In her native Venezuela, Mariana Alvarez studied medicine and psychology to become an educational psychologist. In search of new opportunities and forced by adverse circumstances in her home country, she and her family relocated to the United States in 2019.
Settling in Springdale, Alvarez found that there were no restaurants serving Venezuelan food. As a child, she showed great interest in culinary arts. One year after arriving in Arkansas and motivated by her friends that loved her Venezuelan cuisine, she started an Instagram account to document and share her food and passion for cooking.
Customers and friends encouraged her to share her delicious food, but Alvarez had no knowledge of how to open a business. She learned that the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at the University of Arkansas offered services to Spanish speakers and contacted Carolina Mejia, ASBTDC bilingual consultant. With Spanish as her first language, it made it easier for Alvarez to work with the center on her project. Alvarez and Mejia started from scratch, beginning with market research, developing a business plan and an overview of financials. As the vision came into clear focus, the ASBTDC team assisted with marketing and social media strategy, photography, and logo review. Alvarez utilized ASBTDC webinar resources to create her menu in the design platform Canva.
On April 11, 2022, NA’GUARA, held its grand opening. Located in The Boardwalk Food Truck Court in Springdale, the food truck features typical Venezuelan food – empanadas, arepasvenezolanas, pepitos, tequenos, pastelitos – all made fresh to order. Alvarez describes her venture as the result of a job done with love and dedication and her children Donato and Fabrizio were the main inspirations for this project.
Mariana Alvarez is grateful to everyone who supported her along her entrepreneurial journey, thanking God first as it is her faith that guides her path, to her husband David and to her parents who have been by her side each step along the way.
“ASBTDC has been the best thing experienced on this road to success. Carolina Mejia has been a fundamental pillar in each stage of this new small business,” said Alvarez. She adds that she is “grateful to each of the ASBTDC, UAF team members, from design to photography, and without the help of this great team it would not have been possible to carry out each stage of this undertaking.”
NA’GUARA is a Spanish colloquialism for ¡WOW! and judging from customer feedback, it defines Mariana Alvarez’s dream that is now a reality.