Today we’d like to introduce you to Elsa De La Torre.
Hi Elsa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Our family’s business story started back in 1996. Salvador De La Torre, came from Mexico to the state of Kansas chasing the American dream. A dream where all he wanted were better opportunities for his family. All he brought with him were his hard work ethic, his grit, and resilience.
He worked endless hours and days for a restaurant business that was not his own. He knew that this was only temporary and not permanent. He had bigger plans. One day he built up the confidence to start his own restaurant business. With the help of his wife Bertha Cortez and four children Elsa, Alia, Nicolas, and Salvador, he decided to share his recipes from his mother’s and wife’s kitchen and the culinary experience from his home Michoacán, Mexico. In 2006, he opened his first restaurant. Fronteras Mexican Restaurant and Cantina. He had great success and followed by opening a couple more locations (Gardner, Ottawa) The Ottawa location is owned and operated by oldest daughter Elsa and husband, Jose Rangel. They decided to follow her father’s footsteps. She works hard to maintain loyal to the name Fronteras and pay tribute to her dad’s legacy. It’s all a family business.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There were definitely many barriers and struggles. In the beginning, my father Salvador had language barriers and little to no knowledge on how to run a business. He did not have a lot of resources or connections to help him build what he wanted for the business. But he did have an incredible hard work ethic and determination to make it work. He also had the will to learn and make it work. Failure was no longer an option for him. After opening the first location, he did open a couple more locations that didn’t work out. He opened the Olathe location. Unfortunately, he had to close because it burned down. He also opened a restaurant in Overland Park and it wasn’t the time to open in that area, so it closed as well. Although they were closed, it only helped him become more resilient and continue to work even harder. Being a restaurant business, you have to stay up to date with what customers are looking for. You have to work on updating menus constantly, adapt to technology, and find people that are trustworthy to help. We’ve seen many restaurants cut back because of inflation and the economy. So we have to learn how to adapt and buy the best products to keep high quality ingredients for our customers.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Fronteras Mexican Restaurant & Cantina ?
Our business is a family run business. We are owned and operated by family. You will see the owners, the family, walk through the restaurants and be present for our customers. We love our families and our customer base.
All the recipes are by chef Salvador and Bertha Cortez (owners). They work endlessly to create fresh food combinations to serve to our customers. The majority of our food is made freshly everyday by our head chefs at each location. They work together with Salvador and Bertha to make sure the recipes are being done correctly. Some of the recipes that they share are recipes that are authentically served in their homes to your tables. We truly work on the craft of the recipes with true ingredients and spices that come all the way from Mexico. Every plate served has the main chef’s approval.
We have very authentic plates that we serve to our customers. The famous Michoacán style pork carnitas. Bertha’s Mole sauce made from scratch. The famous street style tacos and our delicious Fronteras Tower Fajitas. A lot of our sauces are made from scratch and served on variety of burritos and enchiladas.
We take pride in our recipes, freshly made daily food items such as our beans, rice, our famous queso especial, and fresh guacamole. We also work on giving our customers a great atmosphere. We want our customers to feel like family from the moment they come in our doors. We’ve known a lot of our customers for over 20 years. We’ve watched their family’s grow with us. 20 years of business is a staple. We have been able to maintain in the business by working hard for our customers and bringing new flavors to their tables. We work hard on providing daily food and drink specials for our customers and maintaining long standing relationships.
We have a full dine in experience, take out, catering services, and recently we have added breakfast brunch menu now served on weekends at all three locations.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Community and connections. A sense of belonging, support and feeling welcomed has always been an important part to our business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Fronterasks.com
- Facebook: Fronteras Mexican Restaurant/ Fronteras Mexican Restaurant &Cantina/ Fronteras Mexican Restaurant Ottawa
