Like many small business owners, Elena Martinez was challenged by the pandemic so she turned a family favorite to breath new life into her food truck business
OAKLAND - There's no question the pandemic has brought on challenges for many. One East Bay woman is doing what she can to keep her family business alive.
Elena Martinez and her sister make and sell tacos from their food truck Tacos Picantes. But they're also incorporating another dish from their culture -- pupusas. "Corn handmade cheese filled tortilla, sometimes we have pork and cheese, steak and cheese," she said of the delectable dish. "We're gonna have pupusas nonstop and of course tacos, Cinco de Mayo c'mon," she said. "There are certain recipes we've held onto that belong to my mom," she said.
Elena works fast, and when she speaks, she has a lot of pride for her roots. But what people may not realize is that like many with small businesses, the pandemic has hit her hard. "What we're doing is trying to figure out how we can stay afloat and right now, the only thing that has been working is booking events," she said.
She said they used to be stationed in San Pablo. But people stopped coming when the pandemic started. And it's been up and down since then. "I say as long as I'm healthy, my family is healthy, I'm going to keep going, were going to keep going," she said. "We have steak, which is asada, grilled chicken, which is pollo, al pastor, spicy pork and carnitas which is slow cooked pork, very delicious, that's actually my favorite.
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