Today we’d like to introduce you to Nancy Lopez.
Hi Nancy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
El Zocalo Food Truck is a christian family owned business it began in 2022 with a simple dream: my husband and I wanted to build something together. We had always talked about opening a business of our own, and we decided to start small by creating a food truck that we could operate on weekends while sharing our food with our community.
Today El Zocalo has 2 food trucks one located in Topeka and the other located in Lawrence and operated by our daughter who is a college student and attends The University of Kansas.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. My husband and I had never worked in the food industry, let alone owned or operated a food truck, so we were learning everything from the ground up. We knew how to make great birria, but we quickly realized that making it for our family and friends was very different from making it in large quantities for a business.
There was so much we had to learn and educate ourselves about from food safety and permits to purchasing, inventory, pricing, marketing, and figuring out how to prepare enough food while maintaining the quality and flavor our customers expected.
Another challenge was figuring out who our audience was and how to become involved in our community. In the beginning, we thought we could simply park our food truck in one location and customers would come to us. We quickly learned that wasn’t how we wanted to operate our business. Sitting and waiting for customers was frustrating, and we realized we had something that other restaurants didn’t have: a giant kitchen on wheels.
That changed our way of thinking. Instead of waiting for customers to find us, we decided we could take our food to them. We started moving around, attending different events, visiting different locations, and looking for opportunities to connect with people in the community.
That mindset shift became an important part of our journey. We learned that owning a food truck isn’t just about making good food—it’s about being willing to adapt, putting yourself out there, building relationships, and listening to your customers.
We’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way, but every challenge has taught us something new. We continue to learn, grow, and find better ways to operate our business. The road hasn’t been easy, but those challenges have helped shape El Zocalo into what it is today.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
El Zocalo specializes in birria and different creative birria dishes. Our focus has always been on taking something we know and love and finding new and exciting ways to serve it. We have worked hard to create a menu that is unique and gives our customers different options beyond the traditional ways of enjoying birria, and that is what sets our food truck apart from other food trucks.
One of the things I feel most privileged and proud of is the journey my husband and I have taken with El Zocalo. We went from both working full-time 8-to-5 jobs while operating our food truck only on weekends, to making the difficult decision to leave our jobs and focus on our business full time.
That was a big leap of faith for us. El Zocalo started as a small weekend business, and we never imagined that it would grow to the point where we could make it our full-time careers. Being able to build something together and include our daughter to the business is something I take a lot of pride in. Teaching her the business world and allowing her to take over the food truck in Lawrence ks is something special, today we have expanded beyond the food truck we offer catering for all types of events.
For us, El Zocalo represents much more than a food truck, it’s our family business, it’s a local business that is growing thanks to God and the support from our community.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
When I think about my childhood and food, I don’t necessarily have a family birria recipe or a long tradition of passing down the same recipe through generations like many people proudly share. But I do have some of my best memories centered around my mother’s cooking.
I remember the food my mom made and how much love she put into it. She was an incredibly hardworking woman, and watching her work hard for our family has stayed with me throughout my life. Food was always more than just something we ate. It was part of our family, our culture, and the way we showed love.
I also owe so much of what I have learned about business and hard work to my father. He is an entrepreneur, and my mother was always his biggest supporter. Growing up, I was able to watch both of my parents work together, support each other, and build a life for our family. I didn’t realize it at the time, but those experiences taught me lessons that I carry with me today.
When I look at El Zocalo, I can see pieces of both of my parents in what my husband and I are building. From my mother, I carry the love and passion for food and the importance of hard work. From my father, I learned what it means to take a risk, build something of your own, and believe in yourself.
My childhood was filled with love, food, family, hard work, and culture. Those are memories that I cherish, and I think they have influenced who I am today more than I realized. Even though the birria recipe didn’t come from a family dynasty, the love and values behind what I do certainly did.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://elzocalofoodtruck.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084325061179&sk=about
