Today we’d like to introduce you to Cesar Guzman.
Hi Cesar, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Monchis really started at a turning point in my life. I’m a civil engineer by profession, and I had been working a regular engineering job when I unexpectedly lost it. The easy and logical thing would have been to find another job. Instead, I found myself asking a question I had been putting off for years: if I’ve always wanted to do something with food, when exactly am I going to do it?
Food had always been part of my life. My mom is a chef, so I grew up around kitchens, catering, events, and people cooking. I started cooking very young, later attended culinary school, and worked different restaurant jobs throughout the years. Even while I was studying engineering, food was always somewhere in the background, patiently waiting for its turn.
After the pandemic, life took me to Costa Rica for a while, and that chapter changed a lot for me. I worked in restaurants there, including managing a vegan restaurant, which exposed me to a completely different side of food and pushed me to be more creative. Costa Rica also helped bring me out of my shell. I had always been more introverted, but suddenly I was meeting people from everywhere, exploring a new country, trying different food, and seeing life from a different perspective.
That’s also where I met Josiah.
We were both foreigners trying to figure out life in Costa Rica, and we became close friends through months of adventures, good food, random ideas, and probably a few decisions that sounded better at the time. We connected quickly because we both have this “why not?” mentality. I may be introverted, but I love trying things, exploring, and jumping into new experiences. Josiah is very much the person who says, “Let’s do it,” which has gotten us into plenty of adventures and, eventually, into a food truck.
Josiah also brought a completely different set of strengths into Monchis. He spent many years working in the world of Disney, and I think that experience shaped a lot of who he is today. He’s incredibly imaginative, very intelligent, naturally good with people, and has a strong sense of how an experience should feel, not just how it should look. He’s also very open-minded when it comes to food, culture, and trying new things. He’s the kind of person who can take a random idea and immediately start imagining what it could become.
I’m much more methodical and structured. I like understanding how things work, breaking them down, and building them back up, but the kitchen is where I get to be creative. Josiah brings vision, energy, people skills, and that ability to see possibilities everywhere. I bring the food, structure, and the need to figure out how we can actually make those ideas work. Somewhere in the middle is where Monchis happens.
Eventually, Josiah returned to Orlando, and a few years later I moved here as well. We picked up our friendship almost exactly where we had left it.
Then, in October of last year, I came across an opportunity to get a food truck. I remember thinking, “Is this it? Is this the moment?” I called Josiah and basically said, “Bro, there’s a food truck we can get. It sounds like a good deal. Let’s sit down, run the numbers, and see if this is actually possible or if I’m completely crazy.”
He wasn’t immediately convinced, which was probably a healthy reaction, but he trusted me and, more importantly, he trusted the food. We started meeting, doing the math, throwing ideas around, and slowly something that sounded a little crazy started to feel real. From that point on, Monchis became something we were building together.
From the beginning, we knew we didn’t want to create just another traditional Venezuelan food truck. Being Venezuelan, that culture and food are obviously a huge part of me, but the market here in Florida is already full of great Latin and Venezuelan food. We wanted to keep that identity while doing something more playful with it. We wanted to blend Venezuelan flavors and techniques with American street-food ideas and give everything our own personality.
That’s how Monchis Urban Food Truck started taking shape.
Even the name came from our story. “Monchis” is our way of talking about that feeling when you’re hungry, craving something, or just need something really good to eat. It also brought us back to Costa Rica, where there was a tiny local spot called Monchis that saved us many late nights when almost nothing else was open. It became one of those funny memories from our friendship, and somehow the name just felt right.
Then came Monchito, our character. He’s basically a laid-back, beanie-wearing guy who loves good food, has a little attitude, and somehow ended up developing more personality than we originally planned. What started as a logo slowly became its own little universe, and customers really connected with it.
The food evolved the same way. We started experimenting with ideas like an arepa burger, mini Venezuelan empanadas with unexpected fillings like cheeseburger, and house-made sauces. Josiah is constantly bringing ideas to the table, and I love taking those ideas into the kitchen and figuring out how to make them real. Sometimes they work immediately, sometimes they need a little help, and sometimes we look at each other and agree to never speak of them again.
Our mini empanada flights eventually became one of our most popular items because they represent what Monchis is about: trying different things, sharing food, and satisfying a craving without taking ourselves too seriously.
The road since opening has been anything but straightforward. We’ve learned permits, operations, food costs, marketing, events, logistics, and about a thousand things we had no idea we needed to know. We’ve had great nights, terrible nights, packed events, rainy days with almost no sales, and plenty of moments where we looked at each other and thought, “Do we actually know what we’re doing?”
One of the things that has kept us going is that partnership. There have been plenty of moments when one of us was exhausted, discouraged, or questioning everything, and somehow the other one was usually there saying, “Nope, we’re not done yet.” That friendship has probably been just as important to Monchis as any recipe or business plan.
But little by little, Monchis started becoming something bigger than the truck itself. People started coming back, recognizing Monchito, asking for stickers, bringing friends, and following us to different events. Those little moments mean a lot because they remind us that people are connecting not only with the food, but with the personality behind it.
We’re still very early in the story, and we’re learning every single day, but today Monchis feels less like an experiment and more like the beginning of something we truly believe can grow into something special.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not a smooth road, but I think that’s also what has made the experience so meaningful.
When we started, we knew opening a food truck would be a lot of work, but I don’t think either of us fully understood how many moving parts there were. It wasn’t just about making good food. Suddenly we had to learn permits, regulations, food costs, pricing, equipment, logistics, marketing, events, staffing, timing, inventory, and all the little details that can make or break a service.
For me personally, there was also the challenge of learning how all of this works in a country that isn’t where I grew up. I’m the type of person who needs to understand what I’m doing instead of just handing everything off to someone else, so I spent a lot of time learning the rules and trying to understand the business from the ground up. There were definitely moments where I thought, “I just wanted to cook. How did I end up studying permits at midnight?”
Money was another big challenge. Like most new businesses, we knew we weren’t going to be profitable immediately, but knowing that logically and actually watching money continue to go out month after month are two very different experiences. We kept investing in the truck, equipment, ingredients, branding, repairs, and everything else while trying to figure out how to consistently bring people in. After two or three months, there were moments when we genuinely wondered how long we could keep going like that.
At first, we had Monchis in a fixed location and really believed people would eventually discover us and come. We promoted, invited people, posted constantly, and tried everything we could think of, but some days the sales just weren’t there. There were nights with almost no customers, rainy days where we lost food, and times when we put a lot of effort into promoting something only to realize that not nearly as many people were showing up as we expected. Those days can be pretty humbling.
One of our biggest turning points was realizing that if people weren’t coming to Monchis, maybe we needed to bring Monchis to them. We started looking into apartment complexes, events, markets, and other places where we could take the truck. That sounds simple now, but even moving the operation meant learning an entirely new system. We needed a generator, transportation, a different setup, and a whole new way of organizing service.
Our first big event, Light Up Night, happened only about a month after we opened. We created it because we needed people to see us, and it ended up being much bigger than we expected. At certain points it was complete chaos. There were only three of us, two cooking and Josiah outside taking orders and helping customers, and we were absolutely overwhelmed. But it was also one of the best nights we had experienced. It showed us that people were interested and that Monchis had real potential. It also showed us very clearly how much we still had to learn.
That has honestly been the pattern of this whole journey. We try something, sometimes it works incredibly well, sometimes the next attempt is terrible, and then we sit down and ask why. What worked? What didn’t? What do we change next time?
There have been plenty of moments when one of us was discouraged and questioning whether we were ready for all of this. Cooking well turned out to be only a small part of running a food business. Emotionally, that was probably one of the hardest lessons. You can believe completely in your product and still have nights where the numbers make you question everything.
Thankfully, Josiah and I have always found a way to balance each other out in those moments. When one of us starts to feel discouraged, the other is usually there to bring some perspective and remind us that we still have more to give. That kind of support has made a huge difference throughout this journey.
And little by little, things started changing. We found new events, met people in the local food community, connected with food creators, learned how to market ourselves better, and started seeing customers return and bring their friends. Every small win gave us another reason to keep going.
So no, it has definitely not been a smooth road. It has been stressful, exciting, exhausting, educational, and occasionally a little ridiculous, but we wouldn’t have learned nearly as much if everything had worked perfectly from the beginning.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Monchis Urban Food Truck is our take on Venezuelan-inspired street food with a more playful, modern personality.
We started with a simple idea: keep the Venezuelan roots, but don’t be afraid to have fun with them. We didn’t want to build a menu that felt like a copy of what was already out there. We wanted people who grew up with Venezuelan food to recognize the flavors, but we also wanted someone who had never tried an arepa or a Venezuelan empanada before to look at the menu and immediately feel curious.
That’s where the “urban” part of Monchis really comes in. For us, it means street food with personality. Bold flavors, familiar ideas presented in a different way, strong branding, and food that feels approachable but still carefully thought out.
A good example is our Arepa Burger. It takes something very Venezuelan, the arepa, and combines it with something completely familiar here, a burger. The same thing happens with our mini empanadas. Instead of only serving traditional large empanadas, we created a flight of mini empanadas so people can try several flavors in one order. Some fillings are more traditional, while others get a little weird in the best way. We also make our sauces in-house, which has become a really important part of the food and gives us another way to keep experimenting.
That experimentation is probably one of the things that defines us most. I’m constantly thinking about texture, acidity, sweetness, richness, crunch, and how everything works together. My engineering side definitely shows up in the kitchen more than I expected. I can be very methodical about building a dish, but cooking is also where I get to be creative and break the rules a little.
Josiah plays a huge role in that process too. He’s constantly bringing ideas, references, and concepts to the table. Sometimes he’ll see something or imagine a combination and say, “What if we did this, but Monchis?” Then I get to figure out how to make it work in the kitchen. A lot of what Monchis has become comes from that back and forth between us.
But what I’m probably most proud of brand wise is that Monchis has started to feel like more than just a place that sells food.
We put a lot of personality into the brand from the beginning. Monchito, our little beanie-wearing character, started as a visual identity and somehow developed a life of his own. Customers recognize him, ask for stickers, use the name Monchi or Monchito, and even start speaking our language a little bit. We joke about the Monchis Truck, Monchi meetings, Monchi hats, and we’ve incorporated the name into menu items and sauces. At some point we realized we had accidentally created a tiny Monchis universe, and honestly, we love it.
That connection is what we want to keep building.
Of course we want people to come because the food is really good. That always has to come first. But we also want people to remember how Monchis felt. We want it to be fun, welcoming, a little unexpected, and something you want to show a friend.
Events have become a big part of that vision too. We really enjoy creating reasons for people to gather, whether that’s around food, music, art, local businesses, or just having a good time. The more we grow, the more we see Monchis becoming a brand that can collaborate with and support other people in the community, not just operate as a food truck.
We’re still evolving, and I actually think that’s one of the most exciting things about us right now. The menu keeps changing, we keep listening to customers, we keep learning what works, and Monchis keeps developing its own personality.
If there’s one thing I’d want readers to know, it’s that Monchis isn’t trying to fit neatly into one box. We’re Venezuelan, we’re American street food, we’re a little experimental, sometimes slightly chaotic, and very serious about making delicious food. Somehow, all of that together is what makes Monchis feel like Monchis.
What matters most to you?
What matters most to us is creating something that feels genuine and that people actually connect with.
Of course, the food matters tremendously. I want someone to take a bite and immediately feel that thought and care went into it. But over time, we’ve realized that Monchis is not only about serving good food. It’s also about the experience around it, the people we meet, the friendships we build, and the feeling that someone wants to come back not just because they were hungry, but because they enjoyed being part of what we’re creating.
For me personally, this business also represents taking a chance on myself. Losing my job could have easily sent me back into the safest path, but instead it pushed me toward something I had wanted to explore for a long time. So every time I see someone enjoying the food, bringing a friend, recognizing Monchito, or getting excited about something new we’re doing, it reminds me why taking that risk mattered.
For Josiah and me, community is a huge part of the bigger picture too. We love the idea of Monchis becoming a reason for people to gather and connect, whether that happens through food, events, music, art, local businesses, or collaborations. We don’t want to build something that only exists to sell a product. We want to build something people feel connected to and that can eventually help create opportunities for other people as well.
And honestly, another thing that matters a lot is enjoying the process. Running a business can become very serious very quickly, and there have been plenty of stressful moments, so we try not to lose the part of us that started this because we love food, ideas, people, and creating things together.
At the end of the day, if Monchis can make someone really happy for a few minutes, create a memory, bring people together, or inspire someone else to take a chance on an idea of their own, that means a lot to us.
Pricing:
- Most burgers and sandwiches: $13–$16
- Mini Empanada Flight: $13
- Sides and appetizers: $6–$9
Contact Info:
- Website: https://monchisfoodtruckorl.carrd.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monchisfoodtruck_/
