10/16/2026
I am so surprised, honored, excited and deeply grateful for this sweet recognition in 's Best of Sarasota 2026!!!
I have so much to say and so little to say at the same time as I'm overcome with emotion. I founded my little business out of sheer will, tenacity, and a deep love of both people and food over 16 years ago, in March of 2010. It has been an absolute honor, privilege, and a pleasure to have served our beloved community in that time - in the form of delicious empanadas that we make from scratch, with love.
I am so grateful to everyone who has a weekly market ritual of stopping by our truck to grab an empanada - it really has been so fulfilling and life changing to be of service in this way. One thing that has always stuck out to me in my experience of this little slice of customer service I experience is just how amazing and kind our customers are. Every time I train someone new - I tell them about what a pleasure it is to serve everyone that comes through our window at the food truck and through our doors at the café. And you all prove me right, time and time again by being so amazing, kind, patient, generous, and understanding. I am so grateful for and to all of you for being on this journey with me!
And I am beyond grateful for our empanada girl teams!! Did you know that we have 3 teams that make up the whole of The Empanada Girl enterprise?? Each team plays an absolutely integral part of the whole.
We have the factory team that works completely behind the scenes in our commercial kitchen (which we lovingly refer to as our "factory") making everything from scratch - the dough, the fillings, etc. They make and bake the empanadas, they package and deliver wholesale orders, they pack the food truck for every event, they do all of the heavy lifting.
We have the food truck team - they are the faces you see every weekend working on the truck!! They arrive at the factory before the sun comes up on market days to hitch the truck, finish loading up, drive the truck to the markets, park, unhitch, work the food truck during service hours, then drive it back to the factory. Actually working on the truck during service hours is only half of what they have to do on market days!!!
And lastly we have the café crew who hold it down as our main customer facing location. At the café we serve our empanadas, as well as espresso drinks, Peperonata Fresh Pasta 's full line of products, and additional prepared foods that we make ourselves on site such as salads, desserts, lasagnas, meatballs, etc.
This little business I started with love and a dream all those years ago is now made possible by a group of incredible and amazing hard-working people that I'm privileged to work alongside. AND by all of you and your love of our empanadas!! 😍❤️
My heart is overflowing!! It truly is a dream come true!!!! 🥹❤️
