Today we’d like to introduce you to Alejandro Córdoba .
Hi Alejandro, can you introduce yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
We originally opened the food truck in 2018, but after a few months in business, we shut down due to engine problems. After a whole year’s shutdown, the Covid pandemic lockdown hit in 2020, causing me to get furloughed from my job. With everything in the lock, my mother and I had zero sources of income, with both of us with no source of income. My mother and I decided to Dust off the food truck and reopened it on May 22, 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. I thought to myself. No matter what happens, we all have to eat, so we got to work; with my mother’s recipes and my crazy ideas, I started putting together all the crazy plates and ideas that I had wished someone would sell. If not, I would get inspired by something I saw on Instagram and make our crazy version of it. Instagram played a huge role in our success.
During Covid, everyone was on their phones, so if I made as many videos as I could, they would eventually start going viral. And God answered our prayers because we began to pick up a following. Everyone in Orlando has shown us so much, love. To the point where because of the Huge crowds, we started having issues with the city on where we could park. After multiple engine problems, it got shut down 4 months out of the year due to zoning and 1 electrical fire, totaling the truck in March. Due to zoning, we were asked to move a handful of times, making it so much harder to keep a solid clientele. Thankfully, we kept posting videos and keeping up with our customers, so when we moved, many of our followers followed. We are thankful to have so many loving followers of our food here in Orlando. We finally opened up our first brick and mortar August 31, 2022. Now we are looking to keep expanding and hopefully, with God’s grace, have a Burro loco near you soon! The plan is to start developing and possibly begin franchising soon.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We bought an older diesel truck, so it came with its problems. So much we shut down for a whole year due to engine issues. Once we opened and got things going. We began having zoning issues due to the large crowds. So out of the 12 months, we could only operate for 8 months due to the zoning. During those 8 months, we had leaks and summer showers, and in March 2022, we had an electrical fire that totaled the truck. We had so many roadblocks and challenges but never Gave up. We believed in God and kept pushing. You can see our whole story on our Instagram since we opened and made our first post.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have a background in sales. I’ve worked in sales my whole life, from retail to real estate. My mother is a chef and real estate agent as well. We both are active realtors as well. I’m most proud of the teamwork that my mother and I have. My mother is in charge of the recipes, and I come up with the crazy plates and market them. We know our strengths and weaknesses, which helps everything flow easily; we love talking to our customers. Now that we are growing, we are looking to get my brothers involved, and hopefully, we can all work in the family business. That’s what makes us stand out. When our customers come, they feel like family; they know my mom and brothers. We’ve seen many times that many of our customers feel like an extended family. I love that. And most importantly, we all love my mom’s cooking!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
In the next 5-10 years, I’d like to have over 20 locations open. And look forward to continuing to grow our social media presence on all platforms. With great receipts, business tips, and different food concepts.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elburrolocofoodtruck/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/GO0t2616KY4
