#135 Go Get Your Sunshine - Lucy De Leon, Salsas Locas

Meaningful Marketplace Podcast

It’s definitely a journey from working in the farm fields that provide the restaurant food to owning the restaurant itself, but that’s what the De Leon family of Portland, Oregon has done. The journey started in 1973, and this interview marks the grand opening of Lucy De Leon’s newest restaurant, Salsas Locas. They operated their first restaurant for 23 years before moving to the current Salsas Locas location. The business started, not surprisingly, in Mrs. De Leon’s kitchen Lucy De Leon’s Mother). She specialized in tamales and salsas for family and friends. Then the usual entrepreneur script played out; word of mouth made her delicacies popular and she and family realized a business could be created. In addition to serving these and more items in the restaurant, the De Leon enterprise sells the tamales, different flavored salsas and flavors of burritos to local grocery stores, including in our sponsor’s stores, Market of Choice. But the family has always been about community as well as commercialization. Their generous farm to school program serves the children. A written goal in Lucy’s office, she wanted tamales on children’s lunch plates and has had that dream come true. And it has come true thanks with help from another of our show’s sponsors, Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center. Their programs helped Lucy and team navigate the regulations and food formulations so that the meals could meet school standards. The family has also adjusted the tamale fillings to each particular school district. Districts with large Hispanic populations prefer meat tamales with red sauce. Others prefer vegan tamales, green chili and cheese and other combinations that the company has willingly accommodated. The story behind this is a typical one of “right place, right time”. Lucy was at a food show where Portland Public School personnel were also attending. The supplier of their tamales was a California company whose building had just burned down, leaving the PPS high and dry. So after the introduction, Lucy was asked if she could have 15,000 tamales ready in one week. Of course, every entrepreneur answers “Yes!” to the opportunity, then figures out how to deliver later. But Lucy figured it out, made good on the order and it has been a solid relationship since. Lucy’s parents started the business and while in college, Lucy decided to take a year off and join them. All went well but COVID forced her parents to retire and now it’s Lucy running the business with some part time help from her husband and her son when he’s not in college. The company currently employs 32 working the restaurant, wholesale, retail, school programs and catering businesses. Catering has its interesting story too. Lucy worked farmers’ markets for eight years promoting her products. It was tough, rigorous and sometimes disappointing work, but the exposure gave her gigs that got her brand out in the community and lead to her current success. Lucy credits her work ethic to her parents, migrant workers with a dream. One of her father’s sayings is, “The sun shines for everyone, but you have to go get it!”. Website: https://salsaslocas.com/. IG @salsaslocas. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall.