that’s why I continue to push forward.

I would love for my children to join in on this business. I think it would be a great way for them, just like me, to learn about Filipino culture, as well as the legacy of their grandma.

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.

My name is Dominique, I run Josephine’s Special Empanadas in the San Gabriel Valley. This business was started by my mom at the age of 51. She was laid off in 2005 when my siblings and I were in grade school. Desperate to keep food on our table, she started selling her empanadas in parking lots. She eventually opened her first brick-and-mortar store in West Covina in 2007. She took care of the business on her own for 14 years. When my mom turned 65 in 2021, my older sister and I decided to leave our careers and take over her business so she can rest and travel the world, something that she’s always dreamed of doing. Fast forward to 2023, we opened a second location in City of Industry and have slowly been starting to build our brand here in San Gabriel Valley.

We specialize in Filipino-style empanadas. Our hope is to contribute our flavors to the ever-growing popularity of Filipino flavors in mainstream food. Our goal is to shine a light on the experience of immigrant parents and the legacy they create for their children.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I actually had no aspirations growing up to take over my mom’s business in the beginning. Throughout college, I always had regular jobs; I never worked for my mom besides the occasional weekends I would spend helping her out. I originally had aspirations in social work. I worked in mental health – in the acute setting and eventually working my way up to case management, when I graduated college at 21. I was on my way to go back to school to get my masters in clinical social work. Everything changed when my mom came to us about opening another location. She had signed the lease on another location; but it became clear very quickly that she could not sustain this by herself. The building she signed the lease for was completely bare; she would have to completely build out the interior, and she did not know what to do. In order to help her out, I would work my day job, and at night I would help out creating her new space. I did this for months. The week before we opened, I sat myself down and thought about what this business meant to me; to my mom; to my family. It was this business that pulled my family out of poverty, this business that sent me to school, and now I had to decide what this business meant to me for my future. It came down to – “if 20 years down the road I look back on my life, will I have regretted not taking the chance to create this for my mom?” That night I wrote my resignation letter to my job. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve done. And turns out, the most rewarding.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I think being authentic and kind fosters a great work environment. I’ve had other jobs, so I know what it’s like to feel like management is not on your side. This is something that is really important when dealing with my team; I definitely think it comes from being a young boss (my siblings are all millennials), but I think being understanding and tending to the needs of your staff really uplifts morale. We constantly check-in with our staff to make sure they feel supported and accommodate them in any way we can. We aim to create a work environment in that our staff feels safe coming into work. Our staff gets along so well and it truly feels like a mini family.

Contact Info:

• Website: jsempanadas.com
• Instagram: @jsempanada
• Yelp: Josephine’s Special Empanada – City of Industry

Image Credits
Beef empanada photo creds: @airieats on instagram