MARION OAKS, Fla. (WCJB) – Hispanic business owners in Marion County caught the attention of a chamber of commerce by serving traditional food straight out of the truck.
Onel Garcia owns his own Puerto Rican food truck, El Fogon de Nelly. Four months ago, he started his Ocala Food Trucks.
Garcia rents out the property at 2655 SW Hwy 484 near Marion Oaks to other Latino business owners.Open daily from 11am to 9pm
“[It] I had in mind a bunch of Latin food trucks,” Garcia said. “We didn't expect it to be this big, but we managed to do it.”
Michelle Benitez is still getting used to working with her family at their new food truck, Taqueria Las Catrinas.
“This is a family business, so it's just me, my mom, dad, brother and sister running everything,” Benitez said.
She told TV20 she's noticed an increase in Hispanic-owned businesses throughout North Central Florida.
“I've noticed a lot of food trucks coming out of Lake County and Marion County lately. I started noticing that recently,” Benitez said.
Evelyn Reyes, vice president of business creation for the Ocala Metro Chamber of Commerce and Economic Partnership, works with minority entrepreneurs. In Ocala, she said, she noticed there were nearly 40 Hispanic restaurants open and many food trucks run by Hispanics.
Reyes offers free business consultations and workshops to help you grow your business. Currently, the workshops are conducted in English, but she is meeting with a Spanish-speaking owner who is trying to learn the information she needs to create a program in Spanish.
“We're trying to bring a variety of businesses to Ocala every step of the way,” Reyes said. “We come from different parts of the world, but we already know how to do business. We just need to learn how to do business in Ocala.”
Reyes provides support in English or Spanish. Her email address is Evelyn@OcalaCEP.com.
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