We were lucky to catch up with Leonor & Sergio Olivares recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Leonor & Sergio thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Here at Dale Tamale we offer our very own unique approach to one of the most well known dishes in Mexican culture. We bring our love and appreciation of street art and dishes from places we love, and infuse it into every one of our tamale’s giving each one a signature style of its own. This now allows our customers to customize their own tamale when requested ahead of time. Our vision of merging two worlds together to create a culinary experience that can only be found here at Dale Tamale comes alive one customer at a time. All that we do, is for our two children, as we hope that this dream may fuel them to pursue dreams of their own.

Leonor & Sergio, 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?

The idea for Dale Tamale originated in Boca Raton, Fl. We could never really find tamales when we wanted them so we started to make them ourselves. It took us 6 months to perfect our masa recipe. Once it was perfected we were free to be as creative as we wanted. We love to combine the local favorites and put them in a tamale. Our most popular tamale has been the San Antonio – a hot cheetos infused masa with barbacoa, nacho cheese drizzle, & hot cheetos crumbs to top it off. What separates us from others is that we also combine our love for art and make custom rugs. We do all shapes and sizes.
We are forever grateful to the San Antonio small business community for welcoming us and showing us what its like to be in this business. The community of San Antonio has been so amazing and I thank you so much for allowing us to be creative with our tamales and loving them! We hope to one day have a food truck and open up a brick and mortar.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

With Dale Tamale we first made an instagram page and a facebook page. We asked our family and friends to like and follow the pages. That is how we initially got out first set of followers. I googled how to make a QR code and found a free QR generator. I copied our instagram link and made Dale Tamale their very own QR code. I made a really cute “follow me” flyer on canva.com, printed it, then put it in an aesthetically pleasing picture frame. I signed up for a bunch of markets and made sure to have my QR code out and ready for everyone to scan. Once at the markets I would talk to everyone who walked into my tent and told them to follow us on instagram. I would sound like this, “Thank y’all so much for coming in, follow us on instagram to see more rugs/info.” Markets were a huge success for us in terms of gaining followers. We would average 50-80 new followers each market.
Another way we got followers was by doing a giveaway. All people who enter the giveaway must be following you.
Last but not least, naturally. The content that I would post would naturally drew in followers.
Social media changes every day, it is so hard to keep up so do not get discouraged! We are all learning together.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

One book that I feel fits with everything is The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. It is a super quick read, under 150 pages. One thing I like to do while I read is highlight parts that resonated with me. I also add little notes here and there. It helps me remember key elements from the book to use in real life. The four agreements are something you will use in all walks of life. I feel it opens up your perspective and allows you to truly see.

The Four Agreements Are:
1. Be Impeccable With Your Word.
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you wont be the victim of needless suffering,

3. Don’t Make Assumptions.
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best.
Your best is going to change from moment to moment, it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse, and regret.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/dale_tamale
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dale_tamale/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/DaleTamaleSA/