In her native Venezuela, Mariana Alvarez studied medicine and psychology to become an educational psychologist.
In search of new opportunities and forced by adverse circumstances in her home country, she and her family relocated to the United States in 2019.
Settling in Springdale, Alvarez found that there were no area restaurants serving Venezuelan food. One year after arriving in Arkansas and motivated by friends who loved her Venezuelan cuisine, she started an Instagram account to document and share her passion for cooking.
Demand grew for her delicious food, but Alvarez had no knowledge of how to open a business.
She learned that the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at the University of Arkansas offered services to Spanish speakers and contacted Carolina Mejia, ASBTDC bilingual consultant. With Spanish as her first language, Alvarez found it easier to work with the center in her native language.
Alvarez and Mejia started from scratch, beginning with market research, business plan development, and an overview of financials. As the vision for her business came into clear focus, the ASBTDC team assisted with marketing and social media strategy, photography, and logo review. Alvarez created her menu in the design platform Canva after an ASBTDC webinar on the topic.
On April 11, 2022, Na’guara held its grand opening. Located in The Boardwalk Food Truck Court in Springdale, Alvarez’s food truck features traditional Venezuelan dishes – empanadas, arepas venezolanas, pepitos, tequenos, pastelitos – all made fresh to order.
Alvarez describes her venture as a job done with love and dedication, inspired by her children Donato and Fabrizio. She is grateful to everyone who supported her along her entrepreneurial journey, thanking God first as it is her faith that guides her path, her husband David and her parents who have been by her side each step along the way, and her local ASBTDC.
“ASBTDC has been the best thing experienced on this road to success. Carolina Mejia has been a fundamental pillar in each stage of this new small business,” said Alvarez.
She added that she is “grateful to each of the ASBTDC UAF team members, from design to photography, and without the help of this great team it would not have been possible to carry out each stage of this undertaking.”
“Na’guara” is a Spanish colloquialism for “Wow!,” and judging from customer feedback, it’s the right word for Mariana’s food and decision to start her own business.
Find more details about the Na’guara food truck on its Facebook page.