Empanadas and More: Delicious Ecuadorian Meals Served Up at Tulsa’s Que Gusto
Table of Contents:
Looking for Homemade Empanadas
Finding the Recipe for Success
Evolving the Concept for Fresh, Quality Food
Working Through the Challenges of Business Ownership
Gaining the Finances to Level Up
As owner and chef at Que Gusto, Carla Meneses is bringing the delicious taste of Ecuadorian food to Tulsa. With help from TEDC Creative Capital, she is expanding her kitchen and setting up her business for future growth.
Looking for Homemade Empanadas
The restaurant world is a perfect fit for Carla Meneses, owner of Que Gusto in the Tulsa Arts District. Carla’s love for cooking started at a young age as she grew up in Ecuador, and she has been involved in the food industry throughout her life in various roles quite successfully. When she and her husband, Fernando, moved to Tulsa for her husband’s work in 2012, she discovered the tastes of home were hard to find.
“Tulsa didn’t have a lot of options for my array of food,” she explains. As she and her husband hunted for places to enjoy traditional, fresh empanadas, they quickly realized no one was making the Ecuadorian dishes they loved so much. That need in the marketplace was ready to be filled—and Carla was ready to make it happen.
Finding the Recipe for Success
With her experience in restaurant work and food preparation, Carla knew she could offer catering or launch an empanada shop. She just needed to find the right place to test out the concept, perfect the recipes, and see how Tulsans responded to her authentic approach to empanada making. She knew an incubator kitchen would be a good fit because she’d done events in similar kitchens in Washington, D.C. But at the time, Tulsa didn’t have an incubator for restaurant concepts.
Still, Carla kept her eyes open, and when Kitchen 66 first launched to help restaurateurs test their ideas, she took advantage of the opportunity. “When they opened Kitchen 66, I subscribed to check it out.”
She was one of the first recipients of the Kitchen 66 program, allowing her to perfect her menu and see what people liked best. Thus, Que Gusto was born—a shop serving empanadas and other South American gourmet foods in the heart of Tulsa’s Arts District.
Evolving the Concept for Fresh, Quality Food
Carla had already done quite a bit of catering in Ecuador and the US, handling large events and making food, which didn’t intimidate her. She enjoyed the adventure of cooking for lots of people. But becoming a business owner was its own experience.
“I never wanted to start with a restaurant,” she says. “It is a tough business.” When she thought of Que Gusto, she decided to begin with simply making empanadas. “I didn’t want anything too crazy,” she says. Carla first ran her catering business out of the commercial kitchen in her home so she could work while raising her two young children. She only launched the storefront location in 2018, when her youngest child started college. “I said, ‘Okay, now I can sleep in the restaurant. Live there all day long,” she says with a laugh. “That happens a lot.”
One thing that sets Que Gusto apart is Carla’s dedication to clean, healthy cooking. She makes everything from scratch with high-quality, organic, locally sourced, clean ingredients, including grass-fed dairy, beef and lamb, pasture-raised organic pork, and organic chicken from places like Grassroots Ranch, 413 Farm, and Wagon Creek. She also looks for non-GMO, antibiotic-free ingredients, without hormones or steroids, and without preservatives or artificial colors. She also doesn’t use seed oils.
“I grew up like that,” Carla says. “My mom was very careful with quality and good food. I understand now because it’s hard to make the numbers right, especially now that everything is so expensive. But I really want to do something honest.” For that reason, everything she serves is “real food,” nothing processed, everything eco-friendly.
Working Through the Challenges of Business Ownership
As someone who grew up in Spanish-speaking Ecuador, Carla has navigated the challenges of being a small business owner while also mastering life in the U.S. She had to get comfortable speaking a new language in a new country. On top of that, she’s dealt with the everyday issues of business ownership, like managing budgets for high-quality ingredients and learning how to manage employees.
“We started with not much knowledge, and it’s been a process of how much we’ve learned over the years,” Carla says. “We still have a lot to learn, but I cannot complain. I’m very grateful because the Tulsa community is very supportive. We couldn’t have chosen a better place to open a small business. I have a great team, and they’ve been with me for a while now, so I’m grateful.”
Carla’s love for food keeps her going, and she enjoys her work, even on the tough days. Her positive attitude and supportive family help her stay balanced, as does her acceptance that challenges will come. “Yeah, we have difficulties. That’s part of life. I always say, imagine our life without difficulties. It will be so bland.”
Gaining the Finances to Level Up
Like many business owners, Carla evaluated her storefront and considered how to ensure it served her needs. She was using a walk-in cooler in the same building that another restaurant had used. But when that restaurant moved out, Carla knew the space would eventually be rented to someone else—and she’d likely lose access to the cooler. She needed to build one that belonged to Que Gusto and extra cash flow to make it happen.
As Carla looked for a place to obtain a loan, she considered her options, looking for something that would work well for her small business. That’s when she found out about TEDC Creative Capital. She appreciated their helpfulness and the low interest rates she could obtain. Working with TEDC was easy.
“I just followed the steps, and voila. It really was an easy process to send all the documents. The TEDC team really wants to help you, so they make the process easy for you,” Carla says. “If you are in Tulsa and you have these people that are ready to help you with the money and the process, use it.”
With the loan in place, Carla is building the walk-in cooler her business needs right now, with an eye on her future plans. “I really would like to have a lot of Que Gustos in different locations,” she says. “We’ll see what the future holds.”
Looking for flexible funding to help you launch or expand your small business in Oklahoma? TEDC Creative Capital is a community development financial institution (CDFI) dedicated to providing non-traditional loan vehicles and entrepreneurial educational programs to help startups and small companies succeed. Learn more about how TEDC’s caring team of experts can help you turn your business concept into a thriving success.