Summer in Gainesville comes with various complications for local restaurants, from the hot weather to the decrease in student population.
However, some Latin restaurants in Gainesville like La Maracucha, El Porteñito and Peruvian Food Blessing seem immune to these changes, gaining clients that keep them in business no matter the season.
Eros Puentes, owner of La Maracucha, said the reason for starting his Latin food truck in Gainesville was a lack of competition in the area back in 2020.
“I believe the little competition there was back then,” he said. “It's harder to get started now.”
Despite his beginnings in Miami and his good reception, Puentes decided to move to Gainesville where he was surprised by the support from customers.
“There we had even better reception, even better than we expected,” Puentes said.
Now, La Maracucha has a physical location on University Avenue near UF thanks to the quick and unexpected welcome they received in Gainesville.
After years of experience, La Maracucha workers have also learned to manage their inventory on a seasonal basis.
“We want to perfect what we have, we want to be among the best in our industry in Gainesville,” Puentes said.
Gainesville resident Luisana Morales is a frequent customer of La Maracucha and has witnessed its growth trajectory in recent years, from food cart to physical location. To her, the growth makes sense.
“They're going to grow a lot more because the truth is everything is so good,” she said.
Sara Quito, owner of Gainesville’s Peruvian Food Blessing restaurant had similar reasons for starting her restaurant.
“Here in Gainesville, there is no Peruvian restaurant,” she said.
Customers similarly latched onto the store, coming from long distances to try Peruvian cuisine, she said.
“People really like Peruvian food,” Quito said. “People who are looking for us come driving two, three hours to come and eat Peruvian food.”
When describing her clientele, Quito said students, residents and tourists all visit her business.
Like Quito, Denis Valdez, owner of the restaurant El Porteñito, felt gratitude when some tourists ate at his place and came back a month later “only to eat at the restaurant.”
Valdez also was happy with the rapid acceptance of his Colombian business in the city.
“For two years, I've done very well,” he said.
As one of the only Colombian businesses in the city, Valdez said the success of diverse businesses also brings a diversity of clients.
“From Koreans, Africans, residents, students, I don't have like a one-nationality clientele,” he said.
The shortage of Latino restaurants not only motivated the start-up of these restaurants but also resulted in a rapid acceptance by the Gainesville population. This has allowed them to grow rapidly since their early days.
These restaurants were not only welcomed by university students, but also by people living in or visiting the city who were looking to try something new. So the departure of students did not have a major impact.
Its flavors opened the opportunity for the Latino community to feel at home, and also opened the possibility for people of other nationalities to taste Latin cuisine.
Valdez hopes to continue representing the Latino community as El Porteñito grows. He also said his motivations for continuing to expand his business are to try to sustain those foods so the Latino community feels they are not alone
“That the name of Colombia be raised high,” he expressed.
Contact Isabela Reinoso at ireinoso@alligator.org. Follow her on X @isareinosod.
