Today we’d like to introduce you to Leonor & Sergio Olivares.
Hi Leonor & Sergio, 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?
We were living in South Florida from 2019-to 2021 and over the holiday’s grandma Eva would come down to visit us and would make us some homemade tamales. We realized that there weren’t many tamale options in South Florida. So we took matters into our own hands and started messing with old family recipes, recipes online until we finally got our masa perfect. We were originally planning on launching in Miami but work called us out here to San Antonio, TX.
We did not start incorporating the custom rugs until the end of 2021. My husband Sergio has always been involved in the art world, it truly is his passion. So when he told me about wanting to make rugs I was 100% all-in. It was something I have never seen before and I thought it would be a really cool marketing idea, tamales, and rugs. It’s so out of this world and I love that the community can come to experience both worlds.
Over the summer of 2021, we decided to go all-in and launch Dale Tamale. We applied for our LLC, got our proper licenses, and hit the ground running. We literally threw ourselves out there and started signing up for pop-up after pop-up. We officially started doing pop-ups at the end of September. Boy was that a learning curve! Especially doing markets with 2 littles. It can be overwhelming at times but the experiences we get to have with our customers and community is something we will forever cherish. We would not be here today if it wasn’t for them.
The San Antonio small business community has been amazing to us. Community over the competition! We have formed so many friendships and love working with everyone. We love our small business community, thank y’all for being so welcoming and supportive. Right now we are working on new menu items, securing pop-ups for the year, and working on hosting our very first event!
We are a Mexican American family-owned business with a dream of opening up a food truck. We have our recipes ready, waiting to serve San Antonio! The rugs we make, with lots of positive vibes and well intentions, are to help fund our dream of opening up our very own food truck. Every rug sold brings us one step closer to our goal!!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely not been a smooth road! Technically, you never really know what you are going to struggle with until you try. So that’s what we did. We went in blind.
We started by going to the city offices to find out what was needed to open/run a small business. We went to the office after office until we finally got all the correct info. So don’t give up! Another struggle is finding markets. That is honestly so nerve-wracking for me. You always have to be on it and with the times. Sometimes, you can miss a really good one.
Another struggle is making friends in the small business community. I am such an introvert and my husband is an extrovert so he has no problems mingling with people. I get nervous, haha but I will say I have put myself out there and have met some amazing women along the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am most proud of my kids. They are truly our biggest fans. They have become little entrepreneurs selling their little hearts out.
What separates us from others is that we do both! Custom rugs and custom tamales. We wanted to create art with the tamales by offering personalization.
We wanted to create an experience and something you can Instagram, all at the same time.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Leonor: My favorite childhood memory is going on road trips with my mom and brother. My favorite childhood place to go to was Indiana Beach in Monticello, IN. It’s an amusement park and beach. Really low-key and always an amazing time.
Sergio: Going to Disney World. Growing up in Little Village Chicago, it was almost unheard of that you are going to Disney. My dad would always make that happen for us and I was able to make that happen for my kids. My kids did not know how to act being pass holders at Disney. It was definitely an amazing experience with lots of memories.
We can’t wait to get back there!
Pricing:
- Custom Rugs start out at $50 and includes 3 colors.
- The Chi Town Tamale – 1 for $3 – 3 for $7 – 6 for $16 – 12 for $30
- Lone Star Tamale – 1 for $4 – 3 for $10 – 6 for $22 – 12 for $42
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://linktr.ee/dale_tamale
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dale_tamale/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/DaleTamaleSA/
