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

Alright, Emilio thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?

I always refuse to ask for help unless it’s absolutely necessary , so thankfully my friends and family know this and always offer a helping hand ! But one friend closer than family has always showed up and showed out for me ! My friend more like family , Anthony “Birdie” Rendon has helped me almost every weekend of the spring and summer to help get the dream off the ground . I know without him it wouldn’t have had half of as a successful as it was ! So the ones who really want to help , they will and never expect anything ! But always appreciate the little things !

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?

Tio Lio’s first stemmed from me and my mother (Lisa Torres) selling tamales and what we call a “Crispy Dog”! That was the name as well ! But we only tried twords the end of the summer in ‘22 , So come next year we had a goal to make it into something more . Over the winter and fall we all thought about how there aren’t many dessert vendors so we wanted to help broaden the options . So we went online and researched and came across many reels of people having rolled ice cream in all parts of the world . So we dedicated our choice to doing that. We bought our machine and got to practicing with the trials and tribulations of what flavors would be best and how to blend the mix we make . We have had many opportunities like graduation parties , birthday parties , holidays and more to come and it’s always a great time make new friendships and connections. We just hope to make people happy with the snacks we make fresh in front of them! Because who doesn’t like ice cream right ?

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was trying to get closed down and on the way home . Many times peoples have walked up after we were set to shut down shop but I absolutely hated letting a customer down . So we just stayed until we didn’t see any more people regaurdless of late it got !

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

We have had many times where we didn’t see not one person in the first 5/6 hours of our day but ended up selling out with thin an hour or 2 before being ready to pack up. So sometimes it’s all about being out there and available to really catch the bag .

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Tiolio989
• Facebook: Tio Lio’s