Today we’d like to introduce you to Pedro Correch.
Hi Pedro, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
We emigrated from Argentina in 2015 and started in Cape Coral , Florida in 2015 going to the local Farmers Market with what it was our restaurant’s Best seller item ( EMPANADAS), and the success was so big that a year later we converted our restaurant in an Empanadas store. Although the key was finding to attend as much Farmers Markets a week we could. It was a niche and in 1 year we went from 1 Farmers market a week to 10!!!. The expansion came after being able to select the best and biggest of them we were able to cover all SWFL coast from Marco Island to Bradenton including all the barrier island like Sanibel, Captiva and Boca Grande. In doing so many Markets a week the traditional Market canopy became inconvenient and inefficient so we convert our first trailer in a “canopy on wheels” and after convince the FM managers that the space was the same we were allowed to transform most of our tents to trailer as of today when we operate with 3 trailers and 2 traditional canopy/tents. In 2018 we open our front store in Fort Myers and a year later another one in Venice,FL. But we still felt that we were missing an opportunity during the summers so after few years of “deliberations with my wife Pilar we choose to follow our midwestens customers to their home and we discovered that West Michigan would be our second home from there on. It was 2023 when ( during recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Ian that did hit us hard) we started all the tedious and long process to obtain our licenses and find a new home ( and commercial facility to operate) what was in the Lakeshore ( specifically Muskegon) than welcoming the most. In summer 2024 we started working in Kitchen 242 in Muskegon and we were fortunate to be accepted in 9 Farmers Markets and the prestigious Taste of Muskegon and the 100th. Coast Guard Festival in Grand Haven. This year we even bought a house here so we can call ourselves “half Floridians and Half Michiganders”.
Regarding our products we have a unique selection of flavors ,going for the traditional Argentinean flavors to the more eclectic creations such as our “Amazing Empanada” a perfect combination of Brie Cheese & Fig compote. We also created the first “Choripanadas” in the world which is the Empanada version of the most traditional street sandwich in Argentina the Choripán” ( or Sausage sandwich in English). We also develop the first Gluten free Empanada without using corn flour and in 2016 we launched a whole set of Vegan Empanadas that took us to the most prestigious Vegan Festivals in the Hemisphere like the Vegandale Festival.
We are a family owned and operated business with 3 of our children involved in the business but we have a desire to keep growing in this amazing community of West Michigan and beyond within the State, in doing so we are increasing our presence in the GR area reaching 3 attendances at Food Truck Friday, Roll’N Out, Back in the River festival some events in the Rosa Park Circle along with more and more catering to private events. We hope this will be just the beginning of a larger operation here in Michigan and the people of Michigan could enjoy as they do during their winters vacation ( as those that can’t go down there) this different but very convenient easy to eat , easy to heat and easy to keep for days “comfort food”. Is for that reason that’s we brought to Michigan the promotional deal that made our empanadas a must in Florida’s beach lunch, boat daytrips, etc… the TO GO DEAL ( a pack of your selection of 12 empanadas where you just pay for 10 !!!.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all , from trying to be into the best Farmers Markets to spend days looking people pass by looking at our empanadas as a strange food wasn’t an easy ride .We went from selling in the beginning no more than 50 empanadas per market and took us more than 5 years to consolidate and rise our sales to at in some of our markets we could reach today to sell 500/700 a day. Develop the process where we went from a kind of very small operation to make thousands of them a week without giving away the home- made style that they preserve until today. I
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Pilar’s Empanadas Argentinas?
We do a special Gourmet home style Argentinean baked empanadas, our brand is proud to be innovative while keeping the traditions and roots of our country. Those things are the ones that set us apart; we kept our flavors attached to our roots and we use the finest products from the USA while we imported from Argentina those that are unique and unavailable here.
What matters most to you? Why?
The highest quality standards in all our process …but over all, the relationships with our customers .When they visit our booth or trailers or in their catering events we want them to feel that they are treated as a friends , like if we were really cooking for them as we do for our family.
Pricing:
- $50 for a dozen of Empanadas TO GO
- Empanadas deal $ 15 for 3 empanadas+ soda+ chips
- $ 5 for empanada any flavor
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.pilarsempanadas.net
- Instagram: @pilarsempanadas
- Facebook: @pilarsempanadas
- Other: Contact us for catering at (239)440-1439
