We were lucky to catch up with Donelle Mendoza recently and have shared our conversation below.

Donelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The idea of Starting up Birria Queen LLC didn’t traditionally start how most business ideas begin. It began more authentically than that, Taking it back to November 2018 , I moved here to Austin Texas from California. The first thoughts of moving here were to Find a regular 9-5 job in the medical field, and to also find my favorite go to taco shops. I was successful in finding a job 2 weeks after moving here to Austin however, I couldn’t say the same for finding my favorite taco shop or Mexican restaurant, as everything was TexMex and completely different from what I was used to growing up in California. it was also hard to find certain dishes I craved from home like, Chile relleno burritos, chile verde burritos the Cali Style street tacos and Birria/Birria tacos being one of the dishes I couldn’t seem to find anywhere. After 9 months of living here I gave up hope in finding my go-to taco shops, and I decided to take matters into my own hands. I began cooking what I was craving at home using my family recipes, which came naturally to me as i’ve always loved to cook. I made Tamales, Birria, Pozole, tacos Gobernador , chile verde and chile to satisfy my Cali Cravings. As most people do, I would post videos on Facebook Snapchat and Instragam, and as a surprise to me I had many people question where I bought these dishes. Once they were aware I was making these dishes they had never seen or heard of they would ask to buy a plate if I had any available for sale. I didn’t think to take it into consideration until I had so many of the same questions from so many different people. As it turns out these dishes were new to everyone here but appealing enough to want to try. Most messages were for the Tacos Gobernador, Birria Caldo and tacos I had made as those dishes were unattainable here in Austin, people had more curiosity for them. After a few months of serving plates of Birria Tacos more and more people wanted to try, however I did work 9-5 so I was only able to serve birria on the weekends. But as my online popularity grew and the demand for my famous Birria tacos grew I had to take into consideration Serving Birria full time as there were no Birria shops in Austin, I decided to quit the medical field and persue my Taco shop and share with everyone Authentic California Style Birria.

Donelle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Birria Queen LLC not only Serves Authentic Traditonal Style Birria, there are menu items that are fun, unique, and creatively infused with Birria. Not only Having a huge variety of Birria infused menu items that you cant find anywhere else, being known for having the best Cald0 the best chile and a unique start up story sets me apart from others who are just now recently stepping into the hype of Birria tacos. In serving Birria for the past 3 years going on 4 I am most proud of having so many loyal customers, and all the amazing reviews my shop has received over the years.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I would say social media has helped grow my business, not only for the fact that most the world is on it but because people are visual and want to see what they are buying before they purchase weather it be food, home or clothes. My business started from a few posts on Facebook and Instagram, not being from the city and being able to lure in big audience from a mere photo or video is amazing and definitely a form of advertisement I think all business should be apart of.

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

Doing a complete career change can be scary and unassured, which was something I had to face when making my decision to either stay in the medical field or persue my taco shop dreams. I did contimplate if this is a good idea not only for me but my son who I have to provide for, is this something I can do for the long haul, and is this something I can make a career out of. All those thoughts did cross my mind, but decided to just dive right in and go for it. YOLO

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birriaqueen_/
• Facebook: Birria Queen
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/birria-queen-austin-6?osq=birria+queen
• Other: tiktok : BirriaQueen

Image Credits
B Originals