MARION OAKS, Fla. (WCJB) – Hispanic business owners in Marion County are serving up classic dishes fresh out of their trucks, catching the eye of one chamber of commerce.
Onell Garcia owns his own Puerto Rican food truck, El Fogon de Nelly. Four months ago, he started Ocala Food Trucks.
Garcia rents out the land, located at 2655 SW Hwy 484 near Marion Oaks, to other Latin business owners. They’re open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“[It] came to my mind to just to put a couple of Latin food trucks together,” said Garcia. “I never expected it would be that much, but we made it.”
Michelle Benitez is still getting used to working alongside her family at their new food truck, Taqueria Las Catrinas.
“It’s a family business, so it’s just me, my mom, my dad, and my brother and sister running it all,” said Benitez.
She told TV20 she’s noticed more Hispanic businesses popping up across North Central Florida.
“Lately we’ve been noticing a lot of food trucks opening from Lake County and Marion County. I started noticing that lately,” said Benitez.
Evelyn Reyes, Vice President of Business Creation with the Ocala Metro Chamber and Economic Partnership, works with minority entrepreneurs. She says there’s nearly 40 Hispanic restaurants operating in Ocala, and noticed many food trucks ran by Hispanics as well.
Reyes offers free business consultations and workshops to help them grow their business. Right now, the workshops are in English, but she’s trying to meet with Spanish-speaking owners and learn what information they need to create programs in Spanish.
“We’re trying to bring different businesses to Ocala in all different phases,” said Reyes. “Even though we come from different parts of the world, we already know how to do business, we just need to learn how to do business in Ocala.”
Reyes can offer help in English or Spanish. Her email address is Evelyn@OcalaCEP.com
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