Courtesy of Sara Garcia
Brenda Garcia wanted her daughter home from college this summer, so she provided her with a vehicle. A food truck, to be exact.
The owner of a number of different businesses in Bridgeton that cater to the Hispanic community—La Tejana Taqueria; a newspaper, El Hispano; and a radio station, Ke Buena—Garcia said she “always wanted” her daughter Sara to “pick up that work ethic.”
The family purchased a food truck about a year ago but had not used it. And as a little girl, Sara had said she wanted to open a shop called Sara’s Sweets.
So her mom suggested to her that she return home after her freshman year at University of Northern Colorado and run a food truck offering Mexican desserts.
“When I pitched the idea to my husband [Antonio], I’m like, ‘We’ll have her home,’” recalls Brenda. “It’s been hard having her gone; I miss her.”
The Garcias hope to open Dante’s Dulce in the next couple weeks and have Sara take over in early May.
Although her mom had sweetened the idea of coming home by offering the chance to run a food truck, Sara is the one who came up with the name and design for the food truck, she says.
Courtesy of Sara Garcia
Sara (right) with her family at La Tejana Taqueria
A lover of classic literature, Sara, 19, combined one of her favorite works, Dante’s Inferno, with the Spanish word for candy.
She says she had seen other dessert trucks painted in bright pinks, yellows, and blues—and that she wanted to do something “totally opposite.” The dark red and yellow truck features a “nine levels of flavor” decal—as in the nine circles of Hell that Dante must pass through—among other quotes and sketches from the book.
“I just figured it’s something different than other sweets or food trucks,” says Sara, who is studying criminal justice and hopes to work for the FBI.
The truck will offer treats like flan, tres leches cake, empanadas, and other desserts “incorporating products that my grandmother used to use,” says Brenda. That includes cupcakes made with Abuelita (a Nestlé chocolate often used in drinks) and cookies with mazapan, a Mexican peanut candy.
“There are a lot of Mexican products that people don’t know about,” says Brenda.
They have not finalized the menu yet, but Brenda expects the items to all cost under $5. They are also still determining locations for the truck but plan to be at Citygarden downtown and Bark in the Park, a Humane Society event on May 19 in Forest Park. Tyler Garcia, the owner of the Locoz Tacoz food truck, is providing his sister with advice, and the two businesses could end up at the same events, Sara says.
No matter how successful she is though, Sara plans to return to school in the fall. And then Brenda will hopefully add another successful business to her list.
