We were lucky to catch up with Emilio Alcorta recently and have shared our conversation below.

Emilio, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

I manage all of our social media from Instagram to Facebook. I make all of our content whether it’s our reels or simply Pictures, I pride myself into standing out from everyone as this business is on the rise. It has been not been easy keeping up with our accounts as we try to keep each picture and video as unique as possible, so coming up with new ideas isn’t always the easiest. Not to mention while of course running the business at the same time.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Emilio Alcorta, owner of ElChilitoLoko, a teen owned business here in Houston Texas and we specialize in making the most savory, authentic Mexican candy! We turn plain candy into a addicting Snack! From gushers to starburst, you’ll never look at candy the same. We started our business back in the end of 2020 having covid ruin so many plans. Being in Mexico for a month my mom bought me a few bags of candy for me to experiment as she once used to make tajin gushers when I was in 9th grade. Once we got back home I got to work and the rest is history. Almost two years later with Almost 10k followers, and many opportunities were really grateful for all of our customers! I think was sets us apart from others is not only a teenager owns and runs this business but how fast we became successful. As I was shocked myself I had to overcome a lot of things really fast to ensure the business continued. However I’m very proud our candy is liked by everyone as there is stereotypes on Mexican candy, whether it’s to spicy etc we haven’t got a bad review!

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Yes it did in only a matter of a few months. It all started when I got back from a Mexico trip with candy wanting to start a small business. I came up with a recipe and the rest is history. The beginning was rough but consistency is key to build a successful business. As many people my age started getting jobs I didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t make their own money etc. So I started doing popups during the weekend and it gave me many financial opportunities I never thought I’d have. I searched up many places and their pay rates, to realize what I was doing wasn’t a side hustle anymore. So I continued doing popups and doing local business until we were able to get a custom tent and many other things that contributed to our business. So from having a few orders a week, to borrowing canopy’s for pop ups, we can finally say ElChilitoLoko is our fulltime job.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I think for us personally Is our business account. We pride our selfs in our Instagram account in being as unique and eye catching as possible. From our pictures to reels we make our content leaving the viewer wanting to try it so bad! Our products are really mouthwatering once you see them, there’s no way you can resist. Another way is our samples in our popups. As soon as a person try’s our candy is like they’re soul brightens up and can’t resist but to purchase!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://elchilitoloko.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/el_chilito_loko